Halloween is such a fun time to make art. I found this awesome lesson idea from a blog called ARTventurous. I absolutely loved this idea and knew I needed to test it out with my students. To get the students familiar with Frankenstein, I pulled up this version of the Monster Mash. They loved it and it really helped set the mood fro the art making too!
From there, I distributed black crayons for students to make their initial drawing. I walked them through how to make a FrankenKid head and body. They then took it upon themselves to various monster elements to their creation.
Step one, draw FrankenKid
Step two, add green monster skin and electricity coming from FrankenKid
After the drawing were complete, students were given watercolors to paint in the background and explore crayon resist. They always smile to see how the crayon repels the water.
The finish products came out great! I really love how all the FrankenKids are busting a move to the Monster Mash!
Remember this jingle? Man, does it stick in your head! My 3rd grade students are starting a collage project where they will be designing the most mouth watering hamburger that they can imagine. What better way to kick off the lesson that with this!
On day one, students made printed paper for them to later cut and use for the fixings. It was so much fin brainstorming what they would like to put on their burger. . . From the ordinary, cheese, ketsup, and lettuce to the extremist, guacamole, siracha sauce and even anchovies!
Paintbrush exploration station
Circles station
Rollers station
Sponge station
Day two we wove place mats using OGPS colors. The loom was made from card stock to give extra support while the students wove their blue strips of paper through. Look how focused this crew was while weaving!
Days three through five was the collaging part. I demonstrated various ways to cut paper to look like an edible addition and let the students design their own burgers.
The final step was to add a little pop-up french fries holder. The kids LOVED this addition and had a blast labeling the container as if the school had it's own fast food restaurant. The final products are definitely mouth watering!
6th grade students embarked on transforming 2-D drawings into having the illusion of depth. Students turned a 12"x12" paper into four shelves using perspective, crosshatching and variance of value. As a final touch, they collaged in an abstract display of characters and activity inside each of the boxes. The lessons took time, however, the students persevered and it paid off!
Students working hard on crosshatching their 4 squares.
Finding the perfect pictures to fill their boxes
You need A LOT of magazines for this project. Preferably all different kinds from sports to cooking so students can find a large variety of pictures to choose from.
My seventh graders and eighth grade elective class has been working hard on creating candy wrapper enlargements. We spent our first class looking at Andy Warhol and discussing the pop art movement.
We then took Warhol's concept of choosing an ordinary object and turing it into art by adapting it to candy.
Students were given a choice of candy to work with and were asked to observe the wrapper and it's contents. They needed to pay close attention to the font of the writing, the design on the wrapper and even the details on the candy itself. They were asked to create a composition on a 12"x12" paper and use the square fully. Enlarging either a letter, word or even detail makes for a recognizable picture without having to make the whole candy.
What is a line? It's the question I ask my third grade students as we start this lesson. By talking, observing and charting the lines around them students see how lines are significant in so many aspects of their lives.
I then have students move back to their tables and begin their line sombreros by following some basic steps to get the shape on their paper. From their we added 5-7 stripes across each hat to then fill with pattern and lines from the chart we generated. On day two, students take black paint to their hats and outline all their designs.
On the final and third day, student took Crayola Color Sticks to their sombreros. The focus was pattern as they filled in their hats with bold and beautiful colors.
I took their finished products and displayed them with the Sugar Skulls that the 6th graders completed. The final products complimented each other perfectly!
One of my favorite fall books is The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by, Linda Williams. This classic tale is a great read-aloud where students love to "clap, stomp, nod" along as they listen. The story focuses on a scarecrow who is unable to spook the old lady but she cleverly suggests he stay in the garden and scare off the crows for her. Since the story repeats all of the scarecrows essentials we then recreate it for our art project.
Day one is for laying down the background. I have the students make a corn field for their scarecrow to live in.
Adding the stalks to their corn field.
Next step is adding the leaves.
Then add some corn between the leaves.
Day two begins with tracing a template for the scarecrow clothes and then collaging all the details to the scarecrows body. Straw, patches, face, are just a few!
One of my favorite blogs for gathering lesson inspiration is Deep Space Sparkle. This site is loaded with amazing ideas, one of which I adapted for this kindergarten lesson. I started this pumpkin activity by reading the book It's Pumpkin Time! by, Zoe Hall to my kindergarteners. From there we observed a pumpkin, discussed it's attributes, and then drew our own. We all agreed that a pumpkin is round. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle rather a rounded shape. Pumpkins also have a stem and lines that appear on it. I passed out 12"x18" paper and black crayons for the class to sketch our pumpkins.
Look at these cuties waiting for their paint!
Trays were then passed out with yellow and red. This allowed students to practice mixing their primary colors. I asked students to paint the middle section with the first round of red and yellow. I then circled around to each group and added more yellow and asked them to color in the additional pumpkin sections with lighter shades of orange.
The next step will be to work on the pumpkin patch background, pumpkin stem, leaves and practice our sing along:
