Kindergarten - mastering cutting skills

            

            

         Cutting skills are not a given when my youngest students enter Kindergarten anymore.   Used to be they were experimenting and cutting at home prior to beginning school, however, most incoming Kinders haven't even used a crayon anymore.  The simplest of what were once given skills are now totally absent.  The majority of my Kindergarten curriculum is based on shapes and how to create them.  We draw them, color, them, cut them, well you get the picture.  By December, students are beginning to combine some of the skills we have been practicing to collage this cute little winter penguin.  Matisse is the artist of choice as we share a few stories of his life.  For the project, students start by using stamps to do some basic printing and then practice how to use a glue stick without covering every surface of the table and ourselves and not wasting and breaking the glue stick.  Skill building 101.  I pre-cut rectangles for students to use to then cut and assemble the penguin.  Each shape is their own so development levels are quick to identify.   I love this project because they are making something they can identify and each one quickly develops it's own personality.  Enjoy our Kinder penguins.  I sure do!  Good books for accompaniment are:
   

Kindergarten and Andy Warhol's Cats

This was a delightful read for my Kinders who speculated that the Warhol's must have had at least 1000 Sam's living in their home.  They were hysterical with the idea that Hester and Sam might have slept in Andy's wig drawer with all their offspring's and they were sure the wigs must have been an extremely comfortable place to sleep.

So began a Kindergarten lesson on Pop Art, no it's not like popping a balloon, and an introduction to Andy Warhol.

Students followed a directed draw to create this sweet little composition featuring a cat in a wig and sometimes with a smaller Sam (kitten) in the background.  Students were encouraged to practice skill and creative embellishment in their work.  Choices in color for the cats were left up to the student's discretion.  Here are a few of the finished projects, definitely worth sharing!!!

Chameleons in mixed medium

I'm developing a love for bleeding tissue paper this year.  Seems like each year I get stuck on some medium and explore it unreasonably.  This year it seems to be becoming project with that tissue paper.  Here is the latest, done quite successfully with first grade students.   They drew with a black crayon and then watercolor for the background and the little chameleon was glued on top.  This was a two week lesson.  I was really please with the results.  We also paired this with some factual information about Chameleons found in the book. 

Kids love Monsters!

I sent my monster to the North Pole because he is a snow monster.

I think this is one of my favorite lessons for second grade every year.  I start by reading a fun little book by Peter McCarty, "Jeremy Draws a Monster".  The book is about a young boy who never leaves his third story apartment but instead gazes out the window watching the neighborhood children playing.  One day he draws a monster that doesn't turn out to quite be the great companion he had planned for.  Jeremy sends the monster away and in the process, meets the neighborhood children and joins them in play.  My students quickly determine that the monster is quite rude and not very kind to his creator, Jeremy.  They are not surprised when Jeremy decides to get rid of the monster and begin to see the positives from the experience as Jeremy joins the other children to play.  The fun side of this project begins when I challenge my students to draw the destination that Jeremy has sent the monster off to.  We've ever explored the possibilities of a sequel to the

My monster is a blue monster.  He is in Paris.
 I hope the rain is over by now.  My monsters name is Bluer.

 book in hopes that Mr. McCarty had plans for
his monster.  But until that book is published, my second graders have stepped in with their own conclusions.  Students drew a perceived destination and then tore an organic shape to create their own monster.  The best part of this lesson for me happens once they write their artist statements to describe their work.  Most often they give the monster a name.  It's a fun project and I am so delighted with the results this year.  I can tell they really put their hearts into these.  I'm very proud of their work.  The captions under the photos are some of their artist statements.  I have posted the lesson play on Artsonia.  It can be found here.

I sent my monster to the desert.  His name is Paper.

I sent him to New York.  I used blue and red.

My monster can fly.
 I made my monster in Wacky Town.
 It's name is Jacke.

Thanks to Mr. E! A Pout Pout Fish Lesson

Back in November, Mr. E over at Art with Mr. E ran a giveaway for copies for the Pout Pout Fish book series, and I won! I read the books and couldn't wait to figure out a way to use them.  Well, I finally came up with an idea a few weeks back and here are the wonderful results made by my kindergarten students.  They began the project by cutting shapes and assembling them into a fish.  Week two was about texture as students added scales and other details to the fish.  We also investigated the under sea habitat of a fish and used crayon to create the bottom of the sea.  Week three, students finished any coloring from the week before and added the sea to their work with liquid watercolor.  Once dry, shape fish were added to the composition.  So, here is to Mr. E.  We loved the books and with the three book series were able to enjoy a new one each week to accompany the steps of the project.  My personal favorite was the one about school but I think my kinders really enjoy hear about the Deep Deep Dark!

lots of coral and sea weed in this sea

This one imagined a clam with pearl and a star fish

I love the castles in these two girl's work (top and bottom) and the
unicorn fish.  You can tell they sit closely together.

Fifth graders Illustrated Children's Books

My fifth grade students have spent most of the year writing and illustrating children's books to be shared with younger students in their school.  As the year draws to a close many of those books are being completed.  I have scanned all of their work into Photo Shop where words were added.  Then all the books were spiral bound for the students to present.  I was looking for a way to animate the work and was unsuccessful with all attempts to take the psd images into any free animation programs.  Finally, I turned to Movie Maker and have create this video to share with you of one of the books.  Please forgive the misspellings and occasional mistakes, I thought I was a better proof reader but some mistakes did slip by me.  

I love Children's Illustrated Books!

Hardly a Kindergarten session goes by without my sharing one of my illustrated books with the group.  Often I start the class off with a book that is a springboard for the lesson.  Sometimes, the lesson is a continuation of the week before so I select a book just for fun.  This week students were completing a lesson and I had a new book that I was eager to share with them.  I was fortunate to win this book in a drawing at an event this week.  The author, Susan E. Goodman was the guest speaker.  Entertaining and extremely knowledgeable would be two appropriate words to describe Ms. Goodman.  I thoroughly enjoyed her presentation peppered with antidotes and humor.  I loved this particular one and immediately chose it to share with my students.  Ms. Goodman takes the reader on a journey back through time looking at the parcel of land that is currently New York City.  My students were delighted with the illustrations and intrigued by the story line.  I was impressed by their very insightful questions as they began to grasp the message of the non-fiction book.  I loved sharing this book and my students were definitely engaged with the historical message.  Check it out and many of the other books by Ms. Goodman.