Free Coloring Page Friday!

 

I missed last week...oops!  So here are two freebies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free Coloring Page Friday!

 

I love to draw patterns and designs, but who has time to be perfect?  I'd NEVER be able to publish my own coloring book.  My art is better when it's messy and imperfect!  So I've decided to start a fun post every Friday.  If you love imperfect beauty, like me, then print and color these for free!  If not, just move along, friend.  Enjoy!  

 

 

 

My Own Art

Sometimes I get to make my own art.....

1st Grade Letter Paintings

1st Grade Initial Paintings

 

Class Periods:  4, 40 minute classes

Supplies: Styrofoam canvasses, tempera paints, assorted painting supplies. 

 

I have some of the best parents around at my school.  One parent in particular sends me these amazing Styrofoam pieces.  She works at a hospital, and they use them to ship supplies.  I discovered that tempera paint works great on them, so I don't even have to buy expensive paint.  The kids get to do a "canvas" project without purchasing the costly supplies!

 

Day 1: Introduce the content and practice writing our name as shapes.

 

So this unit is a Common Core tie-in.  The first unit they work on is letters.  I like my first unit to be shapes and lines.  So I've put them together in this fun, initial project.

 

We first look at artists who use simple shapes and lines, and discuss how they use them.  Then we focus on Jasper Johns and how he uses the shapes of numbers in his art.

 

Finally, we used this awesome tutorial from artprojectsforkids.org

 

 

Here's a link to my prezi - https://prezi.com/wkzkl3jasquj/artists-who-use-shapes/

 

 

On day 2 we are inspired by these paintings (I can't remember where I found the image) to create our own BACKGROUNDS for our letters.  I gave them cool colors for this day.

 

 

 

Day 2:  Cool Colors

Day 3: Warm Colored Letters

 

  

On Day 3 we use warm colors and make our letters and other details.

 

 

 

On Day 4 we outline the SHAPE of our letter with black and maybe add some details. 

 



4th Grade Papier Mache Masks 

Days: 6, 40 minute class periods

Supplies:  Papier mache (I mix mine with glue, flour, and water), cut paper strips, milk/plastic jugs, painting supplies, add-ons of your choice

Vocabulary: masks, cultures, connectivity

In 4th grade, we focus all year on different cultures.  I love to start with masks - we talk about different cultures and how masks were created in EVERY culture.  There's something about creating a mask that connects us as humans - people thousands of years ago in Japan were making them, hundreds of years ago in Alaska, etc.  It's a great common human experience, like a Mandala.

This year, I jumped right into papier mache with GREAT results.  Typically I like to leave 3-D art until later, but the kids have been so engaged and on task.  We are loving it.

We started by watching a video, Masks from Many Cultures, a Crystal production.  I typically only have them watch about half of it, prefaced by a short discussion on connectivity and culture and followed by them drawing a mask inspired by something they saw. 

 

 

 

 

I got this great worksheet at nocornersuns.blogspot.com

 

Day 2:  We started with papier mache!  We covered our tables and got our aprons on.  I found this video this year, which is not even close to what we are doing, but it improved my unit in 2 ways.

1. She pre-cuts the strips (we used white, she's using pink so it

doesn't blend on the white mask).  Genius.

2. She shows how to smooth the paper strips.  Lots of smoothing.

 

So, I showed this on silent and we discussed the process.  Our papier mache needs full dipping action, not just a finger dipped in the mix.  So we did that differently, too.

 

 

 

Then we got BUSY.  Here's after the 1st day.  I put a long piece of butcher paper at the back of the class so they would know where to set their art.  These are the SMOOTHEST projects I have ever had.  Glad I found that video!

 

 

 

 

Day 3: Our 2nd and final day of papier mache!  I refuse to live in papier mache for longer than 2 weeks.  To that end, early finishers get assigned to people who are/were absent, slower workers, etc. and we work as a team to complete everybody's mask.  It works very well.

 

Days 4 & 5:  Paint. 

I had these old wall paints that I wanted to use up, so I had our SRO come get them all open for me and I reused old germ-x bottles as pumps.  I handed each kid a paper plate and let them get their own paint!  They loved it, and so did I. 

 

Note:  These worked great for the 1st week but got messed up by the end of the 2nd week.  I did LOVE the kids getting their own paint with the ability to limit it, though, so I'm going to work on finding something more stable/permanent.

 

 

 

 

Day 6:  Add feathers, yarn, and bottle caps

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keith Haring Collagraph Prints

Keith Haring Unit

How lines, shapes, and colors communicate

 

Days: 4, 40-minute classes

Supplies: drawing papers/supplies, old cereal boxes cut down, foam pieces, peel and stick foam shapes, scissors and glue, computer paper (bright and white), black tempera paint, paintbrushes

Vocabulary:  Elements of Art, Lines, Shapes, Color, communicate, interpret

 

I love to use Keith Haring to start out our year in 3rd grade.  All my 3rd grade lessons center around artists.  We might be comparing how 3 artists painted oceans in different ways for a Common Core tie-in, or we might be focusing on how one artist uses the Elements of art, but it's always an artist theme. 

 

On the first day, we review the Elements of Art and then talk about how artists use lines, shapes, and colors to communicate.  We look at lines and find lines that are happy, sad, or angry; we look at shapes and interpret their meaning; then we look at a heart and change it in different ways to change the meaning. 

 

After all that, we look at Keith Haring's art.  We interpret several of his paintings, watch a short video, and draw our own Keith Haring figure on a half sheet of paper.

 

All that in ONE DAY.  But your kids will be so engaged - we love Keith Haring.  Here's a link to my Prezi - please copy into your own account if you're going to edit it at all.

 

https://prezi.com/ycsebo3iqnvt/keith-haring/

 

 

On the second day, we create our collagraph printing plate.  I gave each student a "printing plate" (the cereal box cut to size), plus a small piece of foam, and they were to draw/cut/glue their figure to their plate.  Step 2 was to cut lines for motion.  Then they were allowed to use their leftover foam and foam shapes to decorate with.  Honestly, I didn't spend any money on the foam shapes.  I have had SO MANY parents donate these over the years, and I almost never use them.  I was so happy to have a reason to pull them out! 

 

On the third day, we printed.  I used computer paper; every student got to choose one bright color and they all got one white.  We painted our plates with black paint and printed!  It was a totally new process, so some kids were very unsure of themselves but they did a great job.

 

Finally, we added color.  I made a big deal about the joy of multiples, and how we can experiment.  we used oil pastels to decorate our prints.  They were required to color one, but they could choose which one.  If they had a bad print, they could add color to try to improve it.  If they had a great print, they could add color to enhance it.  They could color both, if they wanted, but they only had to color one.  This lesson went so well and we started the year STRONG and ENGAGED.

Blackout Poetry

Found Poetry, Post 1

 

5th grade awesomeness

 

If I weren't an art teacher, I would have majored in English.  And, honestly, I probably would have taught.

 

So I love to include writing in art!  I discovered book page poetry (found poetry, blackout poetry) with this video by Miriam Poternastor. 

 

 

MY.STUDENTS.LOVED.IT

 

Last year, I left the project very open-ended.  I feel that the students had a difficult time using Miriam's method.  They couldn't find the words, they wanted the words to match the image, it was just hard!  This year, I chose to practice with the idea first.  We started with Blackout Poetry (just focusing on the words).  Here are two from that day. 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Last year, we spent less time on these but I found a unit from Teachers Pay Teachers that is all about Found Poetry and images.  I'm going to finish the unit (it should take 2-3 more class periods) with that, and in my second post I'll link it all up for you.  I can't wait to see what the students create!