Fun and Funky Folk Art!

I have to preface this with the fact that I have absolutely terrific projects going in the shop write now. The only problem is that they are all Christmas presents and I can't blog about them lest I spoil the holiday surprises! This is a lesson in patience for a very impatient person! 

Fortunately my students have been working on a fun art project the past couple weeks and a handful of them are complete for the world to see! 

I found this clever plan on Pinterest (of course) and couldn't wait to give it a shot! I have to say that for a person who is able to craft and create on my own, but not share and teach such things very well, Pinterest is a teacher's lifesaver! I have become a fan of an art project blog, Painted Paper, that is chalk-full of kid friendly projects. 

Material list:

8.5" by 11" white paper

Pencils

Black Sharpies

Crayons

Water color paints

Black construction paper

To start the project, we looked at the inspiring folk artist, Heather Galler (check out her Etsy shop). I then gave students the basic steps aloud, written on the board, and showed them my example pieces. Students needed to use about 2/3 of the paper to create an outline of the landscape, including any hills or curves. They then divided the land space into at least fifteen areas.  Once they had the land divided up, they added patterns including stars, hearts, stripes, checkerboards, flowers, zigzag lines, and many more creative designs.  The final piece of pencil work was to create a barn or house, one or more trees, and a festive, funky sunshine.  All of the pencil lines were then carefully traced with black Sharpie marker so they would stand out in the end.

The students then used crayon to color in the patterns, leaving the background of each area white.  If they had stripes or checkerboard patterns, many kids colored every other section so they could add color through paint to the remaining sections.  

Once the crayon work was complete, they carefully painted in the all of the white paper that was left. This gave the art pieces great dimension and texture. Once the paint was dry, art was mounted on black construction paper, and boy did the colors pop! The final products that I have received thus far are AMAZING! Absolutely phenomenal! I may be biased, but seriously... Check them out! 

LEGO Portraits!

I saw this fun activity on Pinterest, blogged by another teacher who specializes in art. I snagged the outline and enlarged it to fill and 8.5" by 11" page. Each student created their personal portrait and picked a color on which to mount the picture.  They then simply cut a color frame around their body and mounted the whole  piece on black paper so it stood out! So simple, so fun, and so cool looking! 

The Willow Pattern Story!

I saw this art project on Pinterest months ago and have been wanting to have my students participate! I ordered "The Willow Pattern Story" by Allan Drummond from Amazon so I could have a text based introduction for the project.  I try to relate all of my projects to either something we are studying or to a book that I can share with the kids to give them a bit of background.  The project was fairly inexpensive, I bought about 8 packs of variety size paintbrushes from our local dollar store, Deals Only. The plates were about $3.00 for a pack of 100! You need paper plates, not waxed covered, if you want the paint to stay! The paint came from our school supply closet, blue and white tempera.  Students were given their Willow plate and a second plate for mixing the paint for varying shades of blue. Each group also had a couple cups of rinse water and sets of the paint.  In hind sight, I should have used wax covered or plastic bowls for the paint rather than more plates, because they would be more liquid proof and would be easier to cover with saran wrap. Oh well, to remember for the future! When students completed their pieces I hung them on the bulletin board for all to see!

While they painted, I displayed a tea saucer that I borrowed from my mom featuring the Blue Willow pattern.  This helped give students a visual reference for what they heard about in the story. 

The students worked hard to imitate the original pattern by incorporating the love birds at the top of the pieces, a river, pagodas, a zigzag fence, the bridge with three people crossing, and various trees. 

I had a couple unfinished pieces at the time of the following picture, hence the awkward gap! 

Imitating Paul Klee

My students completed an art project this fall based on the work of Paul Klee.  I first shared a short biography on Klee's personal and professional life.  

The Life and Work of Paul Klee by Sean Connoly

The book was very inexpensive on Amazon or could likely be picked up at Powell's.  After sharing the book I introduced the students to a specific piece of Klee's work, Castle and Sun.  

Castle and Sun

Students were then given 12 inch by 18 inch black construction paper as a background.  I distributed a pile of 2 inch right triangles to each group of students (Huge thanks to my parent volunteer, Kara, for cutting hundreds of triangles!).  The triangles were in a variety of colors but mainly browns, oranges, and reds, as reflected in Klee's original work. Students created their imitation version of the painting by combining triangles into squares, mix and matching colors and shapes, and patterns. As students pieces were completed, I grading on neatness and imitation of the original painting.  

Bulletin board featuring final products

I created a sign identifying our goal for the project by punching multiple colors of letters with our Ellison paper punch.  The letters are layered to incorporate more color, of course!

With large items and limited board space, I used the hall as our art gallery!

More Holidays from Room 10!

Every year at Winter Break, Valentine's Day, and Summer Break, I get my students a gift. Being a teacher, I find it necessary to give something educational... This year every student got a copy of E.L. Konisburg's Newberry Medal winner From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Each bag also contained a holiday themed pencil, a regular sized candy cane, and a bag of chocolate coins! The most expensive part of the gift was the coins, surprisingly.  The wrapping was simple, brown lunch bags stamped with white snowflakes, then a hole punched at the folded over top, and tied with a white tulle bow! The kids were ecstatic, and so impressive, the way they carefully untied and unthreaded their bows rather than tearing into the bag as I had expected. I have the sweetest and most amazing class, they continue to impress me with the little things. :)

Gifts!

As part of our hallway decorations I created a simple bulletin board.  It consisted of a chunk of white butcher paper, cut to resemble a hillside, and a few different figures courtesy of our Ellison paper punches! I punched green evergreen trees and light blue snow flakes to add to the scene.  I then punched each child a snowman (person?) to decorate.  Students could decorated in any way that they chose, provided they put their name on the front clearly.  I got some great snowpeople! With such a simple project, the students exhibited subtle or not so subtle creativity in order to personalize their snowman.  The "Season's Greetings" sign was made from Ellison letter punches that were layered red on top of green to give them some depth.  The letters were then glued into place on strips of poster board so I can reuse it in the future!

Completed board.

Variety of student work!

Our final project was an ornament that students could take home as a gift if they so chose.  The ornaments started as shades of white paint-chips and ended as happy snowmen!  Creating these ornaments was very simple, each student needed a paint-chip, squares of black construction paper for hats and punching buttons/faces, small orange scrap of paper, a strip of patterned scrapbook paper, glue, and a hole punch! When selecting paint-chips, remember that the multi colored style have more character! Home Depot has very wide chips so the overall look is very square.  I picked mine up from the Fred Meyer paint department.  Walmart also has thin, multi colored chips.

Thin multi colored paint-chips as a foundation

In order to make faces and buttons we used the hole punch to punch 2 eyes, 5-6 dots for a smile, and 3-4 for buttons.  If I was making these in a smaller quantity I would use black buttons instead of using the paper.  

Detail of the face.

The hats are created from black paper, simply cut edges down on either side leaving about an 1/8 of an inch on either side for the brim. They are then glued across the top edge of the chip.  Noses are thin triangles just trimmed from a scrap of paper.  Scarves are strips of patterned paper that I pre-cut, then wrapped around the chip and glued to stay put.  Students were encouraged to cut, wrap, and assemble in their own way so each snowman is unique!  Students were then given a piece of ribbon to loop on the back for hanging purposes.

Final product! Hang and enjoy!

Miscellaneous Business in the Classroom

I didn't have these bulletin board pictures on my computer when I posted the previous post. But I purchased inexpensive scrapbook paper in holiday themed colors, but a variety of patterns. I found the the sleeping kiddos and headboard on Scholastic Printables, from a bulletin ideas page. I printed the image and traced it off of my document camera then gave them some color. The students then wrote about what they would give to someone if they had unlimited resources.  I was thoroughly impressed with the ingenuity and selflessness that my students exhibited!  

Last week, March 7th-11th, was Classified Appreciation Week in schools. These are the people who do a lot of work for little credit, the custodians, bus drivers, classroom assistants, secretaries, and cafeteria staff. They are truly remarkable and irreplaceable people and so in order to show our appreciation, my class created this vibrant banner in their honor!

1. Printed the message letter by letter on 8x11 paper, "We <3 our classified staff." I had to use about a 500 font to make the letters large enough.

2. Students each received a letter and "fireworked" the entire page, eliminating all white. (Firework Instructions)

3. After school, I pulled coordinating construction paper to back each letter, based on the students color choices.

4. Had students glue letters to construction paper.

5. Strung the letters on hot pink 6" wide tulle purchased at JoAnn Fabrics. $2.50 for 25 yards! I used clothespins to attach the letters.

6. I then thumb tacked the tulle to the ceiling and thus is an adorable banner!

Found these baskets at Fred Meyers, 10 for $10, so I picked up a half dozen-ish, and now use them as focus bins on top of my classroom library shelf.  I check out books based on our class topics! Each week I rotate out a set of books, and put a new group of texts.  I leave the tiny clips on the baskets and just write up a quick new note card with the topic on it, then hole punch and attach! So simple, and highly effective! My students are eating these books up!

Bulletin Board Ideas!

I love bulletin boards but it usually takes me a while to come up with an idea that I love enough to work on. I figure I should share some of the simple ideas I have used so that others can have nifty boards with little effort too!

This turtle board is from the book "Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back" (See the second picture).  

1. I used the turtle image on the dedication page and traced the outline onto green butcher paper using my Elmo projector. I then traced the shell pieces onto printer paper so that I could have master copies for next year! 
2. Next I copied the masters so that my students had outlines to work in. 
3. The students each received a poem from the book and illustrated their shell piece to match the text.
4. We then pasted them in place and filled excess shell space (not enough students for 2 whole shells) with copies of the coordinating poems for the missing pieces. 
5. Cut turtles out (I didn't take time for precise cuts, just trimming around the outside) and hang on board!

Fireworks are SO simple and quite fun to create! 

I took half sheets of printer paper and half sheets of black construction paper for the backing and gave some to each student. Rules for creating fireworks are easy, 

• Pick 2-4 crayon colors
• Make 3-5 starting points, just small dots using all the same color
• Color tight zig-zags around the dots with the next color of choice
• Continue creating zig-zags, using each color in a consistent pattern, every firework should be identical
• Fireworks will eventually collide and fill the whole page

Fireworks were then stapled randomly on the board with Cricut letters and stars (di-cut)

Such a quick and easy project, only takes one art session for students to complete (generally)

Board assembly took 10 minutes, talk about speedy for a whole board!