Happy Valentine's Day!

I began this quick and easy lesson on form and shape with a substitute one day a few weeks ago.  Once I returned we went into more depth (no pun intended!) about how the curved lines make our hearts appear to pop out of the page.  We also talked a bit about the color spectrum so some students chose to do theirs in color spectrum order, although that wasn't a requirement.  We used one of my favorite mediums (besides paint of course!) Crayola Color sticks.  We even incorporated some fraction math by dividing the heart.  I should also mention that we drew everything in pencil first, then traced in Sharpie.  Otherwise you'll have black sharpie all over your rulers!  Instructions are posted at the bottom! :)  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays, I'm not sure why, maybe it's all the red and pink!  I've always loved it and now with my own children we always make a big deal of Valentine's Day every year.  My students are working on these nifty looking abstract hearts this week.  I've done so many variations of this project, but it's a great quick, yet neat looking design that I always fall back on!

My usual variation for older students involves patterns!

Abstract Hearts and construction paper colored pencils

A few years ago I ordered these fantastic construction paper colored pencils.  They're like the crayons except in a pencil form, perfect for my older kids.  After using them for a while and struggling with them breaking over and over after sharpening, (even just a little) I said I'd never order another box as long as I lived...

Well... apparently that was "short-lived..." I just couldn't resist!  They are awesome on black paper!  So I make my students promise not to use ugly words when they sharpen them and the break, and they sharpen again and break, and then sharpen and they break again, and again, and again... 

But aren't the results just beautiful?!  So worth the pain and suffering I tell them!!

I THINK they believe me...  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Shabby Chic Valentine

2nd grade is working on these beautiful Shabby Chic Valentines.  I love the texture and colors in them.  We are also practicing some shading with paint and learning about high lights, form, texture and how to make things look round and three-dimensional.  I have a final step planned for these... but I like the way they look right now so I'm thinking I may skip that step! :)