Sea turtles are the best! Especially, when you can paint the shells however you choose. The kindergarteners used a paper plate to design their sea turtle shell. We talked about how to start at the center and build the design out with shapes in pencil first. After penciling their design in, they watercolored the shell in any colors they wanted. They then used green construction paper to draw the head, tail and 4 flippers. This was an exercise in counting....6 turtle parts they needed to cut and design...and a cutting exercise. The more cutting practice they get, the better. The students have become much more confident with their cutting skills and they all hold the scissors correctly. Thanks to all the amazing kindergarten teachers and parents who help them with these important fine motor skills. They loved their little turtles...so colorful and fun!

The kids LOVED this project! They each brought in a shoe box for their bear. Each child designed their own bear from brown paper. We had huge bears and tiny bears. We had bears with eyelashes and bears that like chocolate chip cookies. Once they designed their bears, I took them home and stuffed them. The next week they decorated their bear's den (the shoebox) and then they chose a piece of scrap material for its little blanket. A perfect winter art project. 

First Grade Watercolor/Oil pastel Turkeys
These turned out so fun! The students were given dark oil pastels, purple, blue, black. I took them step by step through a turkey drawing. We went right to the good paper for our turkey drawing after they watched me demonstrate two times. Sometimes, I like them to draw it out on a 'sloppy copy' first but this week we were in a time crunch, so right to the good copy we went. They then watercolored in the turkey and background in any color they wanted. And, we added a real feather at the end. Next year, I might add a tiny hole to the top of the turkey head and place the quill through the paper and tape behind. Apparently, lots of feathers were flying off our little turkeys with just glue stick. But, an easy fix. Love their little turkeys! 

This was a two week project. I cut out strips of paper and the students had to go 'shopping' at our art store...which is just my counter in the back of the room, with trays of art supplies...ssshh, don't tell the kids...they think it is the best. They could pick out two colors of paper strips for their turkey bodies. I had the bodies precut with slits for them. We wove the strips through the bodies. They needed some help but they got the hang of it pretty quickly. The next week, they made their turkey heads, added legs and drew their own feathers. I let them glue the heads on where they thought was best. What a fun turkey project!

October is a busy month. The art classes never seem to be long enough because there is so much material in October - pumpkins, leaves, fall trees, ghosts, haunted houses, the autumn colors. It is month for artists. But, we did our best to create some really fun projects. Take a look. 

These were SO MUCH FUN. Messy. Really messy. But, fun. It took 2 weeks for these pumpkins. The first week, the students were given a white piece of tagboard and told to make a pumpkin shape. We talked about shapes of pumpkins and how they are bumpy and lumpy and can be big or small. They each drew their pumpkin shape with pencil. They then were given a palette with red and yellow paint. They were told to paint their pumpkin. Lots of hand went up asking for orange. It was a great exercise in mixing colors and getting different variations of orange. And, the look in their eyes when they realize red and yellow make orange is worth all the mess. They painted and then used the scraps to make eyes. The white paper stuck to the wet painted papers, so not much glue needed. The next week they were given blue and yellow and told to make stems and leaves. I also gave them black paper scraps and told them to make faces. One student made a bat pumpkin and many followed suit. I loved their ideas and their pumpkins. It is fun seeing what they come up with. 
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We looked at Day of the Dead Skeleton designs. I know Day of the Dead is in November but it fits with Halloween so I thought they would like to explore these. We sketched a skeleton head and neck in pencil on scrap. After they explored which designs they would like to use, they penciled their designs on black paper. They painted the bones in with acrylic white or white oil pastel. They then added designs and spider webs with oil pastels. Some decided to do pet skeletons and I thought it was an awesome way to use their creativity. Next time, I might have them do their animal skeletons a bit bigger or just the head of the animal. The younger students loved seeing the 4th graders' designs. 
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These turned out so awesome. I took the kids step by step in drawing 3 hugging pumpkins on white 11 x 14 paper. Once they liked their pumpkins, I encourage them to be ok with little bumps or crooked lines, they traced their pencil with a dark oil pastel. I gave them either a navy or black pastel. They could choose to do faces. We then watercolored the pumpkins on week one. I did not give them instructions on color for the pumpkins because, gosh, their color choices are fabulous. On week 2, they were told to watercolor the background. I loved their color combos and they were so proud of these. 

I love these! We discussed shading and using a light, medium and dark value for their pumpkins. They used their Ipads to find interesting pumpkin faces. They did a great job. I think next time I would love to offer them the option of watercoloring the background. It would be a great contrast with the charcoal. These are still in progress. Eraser smudges and details needed to be added but I couldn't wait to share.