Fabulous Fourth Graders~ Mexico! Day of the Dead Skulls

Fourth graders learned about the cultural celebration of Day of the Dead. Not to be confused with Halloween, the holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to remember friends and family members who have died, much like Memorial Day in our country.  

There are many celebrations and parades. Skeletons and decorated skulls are a big part of the holiday so we gave it a try!

 

JACK

A combination of oil and chalk pastels were used making very messy tables and hands but the kids didn't mind.

LAUREN

In order to complete it, they were to create a border or decorate each corner.

MADDY 

JOHN

I love how unique each one is, including this Marine!

AVA

JACOB

Thrilling Third Graders~ Ted Harrison Inspired Snow Scapes!

 Third Graders studied the art of Canadian artist Ted Harrison!

 They loved the layers in his paintings and the fact that he did unconventional things with color. Who doesn't love a red lake and purple sky?

 We went on to paint in the same style as Mr. Harrison. I really think they got it judged by the examples below, don't you think?

JESSICA

 They had so much fun mixing new colors. Some even wrote down the "ingredients" they used in case they needed to make more of their color later. Impressive!

 Great patterns in the sky!

BRIGID

 I like how some students were consistent with how much water they used to incorporate more tints than bright colors.

CALEB

TOMMY

 LOVE the lime green waterfall here!

 Nice door Ted!

Spectacular Second Graders~ Paint Cities!

 It took a few months to accumulate the paint samples, but what they did with them was amazing!

 I love the labels, the detail and especially the color combinations they chose!

 

 The backgrounds are painted tissue and of course the buildings are paint samples.

 They had a blast reading the names of some of those colors! I mean really, who comes up with names like "girl talk", "chestnut stallion" and "frosted slipper"?????

GRIFFIN

 The time it took for him to do the windows was totally worth it!

 Beautiful Cities

ELLA

Silly Sandwiches!

SELAH

 This was an activity I had left for my substitute to do with more than one grade level. I couldn't wait to see what the kids had come up with. Many times I often end up choosing an activity for a sub to do that I wish I would've saved for myself!

KAMDEN

 Basically they studied pictures of the good ol' fashioned stacked "Dagwood" sandwich. They then had to create their own version but adding a bit of silliness to the ingredients.

AIDAN

 Some kept it traditional......

ANNA

 but then others kicked it up a notch! I love how the "salt & pepper" in this sandwich are the actual salt and pepper shakers!

EMILY

KARLIE

 Such a fun lesson and my sub told me all the grade levels loved drawing them.

REESE

 This one looks pretty yummy!

DEAN

Fabulous Fourth Graders~ Weaving 2013

This was a first! I have always wanted to weave, and not just with paper stips, so I chose Fourth grade to give it a try.

GAVIN

 I have heard that other art teachers prep the cardboard looms for the students but I felt they needed to know how to do it themselves so even though it took an entire class to add the warp pieces it was worth it.

 It took 3 more full classes to weave plus students took their loom home to complete.

JOSIE

MOLLY

 I don't think I've ever done a project where the students were so enamoured with their work. They were so impressed with themselves!

HEATHER

 And even though they weren't perfect and we found ourselves totally tangled at times it was a success and something I would definitely repeat every year in fourth grade.

JACK

I mean really. You know it was a sucess when more then a few boys were overheard saying "I'm gonna do this again and make myself a scarf!"

Fantastic First Graders~ Ladybugs and Potatoes

It was time to print in First Grade!

KIRSTEN

I love teaching about printing. The kiddos are always so amazed at all the materials and tools you can print with. Especially when it's something edible!

EMILY

So for this lesson it was the potato. Unfortunately a few of the taters rotted on the counter over the weekend so when I got back I realized that the day's class had to be completed with just one half of a potato. We managed it though...over eighty potato prints with just one tater! A personal best:)

JERI

These turned out so bright and colorful, perfect for spring!

ZACHARY