MORE Pirate Portraits

So not only did I do Pirate Portraits with Second Grade, but also with First and KINDERGARTEN. WHAT?! Portraits with Kinders. I have not done it before, usually we start in First. But this year I was feeling feisty, so I gave it a try. 

Our theme was Self Portrait Pirates.

First the First Graders. 

 We ALWAYS do a practice and learn, like artists. Then we use the practice to help on the project so we don't have to draw lines all over the faces. Here you can see the side by side. 

I still can't believe how good these are!! 

Now the KINDERGARTENERS. 

They had done a few drawings of people in their classroom lessons, which I think helps. For the first time portrait project, the results aren't too bad. 

Kinder Farms

Kindergarten was inspired by the artwork of Grant Wood and created their own farm landscape.

I love to use Grant Wood as a way to introduce Kinder to landscapes and how to show Space. Grant Wood has clear overlapping hills and uses size as a way to show objects in the distance. These are all very easy ways for younger students to understand space on a flat surface. 

First we started by drawing those overlapping hills. Then we used oil pastels to draw objects such as trees, houses and crops to our farm. Last we used watercolor to fill in the sky and ground. 

Here are a few landscapes from this year: 

Clay Fish and Pinch Pots

2nd Grade just finished their clay fish. These slab fish are a great way to teach student how to attach clay. These are honestly some of the better clay fish I have seen from students in the recent years. And of course when using clay we are learning about form and the difference between 2-D and 3-D objects. 

Because storage is an issue I load the kiln as soon as I finish a class.
And let the clay dry there before firing.

After the clay transforms in the kiln we talk about the science behind the change. Then we start painting. I gave the students an assortment of paint colors including metallic. Students had to choose a color scheme with 4 colors of less. The results were amazing!!

The gold paint was a big hit!!


Kindergarten Pinch Pots 
 Every Kindergarten student everywhere, makes a pinch pot.
It can be the base for so many different clay lessons.
Here are some pictures of some amazing pinch pot construction by one Kindergarten class.

Kindergarten. Shape and Word Families

This summer I took a Reading class and it truly opened my eyes to the literacy epidemic that this country is facing. To fix this problem more then just the reading or classroom teachers need to be involved in promoting literacy, EVERY teacher should be involved, yes even the Art Teacher :)

So with literacy in mind I tweaked my Shape Lesson that I do with Kindergarten students every year. Before with this lesson students would learn about simple shapes and create a "Shape Book", in their book we would create animals using simple shapes, such as Circle-Turkey, Triangle-Mouse, Oval-Fish. The students would collage these animals, so not only are they learning how to draw these shapes but how to cut them out. This is also an opportunity to discuss how we use our materials the correct way, like scissors and glue.

After the tweaking... we not only are learning about simple shapes and how to use our materials. But now we are learning about word families. This year I concentrated on the -AT family. So now we are creating Oval-BAT, Rectangle-MAT, Circle-CAT, Square-HAT, and Triangle-RAT.
Here are some pictures from one class and their success in making their "Shape Book"... Enjoy!

Rectangle-MATS



Oval-BATS