MARGUERITE MAKES A BOOK and Illuminated Letters

As part of our year-long unit on Art History 4th and 5th graders learned about the history of illuminated manuscripts. They began by doing an illuminated version of the first letter of their name. They had to measure and draw a one inch border, fill it with a design or pattern, then add mythical or natural elements to decorate their letter. They could use metallic sharpies to "illuminate" them, like gold leaf  was used in medieval times.

For the second phase of this projects students recreated their letters on slabs of clay. They rolled them flat and traced templates to get a uniform size. We added a variety of texture to the background, then used "scratch and attach" to add coils for their letters. When they had been fired we glazed them!

Resources & links for making art at home

Drawing:

My students' favorite drawing tutorials:

https://www.artforkidshub.com/

More drawing resources (thanks to Avery!)

https://seatup.com/blog/sit-down-and-draw/

And dice drawing games (roll the dice to see what to draw!):

https://deceptivelyeducational.blogspot.com/2011/12/build-bug.html

https://i0.wp.com/www.secondstorywindow.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/monsterdraw.jpg?ssl=1

http://holderbaum.educationextras.com/LegoActivities.html

For young comic book artists, this illustrator has blank comic book panels & activity sheets:

https://jarrettlerner.com/activities/

Fun zentangle/op art ideas:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs023/1101168872594/archive/1103991260417.html

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/aa/c3/0a/aac30ab38fb59341ec353d83538e6725.jpg

Origami:

https://www.origami-fun.com/origami-for-kids.html

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/origami-for-kids-4162883

Clay:

Homemade play dough recipe:

https://domesticsuperhero.com/best-homemade-playdough-recipe/


Pottery app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.idreams.potterylite&hl=en_US

Collage:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/16/95/a4/1695a4d200f9d1bc401d96e6236f64fa.jpg

Painting:

https://www.smallhandsbigart.com/abstract-scraper-painting/

Sculpture & Design Challenges

https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/62002/kids-craft-paper-boxes

https://frugalfun4boys.com/engineering-challenges-clothespins-binder-clips-craft-sticks/

http://colorforeveryone.blogspot.com/2014/05/gesture-drawing-and-foil-figures.html?m=1

https://onelittleproject.com/beaded-pipe-cleaner-people/

https://artfulparent.com/3-d-art-sculpture-ideas-kids/

BRUSH OF THE GODS and Chinese Calligraphy

BRUSH OF THE GODS, by Lenore Look, is one of those books that entrances older students. By the last pages they are holding their breath to see what happens.

I buy special bamboo brushes for this project, and remind students how to take good care of them. The first day, after reading the book, students practice Chinese characters on a plain sheet of copy paper folded into fourths using the bamboo brushes and black tempera cakes. I play traditional Chinese music while they work. A great resource for learning and sharing Chinese characters is my friend Andrea's website: https://chineseiscool.com/

The second day they continued to experiment with the brushes by painting other subjects such as bamboo, pandas, and dragons!

THE SHAPE OF MY HEART Valentine's Mobiles

Kinder and 1st grade students decorated these sweet streamers after reading THE SHAPE OF MY HEART. I copied heart templates on colored copy paper to make it an easy one day project. They were excited to use these to decorate their classrooms for Valentine's Day.

Older students, in 3rd-5th grade, learned to make a simple one string mobile using 6 x 6" construction paper squares and yarn. They folded two pieces of paper together and cut a heart on the fold. I also showed them how to cut "heart rings" and increasingly smaller hearts to use on their mobiles. They simply glued them "like a sandwich" on either side of the yarn. They made every variety of mobile, from large to small, and some student experimented with other symmetrical shapes.

YOU BE YOU Collaborative Mural

I started the year by reading this book to all classes. Thanks to my parent volunteer's help we made this awesome collaborative mural. Students loved adding their fish and other underwater details to our ocean.

THE RAINBOW BOOK & Rainbow Mosaic Collage

This was the second rainbow project I did with Kindergarten to reinforce the order of a rainbow. Reading THE RAINBOW BOOK also gave us chance to talk about the way colors can relate to feelings.

After a demonstration on the document camera students began by folding, drawing and cutting a heart for the center of their collage. I always ask students to check with me before cutting since hearts can be tricky! Then, students used strips of paper from orange to purple to cut into different shapes for their mosaic. We reviewed rainbow order and also talked a bit about symmetry. I love the way each student interpreted this differently, but all the variations were beautiful and successful. I'm publishing these on ARTSONIA as my Mother's Day fundraiser.

NOT A STICK

We did this project as part of our Kindergarten unit on line. The first day we read NOT A STICK, which they loved, and talked about using our imaginations. Students glued popsicle sticks to a plain black paper after creating a composition they were happy with.

The next day, after they had dried, they painted using flourescent tempera cakes.

TOO MUCH GLUE

I love reading this book the first time we use glue in Kindergarten since it's fun to see what NOT to do! Since we begin by studying line I give them an assortment of paper strips to make a collage. Rather than use scissors I encourage them to tear the paper to make it smaller. It's also a good way for them to develop fine motor strength. For glue I use spill-proof cups and cheap plastic brushes. These are SO much easier to refill, and they never get clogged the way glue bottles do. Plus using brushes prevents puddles and putting TOO MUCH GLUE on their paper ; )

FOLLOW THE LINE THROUGH THE HOUSE

To transition from our first trimester unit on line to our second trimester unit on shape we did this project incorporating both elements. I've been wanting to use the cute book by Linda Ljungkvist for awhile, and this lesson was perfect. 

After reading the story students chose geometric shapes to use for a house, planned their composition and glued them with a glue stick. I had different sizes of rectangles, triangles and squares pre-cut for them to choose from. Then they drew details using a sharpie marker. This kept them very engaged, and as always they all came up with interesting stories to go with their pictures!

Animals

I love these magical animals created by 1st and 2nd graders! We started by looking at animals in art, including "Cat and Bird" by Paul Klee and the many Blue Dog paintings by George Rodrigue.

Day 1 we read THE CAT AND THE BIRD, by Geraldine Elschner which was inspired by Klee's painting. What a great idea for a book! To get started I used instructions on how to draw a simple cat from Kathy Barbo's wonderful website, Art Projects for Kids. We looked at how to use basic shapes, beginning with a circle for the head, to draw a variety of animals. The first day they drew with pencils then outlined with sharpies.

Day 2 we read WHY IS BLUE DOG BLUE, by George Rodrigue, then they went to work adding color to their animals using crayons. Day 3 we looked at more examples of Blue Dog with various backgrounds, then used tempera cakes to finish the backgrounds.

Finally, on Day 4, students wrote titles and descriptions for their animals, which they loved doing! For kids who really struggled with writing I transcribed for them.

Beginning of Kindergarten

EVERY year I forget how hard Kindergarten can be at the beginning. The very first day is magical, but as the spell wears off it can get a little crazy. Definitely like herding cats. I always start with reading a story on the rug- and lately this includes reminders on how to sit and listen. I copied this rhyme from another teacher:

Criss cross, apple sauce,

Hands in your lap.

Eyes on Mrs. Freeman

'Cause she likes it like that!

Then, we begin with line. Since our school year is divided into trimesters we focus the first one on line, the second on shape, and the third on color. Reading LINES THAT WIGGLE, by Candace Whitman is a great way to begin talking about and noticing lines. It leads into a search for lines around the art room, and then students create their own line designs on the folders we'll use for the first trimester to hold their art.

Another great book to use early on is the classic, HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON, by Crockett Johnson. It's such a strange but mesmerizing story! I followed this story up with time to draw on "magic" scratch art paper. Several students had already used it, but for the ones who hadn't it was very much like magic. Even the students who can still only scribble were engaged for most of our time. 

As students finish they learn to put their work in the designated "Finished Pile" and then choose from options in the Makerspace including clipboards and free draw paper, magnet boards and shapes, chalkboards, and art books to read.