This project seemed like a good idea. And it was...it just took forever to finish, by the end we were all sick of it :-) but they came out really well. Fifth grade designed a small abstract design and repeated it 12 times. They colored the design and glued all 12 pieces to another piece of paper, rotating the image each time they glued it down. This created some really neat one of a kind abstract art.

My first graders used the ripped edge of a manila folder and chalk pastels to make the sunset background. They made a thick line of color on the edge of the folder and brushed the color onto the background paper with their fingers. Messy and fun, they loved it! The mountains were made by ripping black construction paper and gluing it down on top of the sunset. Simple and the results were so rewarding.

These beautiful oil pastel drawings were made by my fourth graders. We studied the "Pop Art" movement, and artists Andy Warhol and Wayne Thiebaud. The students were asked to choose their favorite food, and repeat the image several times. Color choices were completely up to them, the crazier the better. They came out GREAT!

After a conversation with our school's PE teacher about how to spruce up the gym, I decided my fourth graders were up to the challenge.

I began with a lesson on mosaics, the history of them and how to make them,

They started with a simple drawing and then proceeded to cut small pieces of construction paper and glue them down to create these great results! The finished products will be on semi-permanent display in the gym.

My first graders really enjoyed this "under the ocean" project. We began the project by looking at real photos taken under water, and exploring all the different types of creatures and plant found under the ocean. They used these images as inspiration or their drawings. The drawings were outlined in permanent black marker, then the creatures were colored in using watercolor pencils. The water was painted with regular water colors with salt sprinkled on top. The salt absorbed the paint and created the great water-like texture.

During early spring I was inspired by the baby chicks born in our second grade classrooms. I came up with this for one of my special ed. classes. They have been working very hard on their cutting and gluing skills and it shows. These are so sweet!

Over the February break, I was luck enough to take a little trip to Washington D.C. I adored seeing the pandas at the National Zoo and they inspired this lesson.

Last year, after teaching how to use shading to make a more realistic picture ,I had my 5th graders work on a still life. This yeat they got to try their hand at shading a panda. I think they did a wonderful job! They used tempra paint for the panda, and chalk pastels for the bamboo background.