African inspired paper weaving, 1st grade

First graders are continuing their African art unit by trying out some weaving - we started by looking at examples of colorful kente cloth and symbol-printed adinkra cloth. We made a loom from cut paper and practiced our over/under pattern with our paper strips. Early finishers added symbols like the ones we saw on the black and white adinkra cloth.

Georgia bird portraits in 3rd

Third graders researched birds native to our state, Georgia, and turned them into beautiful painted portraits with atmospheric perspective - a way of showing space by contrasting sharp and blurry focus.

We started by making thumbnails on a Make it! planning sheet (find it here in my TpT store) and discovering the birds' habitats. Next, we drew the bird large and a simple foreground like a branch. We colored these using details and sharp features, to show they were in the foreground. We used a wet on wet watercolor technique in the background to create a more distant feel - the wet paint on wet paper makes a soft, blurred texture. After learning about the habitats, we used the colors we imagined would be found in these areas - some woodlands, some wetlands. We wrapped it up with a reflection, also on the Make it! sheet, and uploaded them to Artsonia.

Pop-up architecture and paper sculpture in K

Kindergarteners were delighted to experiment with 3D art the last few weeks - first, we talked about architecture and architects, as well as surrounding space with our pop-ups.

Next, we created 3D form from flat paper by twisting, rolling, and folding the paper into lots of different forms an attached them onto a cardboard base. This lesson is always a popular and successful one with my youngest kids  - great fine motor practice and creativity exercise!

Shape Explosion! One-point perspective in 4th

One-point perspective is introduced to my 4th grade artists using the Shape Explosion! activity. Students focus on unity, variety, and the steps to connect shapes to a vanishing point using converging lines. This lesson handout is available in my  Teachers Pay Teachers if you’d like to give it a try.

Olympic figures in 5th grade

Fifth graders practiced posing for each other and making quick gesture sketches to capture the action of a figure. Next, we looked at the pictograms of the upcoming Winter Olympics and drew the figures using the same steps as our gestures - a quick stick figure with a squiggle drawn over, as if a string were wrapping around the body. Then we finished it off with a black silhouette, and we reviewed our knowledge of the color wheel with our painted backgrounds.