Cardinals in 2nd grade

I've done cardinals in many different ways over the years, and this year with a little help from Art for Kids Hub, we've created another version!  We put our cardinals on evergreen branches to make them more of a winter project since we're hoping for some more snow before spring!  Well, at least I am, but my coworkers may not be! :)

For the pine needle "leaves" the students have a few guidelines to follow.  The needles must be as long as their index finger, they should be at least 2 shades of green, and they should be close enough that some of them touch, but not all of them.  This way we end up with fuller branches and no Charlie Brown Christmas trees. Ha!

5th grade pinecone progress...

We had some beautiful snow a couple of weeks ago and a few school delays, so my classes are a little behind on the projects they started at the beginning of January.  I wanted to post a few in progress pictures of the pinecones that my 4th and 5th graders are working on.  I have really enjoyed this one so far and I will definitely be adding it to my regular list of projects for winter.  The students have learned about so many of the elements of art AND principles of design with this one.  We've discussed value, shape, form, texture, and of course line.  They learned about repetition while drawing the pinecone, and are now practicing shading with black, brown, and white paint.  I can't wait to share our finished ones!

Cat Silhouette Sunsets - 5th grade

I did a similar project last year with 5th grade that used blue and purple hues to create a glowing moon.  I saw this one on Pinterest and just had to try it with my 5th graders!  This project is great for teaching painting techniques, using just the right amount of pressure to create thin lines.  Students have a tendency to smash their brushes onto the paper to get as much paint out as they can before dipping the brush again!  I try to encourage them to dip their brush as often as they need to in order to make smooth lines. 

Cherry Blossom trees

Here's hoping for warmer weather!  5th grade is working on these beautiful cherry blossom trees.  We studied cherry blossoms and trees on the activboard and then discussed blending and "not" mixing the paint for their blossoms.  We used pink, red, and lots of white to create the flowers.  I encouraged them to dip a corner of the brush in pink and the other corner in red.  Dab the blossom onto a branch, then dab white on top of that. They have all turned out so beautiful!