Super-Speedy Sunflower Still Lifes

My super student teacher (now a proud graduate--congrats, LC!) started this Vincent van Gogh project with the third graders. I have done Vincent's sunflowers before, but it was nice to see how Miss Caruso approached it, particularly in a time crunch, as it was May and our classes were numbered. I like to do this project at the end of the school year 'cause sunflowers just scream SUMMER, HERE I COME!

After talking about VVG and his passion for fashion sunflowers, Miss Caruso had the kids prep their paper, drawing a border around their 9 x 12" white sheet, Phyl style! (Bless you, Phyl, you practical genius.) Then they painted the background using two colors, one on either side of their pre-drawn horizon line.

(This was great timing for our first day of this project--a few minutes were spent to introduce the project, kiddos glossed their coil pots, and then did this background portion.)

On the second day, students entered the art room to find some lovely (fake) sunflowers decorating their tables. These flowers served as inspiration for adding vases and flowers. Miss Caruso did a great demo showing how to twist and turn the brush to manipulate the paint into petals and leaves. Kiddos painted in this order:

1. Paint a vase and give it two values, VVG style:

2. Use a pencil to draw the brown centers of each flower you intend to paint:

3. Use the penciled centers as a guide to show where to paint the petals:

4. Once petals are done, go back and paint those centers (doing it in this order prevents a lot of "AHHH MY PETALS TURNED BROWN" panic attacks on the part of the 9-year-olds)

5. Go to town adding leaves, values, details, and the like!

6. Sit back and admire your work whilst telling your art teacher and student teacher how beautiful they look today amidst the field of sunflowers in the art room:

7. Clean up your mess, wash yo' hands, and tell your art teacher to stop using her iPhone to take pictures of your awesome artwork 'cause the lighting is all kinds of funky with this neon paint.

Anyway, there are 57698234 ways (I counted) to teach about van Gogh's sunflowers--for a quickie, I highly recommend this method. The timeline is fast but the results are fab!

Paper Cranes

I don't know about you, but as the school year winds down, I'm always in search of quick, 1- or 2-day projects that are still meaningful and fit curricular needs. I challenged my student teacher to come up with a few of these, and for the fifth graders, she opted to do a 2-day lesson on paper cranes.

The inspiration for the cranes came from the story of Sadako Sasaki. Sadako was just 2 years old when the first atomic bomb was dropped near her home in Hiroshima. Though she and her family survived, Sadako later succumbed to radiation sickness in the form of leukemia. While receiving treatment in the hospital, she and her roommate began folding paper cranes as per the Japanese legend that folding 1,000 paper cranes would make one's wish come true. Sadako died at just 12 years old, yet her memory lives on through her story, as well as the statue dedicated to her at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

Some of my fifth grade history buffs were eager to tie an art project into their knowledge of World War II, and all students respectively watched the following video to learn about Sadako:

Students spent the rest of their class studying examples of traditional origami paper, then painted a sheet or two of 9 x 9" one-sided fadeless paper to make their own.

On the second day (our classes are 45 minutes each), I walked kids through the folding of a paper crane. (My student teacher made a rockin' PowerPoint to walk the kids through this, but if you need a tutorial for yourself, you can find a few on YouTube.) The kiddos did an awesome job and were thrilled with the way the wings of the crane flapped! I'm always impressed with the way some students pick up the folding steps and can whip up their own pieces after seeing the how-to just once.

What quickie projects do you turn to at year's end? I'll soon be starting a Pinterest board with ideas and would love to add yours!

Cherry Blossoms with 1st grade

Wherever you might be reading this today, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and sound. Hopefully the innocence and artwork of our students is enough to make this day a little brighter despite all the bad going on in the world this week.

My sweet, sweet first graders have been learning about Japan, studying the beauty of cherry blossoms. Of course, there are bunches of ways to do blossom-inspired projects...

Art with Ms. Gram

alphamom

Creative Jewish Mom

I like the following version for a few reasons. The kids LOVE it, the results are beautiful more often than not, and it's a quickie, taking just one 45-minute period from introduction to project completion.

My student teacher, Miss Caruso, taught this this year, and it was a lot of fun for me to observe! First, she talked to the kids about the blossoms as a gift from Japan and showed a few masters' works--Hiroshige, Hokusai, van Gogh.

Next up, the kids blew watered-down black tempera paint all around their papers. Miss Caruso found that using straws was tricky for some kids, so some of our classes freestyled:

On the morning we did this with one group, the school had hosted a "Donuts with Dad" event, so everyone had sweet, sugary breath. Gross! Haha!

For the blossoms, Q-tips and pink paint were all it took to turn these black spider veins into beautiful branches!

For early finishers, a short video showed them a sped-up version of the same project:

 

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These are always a huge hit in the annual art show. More on that soon!

Beautiful Banyan Trees!

Ohhhhhhh my goodness! This might be my favorite new project!

You've probably seen this or a similar Banyan Tree project in Dynamic Art Projects for Children, or maybe another blog. But I'm going to post it anyway because it is just that fabulous!

Banyan trees grow primarily in India, though you can find some in Florida as well. From its branches grow aerial roots, which stretch downward and plant themselves back into the ground. They're amazing to look at!

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My fifth graders worked with oil pastels on their Wayne Thiebaud-inspired cakes project and really loved them. I think I significantly facilitated the sale of oil pastels at the local arts and crafts stores with that project. This project upped the oil pastel ante, as kiddos had to use their previous experience with the medium and further their technique in the form of blending colors.

To begin, I walked the students through the tree-drawing process. Despite giving each class essentially the same spiel, every tree was very different. I love that about art, don't you?

After drawing, kiddos painted their tree trunks and branches with black tempera paint. All that jazz took at least one full 45-minute class; some kiddos had to finish painting at the start of the next class.

As far as coloring goes, most of my fifth graders used up two classes' worth of time (90 minutes total) to color. Every section had to include two analogous or like colors blended together. Some students went the random route, while others chose a specific color scheme or order.

For the bottoms of the artwork, more colors could be used. Some students 'planted' their tree in water, which allowed for a reflection. I highly recommend using the reflective format, as the results are totally stunning! (The photos do NOT do these projects any justice. The vibrancy of the colors will knock your socks off in person!)

This sweet kiddo lacks a lot of fine motor skills... yet this project was her JAM!

This one is nicer than my example... it's humbling to be outdone by an 11-year-old!

I'll do this project again and again--the kids loved it, they learned a lot, and WOW, are these babies gorgeous!

Also, two nights ago I watched "Life of Pi," and there's a Banyan tree in one scene! I'm 28 years old and that alone made me so excited that I accidentally woke up the dog... and my husband. Whoops.