Simple Winter painting

At times I find my self trying to wrap too much into each project!  This project was actually created as a time filler for those that finished early but it turned out so great I had the whole class paint one.

• Wet-on-wet (cool) watercolors were used to paint the background.  
• Once dried students added trees and snowflakes with white tempera - focusing on lines
• We also painted shadows in the snow with watercolor

It reminded me it's OK to keep things simple sometimes.  Plus the best part it didn't take several art classes to finish!!!

BRRRrrrr . . . It's Cold in Minnesota! Here is a Sunny project to warm up!

With all the sub zero temperatures we have had in Minnesota lately it is so nice to have cheery suns to "warm" the art room!

3rd grade working on sun project

3rd grade focused on color wheel review while creating a sun. They had to use primary colors in the border, secondary colors in the background, and intermediate in the sun. 






I plan on hanging them up for conferences (in March).  Hopefully it will be a warmer and sunny then.  Although in Minnesota you never know.

What was I thinking?!!

Holy Clay Batman - Plus there was more in the KILN!!

As an incentive for the fundraiser, each class who turned in 40% of their orders would receive a "free clay day" - where they could make ANYTHING they wanted.  Well needless to say the kids were pretty jazzed about making anything.  And it sounded good in theory but making, firing, painting ad distributing 750+ clay projects before break was a headache.  I clay everywhere!   Check done on that one.  Will I do it again next year . .  jury is still out

Backup before going forward

Since I am new to the blog.  I thought I would start by sharing my 1st projects this year.  This year was the first time I tried Square 1 Art (http://www.square1art.com/), as a art fundraiser for my school.  And let me tell ya' it was A SUCCESS!!  The projects turned out FABULOUS, then parents LOVED them, and it raised extra funds for the art room - yeah - yeah - YEAH!!  I highly recommend Square 1 to any school.

We did SQ1 for the whole school k-5. Projects focuesed on reviewing grade level concepts from the previous year. It was also a great way to get the year rolling and have 1 project finished before the end of 1st quarter

The following are sample projects for each grade level:

1st Grade Geometric City - Shape Review

2nd grade Sunflower - Warm/Cool Colors

3rd grade Owls - Shape/Line Design and Warm/Cool Colors

4th Grade Blue Dog - Color Wheel Review

5th Grade Profile/Portrait - Warm/Cool Colors