Abstract "contemporary" winter trees

2nd graders made a batik type project.  Students drew 3 triangles (with trunks) and colored with HEAVY crayon any kind of design or pattern they wanted.  They painted it black tempera and ran it under the sink to see the crayon and the paint.  Day 2:  Cut out trees, glitter, and glue them onto tan music paper.  Added snowflakes with a white crayon for background.  LOVED IT!  Fun one to do.

The spider and the fly

 Students in 2nd grade made these 3-D aluminum foil spiders!  We read "The Spider and the Fly" (sorry I already returned the book to the library- so I don't even have the author).  But they made all the parts and I assembled the pieces into spiders with the hot glue gun.  
Here are the steps to make the project:
1)  Fold the black paper into 1/8.  Draw over the spider web lines with elmer's glue.  Let dry.
2)  I had cut the aluminum foil in half for the students.  When they got the aluminum foil, they needed 2 sheets.  One sheet was used to make the body of the spider, the second sheet of aluminum foil was used to cut into 4 pieces for the legs of the spider.
They brought the spider over to me to hot glue.
3)  Students used chalk pastels to color the web.  I had them use a throw away towel to blend the chalks to the black paper.  Then the students brought the project to me to glue the spiders onto the paper.

Dinosaurs!!

 2nd graders made these cool dinosaur pictures!  We first started off by reading the book:  Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp by Carol Diggery Shields.  It's a fun rhyming book.  We began this project by using Spectra tissue paper (it bleeds). 
1)  We started by taking small tissue paper pieces and placing them on the white paper. 
Take a clean paint brush to make the tissue stick to the white paper...  Add PLENTY of water.
Let dry.
2)  Next class period:  the tissue that was once wet is now dry and has "stained" your paper.  Take away any of the extra tissue paper and throw it away.  Look at your beautiful paper!
3)  I do occasionally like to use "how to draw" books.  I like them because it will break down a difficult object to draw down into managable "shapes" for the kids to see and draw. 
So, I had some of the pictures of dinosaurs on paper so the kids could feel success at drawing dinosaurs.

 4)  After outlining in black sharpie, students colored in their dinosaurs with oil pastels. 

Paul Klee

 Second graders were read the book in the "Getting to know the worlds Greatest Artists" about Paul Klee.  The students learned about abstract artwork and then made their own "Senecio" painting inspired by Klee.  The students used a circle template to make a head and incorporated lines and shapes with a black marker.  Oil pastels were used to color them in.  I love the way they turned out.

Where the Wild Things Are!

This post is so over due- I've had these photographs on my page for forever- and a day- but I haven't posted them on my blog... until now.  I totally loved this project!  It was so much fun watching the kids make their own creative VISUAL TEXTURE Wild thing!!!  Visual Textures are when the view can "see" the way something feels.  So the students drew curly, rough, wavy textures on their wild thing just like in the book! I got this lesson off of a website.  Here is the link:
 WILD THINGS

The product is awesome.  I loved it so much- this hung on the walls for a long time!  I just liked to look at it when I walked down the hallways.  It was just too awesome.

Here's some pictures of what 2nd graders made!

Matryoshka Dolls

Second graders made pictures of Russian Nesting Dolls!  The students in Mrs. Morrison's class got to see Mr. Claussen talk about some of the Matryoshka Dolls and where they came from.  He was our guest speaker and shared with us some of the history of where the dolls came from and how they are made.  He had some really awesome dolls to share with us!  Thanks Mr. Claussen!
Here is a few photo's taken when Mr. Claussen came to visit the second grade art classroom.

This set of nesting dolls tells the story about the big turnip that was difficult to pull out of the ground.  The father, mother, daughter, dog, cat, and mouse all worked together and pulled with all their strength to get that turnip out of the ground.