5th Grade Art Lesson  Plaster Masks My 5th graders viewed Cherokee artists Allen Long, Billy Welch and John Henry's masks. We discussed the many materials used and the design elements of the art. Students then sketched out ideas. This took one 50 minute class period.   On day two of the lesson students built their mask. We used plastic face molds, water and plaster strips (Plasti-r-craft brand). For around 80 students we used approximately 3/4 of the box. They had to apply at least three layers. We covered the tables with their paint mats and I had paper towels at each t ..read more

 4th Grade Snowflake paintings This lesson comes from Leah Newton. Just click on the link to see the original idea.  We reviewed the term radial symmetry and discussed how snowflakes were created. Youtube has some great kid videos on how they are created.  I gave the 4th graders choices of colors. They glued an 8" x 8" , a 10" x 10" and a 12" x 12" together. On the 8" x 8" they folded it into fours and then drew a snowflake design. Using tempera paint they painted the snowflake with their choice of white, purple or blue (they could mix these as well). Students could als ..read more

 5th Grade Christmas ornament watercolor painting I found this idea from the  Tiny Art Room blog.  She said she found it on Pinterest so I'm not sure who thought up this great lesson but here is how I taught it.  I began the lesson by talking about still lifes and showing examples of Van Gogh's sunflowers. We discussed the difference between still lifes, portraits and landscapes. Students were given three different circles to trace. They were to overlap them and then add shadows and a highlight. I did a quick lesson on shadows and lights for this part with the k ..read more

 4th Grade Fall Leaf Collage           This is always a favorite lesson. Students get to use tissue paper, mod podge and oil pastels. This idea came from Mrs. Picasso's art room. For some reason it won't let me share the link to the original idea. This is how we made ours.  Students used mod podge and attached warm colored tissue paper squares onto a multi media 12" x 9" piece of paper. When I ran out of mod podge I made the homemade version of just glue and water.            On day two, students glued a 12" x 9" piec ..read more

 3rd Grade Winter Mittens art project  I found a photo of something like this on Pinterest. It was a painting by adults but I thought my 3rd graders could do something similar.                  Students painted a curvy or loopy line across a 12" x 18" piece of blue construction paper.  They then used a q-tip and painted dots all over their paper. They loved this part!   I provided mitten patterns for my 3rd graders to trace. I reminded them to make sure they drew two left hand mittens and two right hand mittens. They use ..read more

 3rd Grade paper Molas  Here is a great lesson for National Hispanic Heritage Month, Molas! I started the lesson by showing many examples of Molas. We discussed the colors and the many designs used in the pieces.  Students practiced drawing their animal or other main shape on a scrap piece of paper and then drew it on a 6" x 9" piece of construction paper. Students then picked two other pieces of construction paper and traced their shape while bumping it out each time. Remind the students to glue their shape on their paper first and then draw the space around it. I told them i ..read more

 1st Grade scarecrow art lesson  This lesson was inspired by the book "The Scarecrow" by Beth Ferry. There are so many books available about scarecrows so take your pick! I saw this lesson on Elementary Art Fun blog and changed it a bit.  I provided a pattern for the scarecrows face. Providing a pattern for the face helps this age have a starting point on how big to make their scarecrow.  My 1st graders were encouraged to draw a hat and decorate the scarecrows clothes. Many of the students added crows and corn to their drawings. They were then to outline their drawings w ..read more

 5th Grade Yayoi Kusama Pumpkins  This is a great lesson for 5th grade. Yayoi Kusama is a contemporary artist from Japan who is known as the princess of polka dots. I found a lot of resources on line for kids. There are also several children books available as well.  I taught the children how to draw a pumpkin on day one of the lesson. They could draw a typical round pumpkin or an oblong pumpkin. They were then to fill in the pumpkin with dots. For each section of the pumpkin the center had large dots and then on each side of the large dots were medium size dots and then on th ..read more

 2nd Grade Fall Reflection Painting My second graders had so much fun creating this art project. They painted a 12" x 18" piece of multi media paper with watered down blue tempera paint. Blue construction paper was to dark and I found this process had better results. The next art class they folded their paper in half vertically and drew tree trunks and branches on half of their paper starting on the fold. They folded it back over and used the side of a ruler to rub to make an impression on the other side of the paper. I had to remind them that this was just a reflection so we didn't wan ..read more

 5th grade square 1 art patterned flowers I found the inspiration for this lesson on the blog Newton Bateman Art Department. I'm not sure what they were teaching but I changed it to fit the needs of my lesson. Thanks for the inspiration!  We studied the art of Romero Britto and his bright colors and patterns and then got to work.  Students could free hand or  use a lid to trace the middle of their flower. They then added the petals and drew patterns on it with a sharpie.  I found some pattern ideas on line for those students who needed an inspiration.  ..read more