1st Grade - Eric Carle Flower Gardens

I LOVE this lesson... so much fun in the Spring! 

The first class, we make several pieces of painted paper, Eric Carle style, using scrapers and sponges. Each table or class makes a batch of a color for everyone to share. (red/oranges. yellow/oranges, blue/violets. yellow/greens, magenta/violets)

The next class, I have it prepped for everyone! 2x9 strips for cutting grass and stems. 3x3 squares for cutting flowers and a 2x9 strip for cutting suns and rays. Once finished, we use Crayola Twistables to draw some flying "friends". They LOVE to draw the flight path for each. 😀

These are 8x8 for Square 1 Art. Even small, they are super cute!

Kindergarten - Eric Carle Very Hungry Caterpillar Collages

Who doesn't LOVE a kindergarten Hungry Caterpillar??? I have done this a couple different ways in the past, but this is my favorite. I like it on YELLOW. I am not sure why, but it makes it so happy! 

Students get to paint a 9x12 yellow piece of paper with green and yellow paint, creating texture with scrapers and sponges. Next time, I give them a 2x9 inch strip, they cut it up into "french fries". Not too thin... then I walk by and put a long line of glue down, they glue it all down. 

Next, they cut out the circles for the caterpillar. Before class, I prep a bunch... I cut all their painted paper up into 3x3's. Their paper becomes community paper, each student gets 5 green and a red, (from other classes who have made painted paper). I hand draw circles on the back for them to cut out. We get the caterpillar glued together and then make a sun in the sky with some yellow orange papers from other classes. If they want clouds, they can cut some blue papers or use markers. 

I love giving them markers to add "friends". I demonstrate how to draw some bugs with dots behind them suggesting movement. They love it! They all like to draw a rainbow. This one is always so sweet when hanging in the hallway, a crowd pleaser for sure! 

2nd Grade - Laurel Burch Fantastic Felines!

A real favorite of mine... Top 10 when it comes to results. My students have always done an amazing job with this lesson. After a BIG look and discussion about the beautiful designs, patterns and colors of Laurel Burch's Fantastic Felines... we get to it!

I teach 4 sections of each grade level. To stay organized and add variety to our show, I have two classes use warm color papers, the other two classes, cool colored paper. Students get to choose, from 4-5 colors. First, students are taught how to draw the sitting cat and laying cat with just chalk on the board. They choose the one they want to paint...

and then we get started...

It seems scary to paint direct, with no pencil drawing first, but I prefer to. The only thing students draw with pencil is the head. I have them trace a 6" circle in the top corner of the paper first. It establishes scale. We start with outlining the head with black tempera, then draw the front legs. Tall cats - I stress all the way down to the bottom of the paper. Laying cat - under the head towards the bottom. 

Then paint the cat's back, stretching all the way over to the side of the paper and down. Then the back leg, big letter C with a foot that is a flat littler c. 

The face details - large human like eyes, long nose and simple smile. Then PATTERNS! We stop for a minute and look at her cats again and look at the patterns she used. I demonstrate painting the patterns on the whole cat and then let them go!

Coloring, we discuss her use of warm and cool colors but I give them freedom to be creative with their color choices. I only stress good craftsmanship, careful, purposeful coloring.

5th Grade - Miro Abstracts!

This lesson was a fast filler lesson that turned out great! Students were inspired by Joan Miro by viewing a slideshow with many of his works of art. Then students brainstormed on a 9x12 by drawing several overlapping freeform shapes. From there they were to break up the spaces further and could turn them into alien like creatures or just an abstract... whatever the shapes inspired! 

We worked on a cold press 9x12 watercolor paper that we had on hand. First used watercolor paint and blew it with short straw pieces. Once dry, students drew with pencil first and outlined with Big Brush PITT Pens. Last step, we colored a few of our shapes in with oil pastel. For a quick lesson, these turned out really cool!!!

5th Grade - Positive & Negative Shape Collages

A simple flip shape lesson! A great way to learn positive and negative shape & space. Students love this, it can be a simple one day lesson, or take it a couple steps higher. For this lesson, we started working on a black 10x16 - I took 2 inches off each side of the 12x18. Then let students fill the paper with 3+ 4x4 squares, cutting shapes on each side to flip out. Once they were done, we cut SMALL shapes along the black edge to flip out onto a colored background. For a final step, we brainstormed more ideas for creating negative shapes. They could add anything extra! Three extras were encouraged. 😀