This is my first blog about 3rd grade, the reason for this is I only see them once a week and their project is very large with several different phases. They made paper mache masks with their forms beginning as a paper lunch bag stuffed with newspaper. They had two days to secure items to the mask as eyes, nose, mouth, ears, horns, etc. remembering the examples of African masks seen and the strong emphasis on symmetry. They used masking tape to adhere boxes, tape and paper towel rolls, cardboard shapes and other recycled items. The third day, they used paper mache to cover the front, top and one side of the mask. The fourth day was spent using paper mache on the other side and back (and any areas from the previous week) to cover their mask, leaving the bottom exposed with their name (and to make it easier to store these on a shelf to dry). The fifth day, the students chose one color of paint to coat their mask with. before the sixth day, we (myself and my mentor teacher) coated their masks with Mod Podge to seal and strength the masks. Days six and seven were spent embellishing their masks, beginning first with large items such as feathers, pipe cleaners, pom pom balls, foil and construction paper. Day seven included embellishments such as buttons, foam shapes, glitter and yarn. The masks turned out bright, and full of designs! This was a long but rewarding project to many students and I saw a lot of success and problem solving through the process with their masks!

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The second graders are going hog wild over their pig project! After beginning lessons with the kindergarten and 1st graders, it was evident by the whispers in the room that the 2nd graders were also fans of Olivia the pig, so I gave them what they wanted. The first day began with Olivia Meets Olivia. I asked the students if, like Olivia, they have ever met another student with their name and how they thought they could still be an individual. This was a surprising discussion as students began to relate the experience to their new project and expanded to talk about their pigs will all begin similar but their choices and behaviors are what will make them all look different. Students began with a newspaper roll for their pig body. Reviewing paper mache processes with them was a great starting point as we used the paper mache paste to make our tissue paper stick to the newspaper. The second day was spent painting four bottle caps pink for the legs and one for the snout. After this was completed (and drying) students chose google eyes that matched, two foam shapes for ears (shapes included triangles, circles, ovals and hearts), and a curly pipecleaner tail! The legs and snout were glued on at the end of the class. The third day was spent starting with reading Olivia and the Rain Dance and students finished their flying pigs by... making them fly! They added feathers for wings and wait for them to be hung from the ceiling. The remainder of the class was spent by having students draw their pig flying!

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First grade began their pigs-piration this week for the Big Pig Gig! The students also heard Olivia Meets Olivia the first day, as I felt this book was a great starting point for them as well. The theme of the pig sculpture will be "This Little Piggy Went Around the World" so what better way to job their art minds than to have them paint pigs and create a scene showing where their pig is! The first grade students saw how simple circles, triangles, ovals and rectangles can form a pig and they drew these with a Sharpie on their paper and painted them various shades of pink. The second day, the students heard Olivia and the Rain Dance and began to think about what they would want their pig to do, where it would be and who or what would be in their artwork. Their background is created of cut paper and all is placed on a beautiful piece of scrapbook paper which contains color, shape, line and patterns to add to the collage/mixed media assignment! All of the pigs turned out wonderful and the students added oil pastel details to their pigs and a pipecleaner curly tail!

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Gearing up for the Big Pig Gig, the kindergarten students were the first to begin their pig unit! I read them the book Olivia Meets Olivia which is about Olivia the main character meeting a new student named Olivia. This book focuses on the identity and individuality of the students. The kindergartens were almost all familiar with Olivia so this was an appropriate book to read. The students used warm colored sheets of construction paper and simple shapes we discussed to create their Olivia pigs. The second day, the students heard a second Olivia book, Olivia and the Rain Dance! I felt this was appropriate since March is a rainy month! This book is shorter too which was nice since today was more labor intense. The students first found buttons that match and used them for eyes. Next, they cut out a small circle of construction paper and glued it on the face for the nose (and used a Sharpie to make two small circles for the snout). Third, the students cut a pipe cleaner smile. After this, they painted white stripes on the arms, legs and ears of their pigs. The third day, the pigs were glued to teal paper and the students painted white stripes as a border to frame their Olivia pig! They all began with the same instructions and demonstration but all ended up looking so unique which was exciting.

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The first graders have worked on their Matryoshka dolls for two weeks! The dolls stack inside of each other as we did a 3-D project with cups! The dolls were made on upside down cups and newspaper ball heads (see images) which made the dolls stack inside of each other! I was excited to see this project develop as it had many steps beginning with paper mache on each doll. The second step was to use color schemes to paint our dolls. We began with a base coat of paint with primary colors (red, yellow, blue) on the dolls, each having one color. Next, the students painted with secondary colors (orange, green, purple) adding lines, shapes and patterns using paint brushes and q-tips for details. The students choose neutral tones for the faces (tan, brown) and then the dolls were all covered in Mod Podge to strengthen and coat the surface. The last step was to add embellishments for faces including matching eyes and cheeks of buttons and foam shapes with a pipe cleaner smile! These dolls turned out wonderful and the students loved stacking them and creating roles for the dolls (usually family roles such as kids, siblings and parents) which was an interesting development to witness also!

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My classes of kindergarteners were ready to do another Dr. Seuss project! I was excited and chose Yertle the Turtle! This book is all about a turtle who wants to be king of the turtles and see everything around the pond and cannot control himself to stop building his turtle stack. We as a class, are making five turtle stacks. I read the book to the students and then a turtle stencil for each of them. I wanted to observe how they traced and how that image translated when they cut them out. The students used cool colored paper and cut out five turtles. They could be facing left or right, could be placed sideways and upside down in the stack, so students enjoyed this aspect of the lesson. After the turtles were cut out, students added faces and patterns with construction paper crayons. The patterns were just added to the shell, not the entire turtle which was adorable! The last step was choosing background paper, students could choose green or blue and their works were then matted on the opposite color (see images). These were sent to the library to display for Read Across America!

Arty On! Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Gearing up for Dr. Seuss's Birthday and Read Across America, the 2nd graders were enthusiastic to make Seuss-ical fish! The students worked on this lesson for two days. The first day, the book One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish was read and the students were interested in the style of drawing used by Dr. Seuss. After the book was read, students were reminded (from the book) "not one thing will look like another" which was my motto for the lesson! Students were given a Sharpie and asked to draw one large fish, it could be swimming or walking, old or young, hairy or bald, their choice!
The second day, students painted horizontal lines for the background and had the option to add glitter (which most did). Our use of color was using the three primary colors because Dr. Seuss focused on primary colors often. Students cut out their fish and added details using oil pastels. We glued the fish down in the center of the page and hung them up!

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Gearing up for Dr. Seuss's Birthday and Read Across America, our kindergarteners got the chance to hear the story of The Lorax. The Lorax was chosen because it is a popular Dr. Seuss book and the movie is coming out soon and many of our students have been talking about it! I read the book to the students, which is a long story but captivated them with the rhymes and riddles. Such a fun book to read and hear! The students then worked on making 3-D Truffula Trees! I worked with two different groups of kindergarten students and each group created a different tree.
The first group used pipe cleaners and twisted them together to make a trunk that looked striped. They made 4 trees and used pom pom balls for the truffula tree tops! The base was a green piece of paper and a ball of Model Magic that the students painted green.

The second group used dowel rods painted white and they painted black stripes around them for the trunk. This group only made one tree due to drying time and assembling stages. Their truffula tree tops were made of yarn balls which were cut in different places to create a pom pom effect! Their base was also a green piece of paper and a ball of Model Magic that the students painted green.
Everyone enjoyed the project and getting to choose what bright colors to use for their trees!

Arty On! Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, the 2nd graders worked with images from Cincinnati artist Jim Dine as inspiration! Jim Dine was known well for his paintings of hearts, said to be done because he loved his wife so much! The lesson began with a discussion of Jim Dine and his use of color, our emphasis was on warm and cool colors. Each student was given one piece of cardboard. On the cardboard, students drew a heart using a Sharpie, and outlined it with glue and laid a piece of yarn on top. The students then put a large piece of aluminum foil on top of it all, able to feel the yarn, giving the work an embossed feeling. Students use a black Sharpie to divide the spaces using strong art lines (straight, curvy, curly and zig zag which is prior knowledge to them). The foreground (inside of the heart) is completed using warm colored Sharpies, where the background (outside of the heart) is completed using cool colored Sharpies. What a fun way to incorporate a local artist, holiday and new mediums for the little artists!

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_Friedensreich Hundertwasser created beautiful landscape paintings with simplified trees with a strong emphasis on shapes, lines and patterns. First grade students learned about the artist and saw some examples of his work. Our inspiration came from his tree paintings. We had two large pieces of paper, one orange and the other blue. The reason for this was to easily remind students that we were using warm colors (on the orange paper) and cool colors (on the blue paper). First, we painted five lines with each color scheme. The lines were straight, curvy, curly and zig zag which students are familiar with. Day two we added Sharpie lines in each section to further define the shapes, after, we used oil pastel to add shapes such as hearts, circles and triangles. Day Three we cut trees, flowers or bushes out of our cold paper and glued them on the warm color scheme paper. Final details were added and the projects were complete! Such beautiful patterning and color choices!

Arty On!