Christmas Favorites {Winter Cardinal}

 Since our school mascot is the Cardinal, I am always looking for beautiful cardinal lessons. I do several varieties a year....everything from school spirit cardinal posters to a really cute snow globe I designed a few years ago. (I'll have to get that typed with pictures, it is SO cute!)

This year, I fell in love with the Art Projects for kids watercolor cardinal so much that I decided to try her basic idea with a couple of classes of kindergarten.

Using Kathy's basic steps for drawing, I let the students use a wing tracer in the center of turquoise construction paper.

We used her basic steps, using a pencil to finish drawing the body, legs, eye, 'mohawk', tail etc.

After drawing, students trace over pencils lines with a sharpie, coloring in the black 'mask' around the face. Students could also add a twig....they choose whether the cardinal is flying away from the branch or about to land (depending on which side has the most room).

Students colored the beak and legs with a yellow construction paper crayon, and used a green construction paper crayon on the twig.

I split this lesson into three weeks. The second week, we painted the cardinal red and after everyone was done with red, I set out white paint for snow.

I had to STRESS, rather emphatically with my kindergarteners, NOT to let the two paint colors mix. I didn't even let both paint colors be on the table at the same time.

The third week, students re-outlined their sharpie lines and drew things back on that were gone after painting...like the eye and black mask. This step only took 4-5 minutes.

They are SOOOOO cute!! I can't wait to finish them up with other classes. The painting and drawing could all be done in one week...I just like to split things up sometimes.

Thanks for reading. If you do something similar this winter, I would love for you to post a link in the comments!!

Christmas Favorites {Nutcracker Drawing}

One of my favorite Christmas projects for K and 1st is the Nutcracker drawing. I got the basic steps from Art Projects for Kids. It would be easily adapted to older grades.

Next year, I want to get my hands on the book (illustrated by Maurice Sendak!!) for the lesson. For now, I just tell the story from the ballet, using my nutcracker statue as an example. Some students have been to the ballet, but most know the story from the Barbie cartoon. 

Uncle Drosselmeyer, godfather of Clara and Fritz....with his eye patch, this one matches the one that I show students.

 Some of the Kindergarten nutcrackers end up looking quite scary!

 This year, I had the kindergarteners draw in pencil, trace in sharpie and color with crayons...all in one 50 minute session.

NOTE: I would definitely split this into a two-week project in the future. By the time they get to coloring, they hardly care enough about the details to finish it really well.

 For 1st grade, I already had tempera paint out for a big kid project, so I decided to let them paint their nutcrackers. In addition to the paint that was available, I prepared jars of peach for the wooden faces and glittery white for the furry beard.

Week 1, draw the nutcracker, trace in sharpie and paint with tempera paint.

Week 2 re-trace sharpie details (like noses and buttons that were covered with paint) Cut out to make an ornament/puppet.

For the display, I put them over red fabric, with a gold paper 'matte'....stunning!

Large Painting With Words

After making a couple of large paintings with words on canvases, I became inspired to do something similar with my students. One of my paintings hangs in my living room, the other is in my classroom. Above, you can see that I added melted crayons to the top...it looks so cool in my classroom!

The week before we painted, I encouraged students to grab a packet of songs I had made with lyrics copied from the internet and read over the choices so that they could select something that would be meaningful to them. I had a wide range of choices, poems like e.e. cummings, i carry your heart, to You're A Grand Old Flag and Amazing Grace. I chose children's songs and poems that I liked....I asked the music teacher if she had any lyric sheets, so that I could use songs they sing in music, but she didn't have anything like that.


So I ended up putting a few easy songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star so that they would have some variety. Ideally, this would be a fun project to collaborate with a music teacher or even a classroom teacher...many of my students wanted to write their own poems, but since this was just a one-week project, they didn't really have time to do that.

For my demo, I kept adding to one painting, and showed how to splatter paint

This project could be done in one week, I just wanted them to have a sneak peek at the list.

On painting day, did a demo of how to paint lettering. Since they weren't tracing over something that was already written out, this was really, really good practice for precision painting. I encouraged them to go slow, pay attention to the words and the spelling, and make sure they consider what they will do if they get to the end of the paper, but not the end of the word. I also pointed out that if they mess up, do not put an 'X' over the mistake or try to 'black' it out. Just keep going....the main idea is to have a bunch of words painted on a big paper.

I gave them all the list again and had them make their final choice. Once they had selected, they grabbed a 16X20 piece of paper, I did it on craft brown, but anything would work. It was important that they wrote their names on the back, and then I let them start painting.

This project worked really well with 3rd, and 4th graders. If the table was too crowded, I let some of them sit on the floor.  I tried the project with a class of 2nd grade, and since it was the beginning of the year, it was really hard for them to get the sizing of the letters right...they either did them too big or too little, or tried to black out their mistakes.



As a variation, I did allow one class to add melted wax to a smaller version of the painting, on white watercolor paper. I had a bunch of peeled crayons, I threw them in my wax melter, for encaustic painting, and let my students use the eye dropper and sticks to splatter the paintings with wax.



It didn't work out very well....the wax crumbles off the finished product easily...and the colors got all muddy after they got mixed by 20+ kiddos in one hour.

For the large paintings, I matted a few and hung them up at a local shop in town for the September art walk. It was exciting for my students, the paintings were very meaningful right after September 11th, and it was a great opportunity to show off such a large format.

  
It was super cool to see my students at the art walk with their families!! Some had never even been to a Third Thursday event.

Circle Paintings as a Sub Plan

Normally, I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER leave a painting project with substitute.

Okay, I would definitely never leave a KINDERGARTEN painting project with a sub.....

and I WOULD NEVER leave a kindergarten painting project with a sub on THE FIRST DAY OF PAINTING......but....

This year, I realized one a Thursday night that I would have to be gone the next day, there was absolutely no getting around it...and it was too late to come up with a whole new plan, and besides it would totally screw up my careful lesson planning (which I've already got my plans 'penciled in' in my planner through January)..so I typed up the 'kindergarten painting' sub plan and dropped it off in my classroom around 9:30 that night....and made sure that everything was set up and ready for the sub.....


And you know what? Everything turned out alright!

Here is what I left for the sub....in case you ever need an emergency sub plan....it was great for beginning of the year, kindergarten or 1st grade...I recently read a post 'Be Nice to Your Subs' by an art teacher who gave lots of great tips for preparing for a sub, be sure to check it out!

Shape Painting

1.     Explain that today we will be painting. (The kids will be very excited!)

2.     Point out the painting examples on the board.

3.     Say: We will be painting today but first, I would like to play a game.

4.     There is a stack of laminated shapes on the pink table by the board. Hold one shape up for each table, ask: “What shape is this?’ “How many sides does it have?’ “How many corners does it have?”(One shape for each table: square, triangle, rectangle, circle, oval, rhombus or diamond)

5.     After the shape game, demonstrate how to trace circles on the big white paper taped to the board using some big and little circles. Explain that when one shape covers another shape, that is called overlapping. Have students say ‘overlapping’ out loud. Point to the shape that is made when two circles overlap. Explain that that area is now a new shape. When we are painting the shapes, the ‘overlapped’ area should be a different color than the two circles.

6.     Demonstrate how to make big and little circles on the paper, overlapping and making a few go off of the paper.

7.     Demonstrate how to paint the paper.

a.     Select a light color like yellow, to use this paint, you have to get it wet like watercolor paint, use yellow in one spot, but do not rinse your brush. Continue using yellow all over the paper, in different shapes or overlapped areas.

b.     When you switch colors, you have to rinse your brush very good. Now select another color, like orange. Paint orange in a few areas. 

c.      When students are painting, make sure that they do not TAP their brushes on the side of the bucket, show them what ‘not’ to do. When they tap, that makes the water splatter on other’s paintings and messes up other student’s artwork. Instead, drag the brush gently on the edge of the bucket.

d.     Students may use any color they want in any spot they want, being careful not to put the same color right beside itself. Also, white doesn’t show up good….and they should save BLACK for LAST because it dirties up the water bucket quickly.

8.     After you are done painting all of the shapes on your paper, have 3 teams start putting on paint shirts while the other 3 teams start drawing the circles. This way, you can pass out the supplies and help both groups and the paint shirt area isn’t too crowded.

9.     Once everyone has gotten their paint shirts on, and they are done drawing the circles MAKE SURE THEY WRITE THEIR NAME ON THE BACK BEFORE THEY START PAINTING.

10. Pass out the paint sets and the water buckets to every table.  Remind them to use their first color in several spots, before rinsing out their brush. Assist students as necessary to make sure they are not tapping brushes, hat they are not mixing colors, and they are trying to stay inside the lines of the circles. Encourage them to paint a variety of colors.

11. When students are finished, they should put their papers in the drying rack, we always, always start at the bottom.  There are enough ‘sides’ on the drying rack for each class to fill up one whole side. Please label the classes in the drying racks so I can grade them when I get back on Monday.

12. If they need to wipe off their fingers, they may use the water buckets to do so, only then should they take off their paint shirts.

13. If time allows, point out the ‘shape’ sheet on the red table. Students who have dried off their table may grab a shape coloring sheet and a basket of crayons, they can color it to take home.

14. If you find that you have a LOT of time at the end with a class, you can let them cut out the shapes, but you probably won’t have time for that.

Notes:

I’m attaching my procedure information, please read over how I mark stars...the kids are mostly trained, but it is still early in the year, and this is the first time we are painting! As always, my seating charts are on the black table by the board.

Painting checklist before-you-paint: (for the sub)

·Fill water buckets about ¼ full

· Make sure each bucket has 4 paint brushes

· Fill hand washing buckets with lukewarm water and a tiny bit of soap, each should have 2 sponges for washing

·  Fill a water bucket to use for the demonstration at the front of the room and put a paint set on the pink table to use….also, hang a white paper on the board for the demonstration

Painting checklist: after you paint (for the sub)

· Put up chairs

·  empty water buckets and lay brushes out to dry (don’t forget the ‘teacher’ demonstration bucket)

· Empty hand washing buckets and squeeze out sponges, laying then out to dry

Perhaps I go a bit overboard, typing up a checklist and such detailed instructions, but I know subbing in art can be daunting to substitute teachers. Along with this written lesson plan, I leave visuals on the board, a copy of classroom procedures and my schedule.

For this project students used tempera cakes, but watercolors would've worked just as easily!

I displayed the results along with the 'line designs' from earlier this year. A 'Line and Shape' display, it is really colorful and beautiful. I can't even tell which paintings were done with the sub and which were done under my careful instructions. I love how each person interpreted the same instructions differently. Some didn't follow the directions exactly, but the results were still beautiful.

 

Easy Elephant painting for Kinders

Resources to consider:
I showed them images of elephants. I also read the book Elmer by David McKee
Intended Grade Level(s): K-1
Estimated Class Period(s): 1 or 2
Materials Required: 12X12 white paper at least #80 weight, rulers, pencils, examples finished elephants to reference
Goals and Objectives: The goals of this lesson are to use a variety of colors and tempera paint with control, use shapes and lines in a composition.
Kindergarten PP 1.A Produce a line using crayon, pencil, or marker EP 1.A Identify and use lines 1.B Identify and use shapes I.E Identify and use color
1st Grade PP 1.B Apply paint with a dragging, not pushing motion EP 1.A Identify and use straight, curved, thick and thin lines 1.B Identify and use triangle, circle, square, rectangle and oval shapes 2.A Identify and demonstrate the concept of middle or center AP 2.A Identify the following in artworks: lines, shapes, colors, patterns


Project (Steps, Examples, etc):

1. This is a very simple, successful and straightforward project for little ones.
2. All of my kindergarten students seemed to be familiar with Elmer. I read the book Elmer (there are many in the series to choose from).
3. Demonstrate how to draw an elephant. Start with the trunk. Make a candy cane line and a backwards candy cane line in the middle of the paper. Then extend both lines beside each other, parallel. Close with a a sideways 'm'. Draw a circle around the top of the trunk for the face. Draw a big 'c' on each side for the ears.
4. Add eyes, tusks and lines on the trunk for texture. I showed them to draw the eyes below the 'candy cane curve.'
5. Some students chose to add eye lashes, bows, peanuts or a crown on top of their elephant.
6. Demonstrate how to trace over lines with a sharpie marker, make a black circle in the middle of the eye, color the white of the eye and the white part of the tusks with a white crayon (pressing down hard).
NOTE: If students made their elephants too small, (especially kinders) tell them that the small one could be the baby elephant and to just make another 'mom' elephant on the white area of their paper...that usually helps them and keeps them from getting upset...it also means you don't waste paper by giving them lots of chances.
7. Painting could be done during another class time....I actually had my students draw their elephants at the end of another project so after I read Elmer all we had to do was trace in sharpie and paint. I had an Elmer tracer ready for free time...if students finished early, they could make a little Elmer using crayons to take home.
8. We painted with tempera cake paints. I encouraged them to use yellow first, paint their elephant using any colors they wanted, but save black for last. I also demonstrated that they could paint their elephants with gray, I showed them how to mix black and white and gave them a choice. I encouraged them to paint the background black...but most just went with whatever they were feeling at that moment, they didn't plan it out too much.

 

 It is always interesting to see the variety of results that I get with a project like this.

I always model and demonstrate my own elephant at the front of the room. 

I show examples of what students in other classes have done and point out thing that are 'good' and 'bad' about each one. No matter how clearly I explain, someone always makes a mess of their paper. 

I have 11 classes of kindergarten. Most students were successful with this project. Their little drawings were precious....and they were able to keep control of the paint...few ruined their project once they added paint. Oh yeah, we did this before Christmas--I am really happy with the results!