New Year

Summer sure flew by... but it always does! Now it's Friday of teacher week and I think I am ready for Tuesday. Here are some pics of the class..

and some of the little details....

now the deep breath before the plunge!

YAY!

Symmetry!

We had some fun with symmetry this week, and the kids are really understanding the concept. As a side note, I have to say that I love May and June because all the work we have done up to now is really paying off and they are becoming so independent and hard working (more often than before!)

SO back to symmetry. We talked about lines of symmetry and how some figures only have one while others have two or more. We discovered this while working with rulers and pattern blocks. First students built a symmetrical design on both sides of the rulers then they built a design on one side and their partner had to build the design on the other side making sure it was symmetrical.

Then I broke out the construction paper and had them make symmetrical insects. We folded our base paper (the black construction paper) in half and they cut out shapes to build their bug. They really enjoyed this activity and their creations are pretty imaginative. Some of them said  "I'm glad these are not real, they'd be HUGE!"

Only 5 weeks left! THIS YEAR HAS FLOWN!!!

Owl Art

We have begun our research unit on Owls which I love, not because I love real owls (although they are amazing, I just have a fear of all birds), but because of all the cute crafts and art projects that we can do! Owls are everywhere! Our mixed media owl project turned out really great, and I love seeing them all together! Here is a step by step of how we created this project!

First they drew the owls on watercolour paper with a pencil. We followed the step by step drawing guide from The Elementary Art Room blog. We talked about expression when we drew in the eyes and how drawing lines straight across makes the owl look sleepy, on a diagonal makes him look sad or mad depending on the direction of the diagonal. They all chose different expressions which added to the uniqueness and the loveliness of the project.

Next, the students used oil pastels to trace over all the pencil lines and colour in the eyes white. This will help the paint resist sticking to those areas. They also added designs to the owl's breast.

After they copied all the lines with the pastel, they used watercolour paints to fill in the rest of the owl.

Once the owls were dry, they cut them out and added them to the background page. For the background they cut out a branch shape from brown construction paper, glued it onto black construction paper. They cut out a moon shape, and used oil pastels to make stars.

And that's it! Super cute and fun!

Birch Trees

We did a Birch Tree art project last week, and as this is usually a three day lesson I thought I was very adventurous  crazy to get it done in two. I had the students draw three trees on 12x18 art paper, then go over those lines with black tempura paint and then add the details with a piece of tag board.  I cut the paper into 2" squares. The big black spots are made by dragging the tag dipped in black paint across the tree trunk and the lines are made by stamping the edge of the card across the tree. We then set this aside to dry and painted the background on a separate piece of 12x18 art paper. We used water colour paint pucks in red,orange, and yellow to create a sunset/ sunrise effect. We set this aside to dry as well.. The next lesson the kids cut the trees out and glued them on top of the background sunrise paper, and voila!  Some turned out better than others and usually I think they are going to be worse than they usually turn out, I really should have more faith!

Horton Hears a Who!

So we are in the middle of our literacy unit on Dr. Seuss. This week we read, Horton Hears a Who. I found this awesome project on Pinterest and knew that I had to do it! Thanks to Jodi from "Fun in First" for the idea and template, the project was a snap! The kids were super excited about making their own Hortons and I must say they turned out pretty darn cute!

I had the students write a thank you message, as though they were a Who, to thank Horton for saving them. Then they put their Horton together and added a clover (made from a pipe cleaner and a sparkly pom pom). They signed their names and added the surname "Who" for an extra touch of whimsy.

I just love some of the things they wrote!