Penguin in the Summer

I created "penguin in the summer" as an end of the year project to go along with these penguin drawing instructions I found online: http://makingartfun.com/htm/f-maf-printit/learn-to-draw-cartoon-penguin.htm

The goal of the penguin drawing exercise is to have a unique drawing, and for students to be creative with the details of the penguin. Last year I had the students draw a summer background, like the penguin went on summer vacation. The only rule is that they had to incorporate the penguin (have to draw it step by step, no tracing) and the background has to be a vacation spot.

This year I decided to change it up and turn it into a collage.

Step 1: students draw the penguin by following the instructions. Students can draw many penguins or just one. If they are tiny, students must draw more than one. I found a great YouTube video about penguins that I showed them on day 1 of this project.

Step 2: students draw anything else they want in the collage such as beach ball, surf board, etc. All of these little drawings get outlined, colored, and cut out.

Step 3: students made the beach by collaging the dark blue contraction paper for water, and manila paper for sand, on top of the light sky blue paper. Then the little drawings are glued on top.

There's a Monster in My Room!!

There's actually lots of monsters in my room! They are made by my 3rd graders. Third grade students learned about geometric and organic shapes, and different textures when making these monster drawings. First, they used their imaginations to come up with an original monster drawing. They had to use both geometric and organic shapes. Then we talked about different textures their monsters could have- bumpy, scaly, furry, spikey, etc- and they drew the texture as a shape. Next, they outlined with black Sharpie, colored with bright construction paper crayons, and cut it out. The last and best step is when they were done cutting, they glued the monster drawing to a brown paper for the door to their room and on the reverse side they wrote a story about the monster!

Love these every time! Check it out:

Finished sculptures

6th grade has finally finished their paper mâché Egyptian Canopic Jar sculptures. I love the variety of colors that were achieved by mixing their paint colors. I think the hieroglyphics turned out pretty good too.

Clay Flower Collage

5th graders learned about Georgia O'Keefe when making these clay flowers. The kids really liked Georgia O'Keefe's work, especially when they saw the cow skulls. Right now I'm calling it a collage because we are attaching them to the black paper. My students used white Crayola Model Magic and colored it with markers to make it change colors. Then they created the different pieces of the flowers. When they had all of the pieces of the flower, they would build them on the black paper and press down to make it stick. They had to have a minimum of 3 flowers and they had to be placed at the top of the page to leave room for the vase. I told them they could make the flowers all the same, or they could be all different. At the end they drew a vase on pieces of leftover cardboard I've had in the closet for years, and glued it to the bottom.



 So far, I'm really liking the results on these.

Coke Bottle Fish

 This project is always a favorite of mine and my students! We recycled coke bottles to make these fish! First we discussed all the kinds of lines, and students drew patterns on the outside with Sharpies. Next, I cut off the end of the bottles so the students could paint the inside with neon acrylic paint. Finally, they stuck on eye stickers and I helped them cut the tail and staple it. Clear string was strung through the mouth of the fish and out the tail to tie in a knot so the students can hang it up.

Art Show!!

I love art shows. Everyone is all smiles- the parents, the students, and the teachers! I have lots more pics to upload but for right now here is me with both panels:

I'm so proud of my students! We had a great turnout and I very much enjoy getting to visit with the students and their parents. 

It's Sculpture City in my classrooms!

Right now almost every grade level is working on a sculpture.

6th grade is making Egyptian canopic jars 

4th grade is making Wayne Thiebaud inspired cupcakes out of Model Magic. All of these in the pictures are completed.

And 3rd grade is making fish out of recycled coke bottles

Let the sculpture making continue!