Tinting & Shading Ice Cream Scoops

Students experimented with tinting and shading colors as a way to make various colors of ice cream scoops.  Papers were divided into 7 sections, each one for a different tint or shade of color.  Each student had a paper plate with one color of their choice plus black & white.

After the colors were created and dry, students cut out the cone and scoops, then added a cherry on top with a dry brushed shiny spot.

Spring Origami Flowers

Ms. Scroggie's 3rd grade class made origami flowers during art class this week.  We had a bunch of colorful origami paper to work with.  Paper was spread all over as everyone searched through the pile to find just the right colors for their own beautiful flower.

Each flower needed five petals.  We made one-fifth of the flower together as a class, then everyone was on their own to finish the remaining four-fifths.  We used tape to hold each petal in the correct shape after it was folded.

  












  
Once all the petals were complete, students used tape or a glue stick to connect the five petals.

All the students were excited about the completed flower, and it lead to a group discussion about creating an origami garden as a class project. 


The entire activity went much faster than planned.  Many students were able to complete the project within 15-30 minutes.


There are many websites with instructions for folding this flower.  I used the steps from this blog.

2014 Art Show Poster

Info on Art Show

Hello Art Parents!

I hope you have enjoyed art in your classes this year. The art displayed in the halls has been so impressive!

This is a call to arms! Our 2nd Annual Spring Art Show will be held on Friday, April 18, 2014, from 6-8 PM. Like last year, we would like to have every student exhibit at least one piece of art. There are several ways we can accomplish this:

1. Each student selects his/her favorite project from the year to display.
2. You, as the art parent, conduct a class-wide project specifically for the art show.
3. You, as the art parent, dig through the art from the year, pick one piece for each student to display.

Please mount each piece of art on a piece of construction paper that complements the artwork (many of you are already doing this...can use Elmer's glue or spray mount or Yes! paste or rubber cement), then label the artwork with each student’s name and grade. You could also add the type of project (i.e., line drawing with pastels, etc.). You could print a label on the computer and have students fill in the information. In order to speed things up and avoid the insanity of having to staple 600 pieces of art to the walls, we are asking art parents to please long arm staple your class’ art (and attach the labels) to long (6-8 feet) pieces of butcher paper (your choice of color). You can arrange the art vertically or horizontally on the butcher paper. Then we’ll just have to staple the large butcher paper to walls. The idea is that all the school hallways and the gym will be gallery space where parents and students can tour. I’m thinking we will just temporarily staple the butcher paper over bulletin boards in the hallways, so don’t worry about taking artwork down outside classrooms.

See here, here, and here (on Pinterest here, here, and here) for some examples of what we're going for.

We will also be having several special exhibits with which we need your help. These special exhibits can be your class participation, or in addition to a class exhibit.

1. Faces of Andrus Artists Exhibit: If your class has done a self-portrait, we’d like to display them all together on one wall. Staple them to long sheets of black paper like normal and we will put them all together.
2. Wall of the Masters: If your class has done a project patterned after a famous artist, (van Gogh, Picasso, Modigliani, etc.) we’d love to display it in our Masters Exhibit. Staple them to long sheets of black paper like normal and we will put them all together.
3. Sculpture Gallery: If your class has done a sculpture of any type, we’d love to display them together. We will have some tables to display the sculpture, or you can create your own display space.

Feel free to type up any signage to explain your project. We would like this to be a professional-looking celebration of art at Andrus, highlighting all the hard work you and your students have done throughout the year! We know how hard you’ve all worked!

We are also hoping to do a donation jar to restock art supplies and will have cookies and punch to make the evening feel special.

On Thursday, April 17th, at 4 PM, we will have a Pizza Put-Up Party, where we hang art and eat pizza for sustenance. We would love as many hands as possible prepping for the art show.

On Friday, April 18th, from 6-8 PM, you won’t want to miss the art event of the year! The kids are going to be so excited! If you are interested in helping with a parent/child mural activity (crayon patrol for people coloring) or famous artist photobooth (stick your face through a hole on a Warhol/Kahlo/Van Gogh body, etc.), please let me know. The photobooth is an idea I have but would need some manpower to make happen.

Until then, start pulling that art, mount it on construction paper, attach it to butcher paper with labels, and get ready to PARTAY!!!!! If you are willing to help coordinate the art display of a class that does not have an art parent, please let me know. We would LOVE the help!

Thanks so much for all you do! You are an amazing group of volunteers!

Positive/Negative Space at Halloween

This post is very late, and I apologize for the horrible resolution and generally fuzziness of the pictures because I took them with my phone.  That being said, it was a fun project to do around Halloween.

I started by teaching the kids about positive and negative space.  And we also talked about symmetry.  Then I demonstrated drawing half of a jack-o-lantern on a black sheet of 9x12 construction paper.  I gave the students their own sheet of construction paper and made sure to emphasize that they needed to have one of the long sides be the center of their jack-o-lantern.  One of the hardest things for some of the kids was not losing the pieces they cut out because the pieces were so small.  The students were able to then glue both "sides" of their jack-o-lantern to a sheet of orange 18x12 construction paper.  I had to help a few of them with the pieces that they cut out so that they were lined up correctly.

Collaborative Hearts

This was a big project, but very rewarding!  It started with me finding a link to this flicker account on pinterest.  There were no directions, but it looked pretty self-explanatory.  The pin mentioned Jim Dine, since it is sort of based on some of his work, but I didn't have time in the classrooms to talk about his work.
Prep Work:
1- Draw a heart on poster boards with a marker.
2- Write a number or letter in each of the four corners on the back of each poster board.  Each board will have a different number or letter.  So, for the first poster board, I drew a heart, then flipped it over and wrote the letter "A" in all four corners.  The next poster was assigned letter "B", etc.  This makes it easy to put the pieces together after they've been painted.
3- Cut the poster board into four pieces.  I made the first cut horizontal on some and vertical on others.  Then, I cut the remaining halves at different lengths so that each "quarter" was not exactly the same size.
4- Randomly distribute the pieces into four stacks - one for each class.   I did this so that one class wouldn't get only top right corners or bottom left.

I had each of the students write their names on the back and their teacher, though I also let them know that they might not be getting their pieces back because it was becoming part of a bigger piece.  I started off talking about what Collaborative and Collaboration mean.  Then I gave the students directions and let them use their imaginations.
Directions:
1- Must keep the same outline of the heart that is on your paper to begin with.
2- Try to have the colors show some contrast between within and without the heart.
3- No words. (though some boys snuck in a little BSU)
4- There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.  This rule is really important.  I made sure that each student understood that they would not be getting a second piece if they made a mistake, because someone else was counting on them to finish the piece they were given.  It worked out really well because I started with Mrs. Morton's class and one of the boys in that class was painting with turquoise, but accidentally put his brush in his green.  It could have freaked him out, but instead he made it work by blending the colors and it added a great texture to his background.  I was able to use his piece in the other classes when I gave them directions, and all the kids loved the way it looked, so they could see that "mistakes" could be fixed and become beautiful.  Because I had stated this rule in the beginning, I didn't have any students tell me they made mistakes.  It was great.

I've got three students at Andrus, so I did this project with their classes: Mrs. Morton, Mrs. Webb, and Mr. Fischer.  I needed a fourth class, so I asked Mrs. Moran if I could do it with her class, too.  I really liked how creative the kids got, and I think it worked out pretty well having pieces done by first, third, and fifth grade classes.  I'll only have a second grader next year, but I would love to do this project again next February, so let me know if you're interested.

Ink Printing with Foamboard

 We did the above project in October with Mr. Fischer's fifth grade class.  I really liked the look of the gelatin printing, but I wanted to try something a little different.  I got the idea and directions for the Radial Symmetry printing here.  I hope I'm not ruining someone else's post, but below are pictures of prints that Mrs. Dodd's first grade class did recently using the same method, but without the symmetry concept I used with the fifth grade.  I think they are great examples of how you can use ink in different grades.

Snowy Snowmen

I had pictures of this entire process and they have been lost or deleted!  If I find them I will post. 

For this project you will need:

• blue construction paper
• white and orange paint, and any other colors for hat/scarf
• black pastels
• qtips for dotting after pics are done, paintbrushes
• paint plates, palettes
• I highly recommend getting a helper for this project!  I did it alone and it worked out fine, but just one extra pair of eyeballs and hands would have been awesome.

I talked to the students about perspective and drawing parts of objects.  I drew a typical snowman and then zoomed way in to reveal just his face.  You still know its a snowman, but have a different view, perspective, of the snowman. 

I took these first graders step by step through the whole process of drawing our zoomed in snowman.  It seemed to work best to all be on the same step with this age group.

We used black oil pastel to draw the details, then painted them in, and once they were somewhat dry, finished up the facial features.

The workroom has all of the supplies needed.  Going through the pastels to find enough black took a chunk of time, so plan ahead if you need specific colors for any projects.

This also required a bit of cleanup at the end.  The desks were easily cleaned with come Clorox wipes.  The brushes however, I would recommend bringing something to take them home in and clean them there.  I did it in the classroom sink and it took a long time and was messy.  Plus you don't get any warm water.

The students really enjoyed this and were proud of their work.  They don't get to paint very often, so they were excited!

Glittery Snowflakes



 

This was a simple art project that fit well within the 40 minutes I have for art.  I think it would work well for most ages too.  These first grade kids had a great time and seemed proud of their creations.

 

I began with the overhead, showing pictures of real snowflakes.  I pointed out that they are all different, with no two ever being the same even though they may look very similar.  They all have 6 branches, and that each branch has the same design on them. 

 

Leaving the overhead on for design ideas, I had the students draw a few snowflakes on a black sheet of construction paper.  I tried to emphasize that they needed to keep their design simple, make it big, and leave lots of room between details so the glue wouldn't run together.  Some kids listened, and a lot didn't. They tried though! 

After penciling their snowflakes, they traced them with glue.  Once the glue was on, they came over to the glitter station.  

 

The glitter station was 3 cardboard box lids.  They sprinkled, dumped, and showered their page with glitter, then tapped off all the extra.  Once this was finished, they put their pages on the wire rack to dry. 



 

 The potential for a glitter disaster is big, but the box lids really kept things contained.  I highly suggest using containers with tall sides to help keep it all at bay.  We just dumped the remaining glitter back into the shakers.   

 

 

Voila!

 

Everything is in the workroom except images of snowflakes.

• Black contruction paper
• glitter
• glue
• pencils
• box lids or containers

After-School Art Program

Art parents: If you can help, we could use you from 4 to 4:45 PM on Mondays, starting January 6th! We had an overwhelming response to our PTA-sponsored after-school art program and could use some extra hands to check kids in and out and monitor during instruction time. Let Whitney know if you can be there (whether just once or often, we'd love to see you!).