Native American Pottery

This is a fun, easy lesson that the kids really enjoy. We began by discussing why native Americans would make pottery long ago and how it has changed today. We then decorated our own pottery using colored pencils and then cut them out and glued them to colored paper. We looked at modern pots to get ideas for designs.

Read Across America!

As part of Read Across America, our school had a door decorating contest. We had to use Dr. Seuss characters. I had a lot of fun creating mine. Because of all of the focus on Dr. Seuss that week, I decided we had to do an art project that incorporated some of his work.

So, for a few classes, we looked at and discussed the fish in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.We then created a background in the Dr's style using strips of bright colored tissue paper and then created our own fish, similar to the ones in the book. I showed them step-by-step how to make a swimming fish and a standing-up fish. They drew and colored them in using oil pastels. They were then cut out and glued to the background. This was a lot of fun and, as you'll see, the first graders were very proud of their work:)

Sponge Bouquet

This project was such a fun one (but can quickly become a messy one if you're not careful). We started out talking about bouquets and vases. Then we went over painting rules. I then did a demo for the kids. We all did the first part together, where each student and I had a colored piece of construction paper (9"x6" I think). Together, we folded the piece of paper in half and then cut out our vases by cutting the paper in half (parallel with the fold) using a creative line. We then unfolded our newly cut vases and glued them to our 9"x12" white paper.
At this point, I did a demo for the class showing them how to creat their flowers. I began by painting some flower centers above my vase. You can use one color, or make them different colors. Then, I painted one side of my petal-shaped sponge and then sponged all the way around one of the centers. I then painted it again using a different color and sponged another flower. I then passed out all of the supplies and let the kids get to creating:)

I love how creative this little artist was. She painted a table and decorated her vase all on her own:)

Wet Sea Turtles

How could you not be pumped to create sea turtles after watching this?

I showed this to the class first to get them excited for sea turtles, and they loved it. We then discussed the difference between regular turtles and sea turtles. I then had them create their turtles using pencil and then crayon on watercolor paper (only use watercolor paper for this project!). After they were done drawing, I let them paint over the whole thing with watercolors. I had them use "ocean colors" ie: blue, green, purple... Then, while the paint was still wet, we layed a piece of plastic wrap over each project until it dried to create the neat, light-water-reflection over each sea turtle.This was a great project to follow up their sheep crayon resist project. *don't forget to have them write their names on the back before painting:)

Hearts of Line

We started this lesson by leanring about line and I showed the kids many different examples of lines and how lines can even form shapes. I then had them each work with a 12"x12" sheet of white drawing paper. We first folded it in half, and then folded it in half again, this created four equal square to draw in. I then had the students use pencil to draw hearts in each square and then fill them in with line designs. I also encouraged them to put line designs in the background as well. I provided heart stencils if the kids wanted to use those to help them draw. When they were done drawing, they then colored over all of their lines with markers to finish their project.

Chinese Lanterns

2nd grade

1st Grade

We did this project as part of a lesson on Chinese New Year, which is coming up. I taught them some Chinese and then showed them some Chinese characters that they could draw on their lanterns. For the first graders, I passed out 81/2"x11" white sheets of paper that I had copied off with the cut-out lines on them. I then had them decorate the back of the paper for about ten minutes. Then I showed them how to cut. First, I had them cut off a 1" strip from one of the shorter ends of their paper. Then they folded the paper in half so it was a skinny rectangle. Then I had them hold it with the open side up. There was a line going across the paper about 1" from the top. This was their "stop" line. They then began cutting straight up from the fold crease on the bottom and stopping at the "stop" line. They make little cuts like this all the way across. I then had them bring up their papers to me and I unfolded them and then folded it in the opposite direction on the same fold line. I then taped the two skinny end together and taped the strip across the top to create a handle. For the second graders, I had them do the same thing, but without the drawn-on paper. We used big sheets of colored construction paper instead that were cut into long half sheets. This made their lanterns much more round and puffed out. Here are some better instructions, because I know mine were confusing



This is the template I copied off for the 1st graders to follow

Pumpkin Patch

We began by talking about pumpkins and discussing their traits and how there are many different looking pumpkins. We then looked at some pictures that showed a wide variety of pumpkins (shape, size, color...) The students then created their own pumpkin patches. They first drew and colored their pumpkins on a white sheet of paper, then cut them out and pasted them onto the green sheet of construction paper. They then decorated the background. This is a great lesson for teaching space, as the pumpkins can be layered to show depth.

Thankful Quilt Square

This is a great project for Thanksgiving time. Our class began by sharing things that they were thankful for and I wrote them on the board (I sketched some of them out as well, as many of these were new words). I then shared my Thankful Quilt Square with the class and explained each item I had drawn and why I was thankful for it. I then had the students each create one of their own. A fun option would be to post them all on a classroom wall (or displayed somewhere in the school) together so it looked like a large quilt. *note, if you choose to have them create a border frame, have them glue it on first before they begin drawing what they are thankful for in the center (so nothing gets covered up).

Gingerbread Man

This is a great holiday project. We started off by reading the classic story of The Gingerbread Man and then discussed the characteristics that gingerbread men have and then I had them design their own on 5x7 pieces of brown construction paper. I had them use oil pastels for this project because they show up very bright on the brown paper. They did the "icing" first and then added any other details that they wanted. They then glued them down to "baking sheets" -which were made with cardboard covered with aluminum foil.

Watercolor Resist Sheep

I just did this project with my 1st graders. I got the idea for this project from this great site. It a great one for teaching how animals can easily be made with simple shapes. Plus the kids thought it was way cool how they could paint right over their sheep and the crayon resisted the watercolor.

Pattern Quilt

After a lesson on how pattern is used in art, the 1st graders each made their own pattern quilt. I had the template already made and copied for everyone, they then filled in the squares using patterns in texture and color.

Cave Art

I did this project with my first graders. We had a lot of fun. As part of the intro to the project, we visited this site and I projected it on the SmartBoard and let the kids come up and interact with it. The kids LOVED it and now I use it as an incentive to get them to behave in class (ie: If you guys all work hard and get done on time, we can visit the cave again:) ) They also enjoyed crumpling up their pictures to give them texture and make them look old.