Cardboard self-portrait by Diana, grade 5

"This is the dress that i get to wear to a wedding that I am going to."

"The Tank" by Justin, grade 4

Wooden Stick Dude by Marcus, grade 5

Cardboard Man

Cardboard continues to be a popular material to work with in art class. I love the colored masking tape.

"The Macaw"

Each week in art class, Zachary will come into class and make some sort of animal at the collage center. "Miss Kinniery, today I am going to make a............." Right now his class is studying birds so for the past month he has made a variety of birds( egret, macaw, peacock) His mom told me that she hangs them in his room when he brings them home.

Santa Puppet by Taylor, grade 5

Guess who's coming to town!

Disco Puppet

Sara, grade5, made this disco puppet at home and broguth it to school to show me. It's good knowing some students will continue to create art at home.

"I made this of the Brazilian flag because that's where I am from." -Sara, grade 3

Kindergarten Owl Puppet

Noah made this owl puppet after he completed a color mixing lesson. This was completely self-directed. He got all of the supplies to make this on his own.

American Girl Doll Paper Dress

Brianna, grade 2, made this dress for her American Girl doll. She rolled cylinders for the arms and slipped them into holes in the sides of the large cylinder. I was amazed at her creativity.

Klichko vs Tyson

These boxers are Mike Tyson and a Ukranian boxer named Klichko. The student that made this is from the Ukraine and he spent 3 classes making it. The figures are made from aluminum foil wrapped with masking tape and painted with acrylics.

Michelle, grade 3, uses oil pastels to color her golden retriever.

Dog Book

These two second graders are collaborating on a dog book. They are using oil pastels and paint.

A first grader uses the shape method of painting her tiger

"Dog on a Blanket" by Matheus, grade 2

"Owl" by Samantha. grade one

Pair of Birds by Alicia, grade one

Action Puppet

This puppet was made after the lesson on drawing action figures. She used the same concept to draw and make the arms and legs move.

Bodies in Motion

Stephen, grade 3, practices drawing figures with ovals after a lesson on how to draw athletes.

Godzilla Painting (watercolor resist) by Mathew, grade 3

Kindergarten and choice

I am still having the kindergarten students do a "have to" lesson but am allowing them to work on different activities when they finish the lesson for the day. I thought I would have been able to have them work in centers by now but there are particular lessons that I feel are so important at this stage of artistic development. Last week they mixed primaries to create secondary colors and also made tints and shades. The excitement in the room was incredible. One student exclaimed, "Oh Griffin, I'm the man, I made a new color!!!" He was so proud of himself. They squeal in delight as they mix new colors and are amazed at the results of their efforts. Some will continue to paint while others want to make another puppet or collage when they finish. The puppet and collage center has actually been a nice segue into introducing the centers available to them in the art room.

Do not draw with the paint

This year at the paint center I am encouraging my students to choose their subject matter carefully and thoughtfully. It seems like a universal trend where children are happy to just paint letters or cliche symbols. I actually told the students that when they paint their name on a piece of paper, it's not really a painting (more like using paint to form letters) and we need to be a bit more creative in art class. They do know what I am talking about....the older students are more apt to do this. This happened last year when I opened the paint center and I see the need to revisit it again. This time when I taught the lesson on painting animals, (focusing on 2 ways only-shape and texture/pattern- to save time), I focused on technique. I spent a great deal of time talking about holding the paintbrush like a painter (in the middle) and not near the bristles as if they were drawing with the paint.
During the demo I showed them how to apply the paint like a painter and to not "draw with the paint". I also told them to not outline a shape and then fill it in as if they were using markers, but to dab the paint. For using the shape method of painting animals, I used a dry erase marker to draw right on top of the laminated photo so they could see what I was referring to and now I tell them to do this as well before they start their painting. For teaching dry brush, during my demo I pick up some paint with the brush, change my mind and wipe it off on a sponge and then "flick" an imaginary bug off the paper. After explaining it this way I even have first graders dry brushing animal fur in their paintings.
Their paintings are amazing and are worthy of exhibiting but they all want to take their paintings home and I can't blame them.

Kindergarten bag puppet and tube puppet

Spider Man with web by Justin, kindergarten

Kindergarteners love to make puppets

My kindies just love to make all sorts of puppets. Here is one student making a Batman puppet using a tongue depressor.

Bird Sculpture by Nick,grade 5

Tony

This 3rd grade student made this collage of piano keys for her brother Tony because "he loves jazz and plays the piano". What a thoughtful art idea.

Baseball Player

"I drew this picture of a baseball player with all of his cheering fans. I got the idea from my little brothers." Gabrielle, grade 5

Action Figures

One week I noticed quite a few students had an interest in drawing athletes. This is Donavan McNabb drawn by a 4th grader. I decided to do a lesson on drawing the human body, specifically in action using ovals and overlaps. I tore out photos from my donated pile of Sports Illustrated and laminated them to place in the drawing center. The students have been drawing these over the last couple of weeks (mostly boys) and they are doing a terrific job with it.

Featheres bird puppet

Sara (gade 5) made this feathery bird puppet one week and the next week made a similar bird puppet to go along with it.

Mitchell's bag puppet of Batman

First grader's dog puppet complete with bowl of food.

Belly dancer and hula girl by two fourth graders.

This folded paper puppet was created by a fifth grader that is usually at the drawing center drawing wolves. It was nice to see him working in a different form.

One Legged Spider -Man

Corey (grade 2) wanted to add Spider-Man's leg on at home so he took some paper with him.
I love how he added the web shooting out from the hand.
Students hate to leave their art at school.

Puppet Center Opens

The puppet center is now open and the students have been creating some wonderful puppets over the last couple of weeks. I introduced first graders to bag puppets and planned to show them 3 other types of puppets but they were so ready to start working that I stopped talking and let them start their art! These are the results that have been coming out of the art room from all grade levels. First grader Matthew made this Frankenstein puppet. Can't you tell Halloween is coming?

The finished volcano

Car and driver by Thomas, grade 3

Thomas asked for some beads and wire to make a driver for his car.

Fenway Park by Brett, grade 5

Sam and his little sculpture

Second grader Sam made this very small paper sculpture of himself in a house. It fits in the palm of his hand. Most of the students doing paper sculpture were creating big ones (see volcano) or were working together on other projects but Sam sat quietly at the collage center all by himself and created this small sculpture. I loved watching him work . He was so careful with everything, moving bits of paper around until he found the perfect spot.

More Paper Sculpture

The students are doing a wonderful job with their paper sculptures. Lauren (grade 3) made a tree with a tire swing.

Two Witches

Megan and Danielle (grade 3) made these two witches at the collage center.

Halloween Float

Halloween drawing by Andrew , grade 1

How do you make a sphere?

Nicholas (grade 5) asked me how to make a sphere using paper. He wanted to a make a head.
I replied, "I have no idea but I am sure you can figure it out." Sure enough, he did, using paper strips. He made a goblin for the Halloween dance.

Halloween Art

The PTO president at one of my schools has asked me if I could have some students make decorations for a Halloween dance they are having. She knows about my choice program and asked if I could set up a Halloween Center for them. The PTO has been very good to the art program ($) so I was willing to help out the best I can and told her that it would be a choice whether or not the students wanted to make decorations or not. I informed the students the next day and they were so excited to do it! Kids just love Halloween. Some wanted to stay in at recess and work on their Halloween art. I never actually set up a Halloween center. I just told the kids if they wanted to make Halloween-themed art at any of the available centers (drawing, painting, collage, paper sculpture) they could, but it was optional.
I was impressed with their work. This is a large paper zombie. You can't tell from the photo but the student (grade 5) used cut paper cones for the eyes.

Nick's Skatepark

Nick loves skateboarding and often draws skate parks and skateboarders. Here is his creation using paper.

"I am in Space" by Philippe, kindergarten

Kindergarten Collage

Kindergarteners are creating collages using shapes. Emma made a house, a penguin and some zoo animals.
Right now I am having all the kindies do the same lesson. This not only helps me see where they are developmentally (I make a note in my grade book on the students that have difficulty cutting, gluing, etc.) but I am trying to establish routines with them. Eventually they will be doing total choice. I know some classes will make the move sooner than others. I have some groups that follow directions during clean-up time and others that want to "play" and roll around the rug during this time.

Cutting with Scissors

Kindergarteners are developing cutting skills and assembling cut paper collages. "This is me wearing a crown." by Nyah.

Golden Pioneer

Here is a golden pioneer created at the collage center by a third grader. Matt collected many gold goodies to make his creation.

The Twits

A second grade class is reading The Twits by Roald Dahl. I was not familiar with the story but Michael told me it's about a couple that are very ugly, dirty, mean and HAIRY. He was motivated to make his version of The Twits.