3rd Grade Negative and Positive Space Skylines

I found an image on Pinterest and thought it would make a great lesson about positive and negative space. Third graders started by creating skylines, and turning them into stencils. Next, we used oil pastel to trace out the stencil and smudge it with our fingers to create the shining light effect. The last step of our project was to add in the final details using white colored pencils. Here are some of our projects!

4th Grade Geometric and Organic Shape Cut-Outs

     During this project 4th graders focused on identifying geometric and organic shapes. We started with three different colored papers. We folded each paper individually and started cutting! One paper had to be cut using geometric shapes, one with organic shapes, and one for both geometric and organic. Once we were done with the folding and cutting we layered them on top of one another to get these great results!

5th Grade Self-Portrait Project

5th Graders created these unique self-portraits by creating a silhouette and filling them in with the objects that represent them. I love all of the creativity!

4th Grade Still Life Project

4th Graders used their observation skills to create these beautiful still life drawings using objects found in the art room.

Eric Carle Inspired Neighborhoods

Kindergarteners were very excited to discover that one of their favorite authors is also a wonderful artist! Eric Carle uses painted paper to create all of his famous illustrations. Using watercolor paint, shapes, and warm and cool colors kindergarteners created their own neighborhood in the same way that Eric Carle creates his illustrations. They all turned out great!

We painted paper using warm and cool colors. Later the paper was cut into  4 pieces and became ready to use in our artwork!

We used squares and triangles to start building our neighborhoods.

2nd Grade Cave Art

2nd graders went back in time and learned all about one of the earliest forms of art: Cave Art! We discussed how art can be used to communicate stories about the past, or tells about the people who created it. After taking a look at some cave art we noticed all of the similarities in cave art such as the use of natural colors, and animals. The class even got a virtual tour of the cave of Lascaux to look at some real cave art!

Virtual Cave Tour

2nd graders made their own cave art by thinking of imagery that could communicate a message about the people of the present. Some created images of their own pets, while others included a hidden message using pictures and symbols. We used some animal stencils, oil pastels, and even experimented with some charcoal to make our own cave art come to life. The class loved crumpling up the paper to create a texture that you might find inside caves. At the end of the lesson the class got to walk through their very own 2nd grade cave (also known as my art supply closet)!

Creating our cave art!

Crumpling up all of the paper!

"Be nice to dogs"

A pet goldfish!

"Things that fly"

"Be nice to nature"

Winter Greeting Card Contest

Every year our school district has a Winter Greeting Card Contest. There were over 200 creative entries, and I can tell students really tried their best! From Madison school there were 3 winners and 3 runners up. I also chose a winner from my 4th grade class at Pleasant Lane. The winners get their cards printed, displayed, and sent out around the district, as well as their winning design displayed on the local tv station (videos to come)! Runners up won the chance to get their cards printed out to take home and give to family members. Congratulations to all of our winners, and thanks to all who participated!

Here are some of our winners!