In like a lion, out like a lamb.

Big thanks to Teach Kids Art for this lesson idea.  The kinders and 1st graders loved the magic of painting on top of white crayon resist and being able to see their darling lambs AFTER the paint is added.
Because I was doing this lesson with a public school, I decided to use a spring poem instead of the religious quote used originally.
Here's the poem I shared with the kids before our project.

In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lamb

by Lorie Hill

March roars in like a lion
So fierce,
The wind so cold,
It seems to pierce.

The month rolls on
And Spring draws near,
And March goes out
Like a lamb so dear.

 First we wrote our poem on the white paper with black crayon.  (I prepped the paper by drawing 4 faint pencil lines for the words, and we carefully wrote 2 words on each line.)
Second, we drew a curvy black "ground" lines, black legs, white fluffy-cloud bodies, black oval heads, and black tails.
Third, we outlined suns with black crayon, and added some grass.
Fourth, we painted the ground green, then the sky blue.

This student is blind, and his grandma is helping him with this project.

San Gabriel 1st graders!

Starry Night Collage

My students enjoy this collage version of Van Gogh's Starry Night, because they love making their own confetti to represent the swirly movement in the sky.

To make the confetti we first cut many skinny vertical cuts into about 3 pieces of paper at once.  These vertical cuts make the paper seem like "fringe" on the bottom.  Then make horizontal cuts across the fringe, and voila, confetti falls to the table.  It's best to have a cup or piece of paper under your cutting so you can corral the confetti for when it's time to drop it on your glue.
These examples were done by 3rd graders and high school students.

Thank you San Gabriel Elementary 3rd grade artists, and No. County christian High School artists!!

Kandinsky Kinders

Going into Kindergarten classrooms is such a treat.  The walls are ALWAYS covered with color and excitement.  I have to admit that there are times when I ignore the kids a bit while working because I want to relish and admire all that surrounds me in these rooms.....(shhhh, don't tell on me.)

Have you also found that Kandinsky never fails as art inspiration for students of any age?

Here we did the classic cutting and gluing circles.

Steps:

Provide a rectangle and 2 squares for the background.

Model putting smaller circles on top of bigger ones.

Give students colored paper and different size lids to trace and cut circles.

Thanks bunches to San Gabriel Elementary kinders!

Inspired by Van Gogh Sunflowers

Image via Wikipedia

For this lesson we used Van Gogh's famous painting of a vase with sunflowers. I love to use this painting when students complain about their "Flowers looking funny, or not perfect" because it appears as if Van Gogh purposely chose odd shaped-not perfect looking sunflowers for his painting which is now considered a masterpiece.
Step 1: Draw flowers
Step 2: Draw the "base" of the vase, then the "top" of the vase and connect with sides.
Step 3: Draw a line for the table.
Step 4: Add stems and leaves to flowers.

BIG Thanks to San Gabriel Elementary 3rd graders!!