Candy corn, black cats, and pumpkins oh my!

I'm a little behind on my blog posting, so I wanted to go ahead and include everything we've been working on recently into one post.  6th grade created these amazing larger-than-life candy corn paintings, 7th grade painted pumpkins from a little different perspective, and 8th grade created these creepy up close and personal cat faces!  I mixed them in with the abstract trees and our hallways are officially "dressed" for fall!  

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!

Parrot progress!

Oooo I'm loving how some of these are turning out!  They are practicing blending in color wheel order, using my handy dandy paintbrush color wheel I made at the beginning of the year.  (More on that later. :) 

We are also blending in our leaves, using dark and light green, along with some yellow.  This student is doing a fantastic job on her leaves.

3rd grade donuts!

This is new project for third grade this year.  They learned a lot about value and how to use watercolor to create the illusion of a three dimensional object.  We drew the donuts by tracing a can for the large circle and a bottle lid for the center.  We added a couple of lines to give them depth, then began painting, using a darker version and a lighter version of the same color.  I think they turned out deliciously!!  :)

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! :)  

Dot Day Creatures in 3rd grade

Third grade is finishing up their Dot Day creatures this week!

Lots o dots!

Lots of dot projects going on this week in preparation for International Dot Day! We have dots everywhere in all shape and sizes to be used for various projects.  

Scrap painted paper storage... I can't bear to waste it so we cut and cut until there's nothing left. :)

Also some trees going on in fourth grade for their dot project... I can't wait to share the final pieces!

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! :)