Cave Drawing OR 2 Happy Animals!

Soon I'll be sharing a little bit about my first graders' foray into cave drawing. While we were doing the Lascaux-inspired drawings, a little boy asked if he could draw two animals instead of one. I said yes. I now regret that choice:

Happy Friday! :-)

Chameleon Sculptures!

My student teacher is working on Chameleon Sculptures with the second grade, and I'm just as nuts for them this year as last! It's great for working those tactile skills, forming a sculpture that the kids TOTALLY DIG, and studying a little science. (For next year, I've ordered Chameleon's Colors and A Color of His Own to use, adding a literary connection.)

This is a popular project that I've seen on several blogs: Artolazzi, smART Class, and Art with Ms. Gram are a few.

Taking a cue from other teachers, we used the following video to get pumped!

That music gets me every time.

Assembling the chameleons is a little time consuming and can be difficult for some kiddos, but it's totally worth it. For step-by-step instructions, I highly recommend any of the websites mentioned above; Ms. Gram provides a nice graphic for assembling these little lizards.

At one point, a group of girls all started to whine about the folding part, saying, "we can't do this!" So I said:
Mrs. Connell: "Oh good, that's what every teacher wants to hear--I can't!"
2nd graders: "Haha, noooo, you're being silly!"
Mrs. Connell: "You're right. I was being sar--"
2nd grader: "Casket!"

It's true; I am very sarcasket.

On the second day, kiddos finished decorating and cutting their bodies before creating legs...

Making eyes...

And adding a tongue to finish 'em off!

For whatever reason, we had very few early finishers this year, whereas last year the kids were manufacturing these suckers like nobody's business. In that instance, I told kiddos to make their new pet a birth certificate. Not only does this incorporate a little writing, but it's hilarious!

This project is awesome. Go do it right now! And if you need any more visual encouragement, here are two videos that my kids love:

I have major doubts about that last one being legit, but MAN-O-DAY, is it cool to watch! Does anyone else say "man-o-day"? My mother has said it for years and it makes zero sense to me. But now I say it. Uh oh.

Bad hair day?

You've probably seen this project before. I recall finding it in another of my good ol' Arts & Activities magazine. You can see more (better) examples here and here, though I'll show the steps here for any sweet souls who've stumbled upon this for the first time. I highly recommend this project for shortened classes and sub days. We used it as a fun extra for kiddos who finished their previous project early. Essentially, kiddos do the following:

With a black Sharpie (for no smudges), draw a U-shape near the bottom of the paper (white paper is fine, though I've done it with bright colored fadeless paper and that is pretty rockin', too).

Choose a few (we use 5) different lines to 'grow' out of the U-shape.

Repeat each line at least 5 times.

Continue to add lines till all space is filled.

Add a neck, shoulders, and a face for a bad hair day!

 

This artist told me that her project got tired, hence the ZZZ's.

OR flip your paper over and turn your hairy head into a hairy beard!

Watch out--if you don't follow the proper steps in this order, you could wind up with... well, this:

This young man saw his project going downhill fast and self-corrected, re-starting to get it going the right way. We had a good laugh over his 'barfing man,' particularly because this student's mother is the school nurse and she sees far too much of this! He gave it to his mom after class and they titled it "Kid After Lunch," which I think is just a riot! Call me gross, but this is real life, people.

It's that time of year...

Well well well, look what Santa brought, just in time for supply orders!

To date, I have received FOUR copies of the latest Sax catalog. FOUR! One is addressed to my maiden name and one to my married name--mmkay, I get that. I guess.

Number three is addressed to the strings instructor, and the fourth (and final? time will tell) copy is addressed to the band director, who, by the way, is a man.

After each name the address reads, ART TEACHER. Some little elf at Sax must think we are way overstaffed, with 4 art teachers for just 300 children small children.

And did I mention the other 2 copies I got at my other school building? Someone did not check their list twice.