Printed Butterflies


Second grade kiddos made these amazing butterflies after learning a bit about the Monarch, the king of all butterflies.  We learned that monarchs migrate to Mexico for the winter, and because of climate change, over-forestation, and icky pesticides many Monarchs are dying.  Knowledge is power, and we made these to celebrate the beauty of butterflies, and also to let people know about this issue.  
In making these we also learned a bit about symmetry and a LOT about printing.  We used really watery tempera paint to paint one side of our butterfly. We folded our papers to print the lines as we painted.  After they dried we reviewed analogous colors and talked about blending.  We used chalk pastels to color them, trying to keep our butterflies symmetrical. Thank you Cassie Stephens for the inspiration for this project!

Earth and Space Abstracts

Seriously, what's cooler than space?  I have been in awe of the photos Commander Kelly has been taking from the ISS and posting on social media lately, so when I saw this post from Don Masse, I just knew I had to copy, uhh I mean borrow, this idea.  My third graders were FASCINATED by Commander Kelly and my lessons ended up running at least an extra 10 minutes answering all their questions about astronauts, space, and gravity (and writing down a bunch of questions to look up answers to later :)  When I was able to get down to the nitty-gritty of my demo I mostly focused on how to use chalk.  This was third graders first foray into the messy, but super pigment-y, wonders of chalk. I showed them how to hold the chalk so they don't drag their palms across their paper, how to blend colors using just the tip of their finger, and how to make different types of marks to show different textures. Kids chose one of Commander Kelly's photos to use as inspiration.  We spoke about really zooming-in to just one part of the picture and off they went.  Kids did an awesome job and I think these are really incredible all put together. :)
  

Pre-Kinders bring Matisse to Life



Pre-Kinders learned all about Matisse. We read these books to learn a bit about him:


After a scissors demo ( I usually sing a silly song I made up about keeping your thumb on the top and your elbow glued to your side) kids attacked some construction paper to make these beauties:


As we were working we were thinking about what our picture reminded us about.  I think this kiddo might've told a story about a frog in a pond: (side note- this pre-k kiddo has some seriously awesome scissor skillz)


After finishing up these (more traditional) Matisse collages I wanted the kiddos to really explore some of Matisse's organic shapes.  I have two Pre-k classes, so each class looked at one of these Matisse collages:

We talked about what we saw and what the shapes made us think about. Then each kiddo got a piece of model magic to make either a leaf-shape or a star-shape.  Kids got to choose where their shape was glued down.


These are our finished 3-D Matisse Masterpieces!

Wayne Thiebaud Ice Cream Cones
(learning all about tints!) 

 

Firsties have been learning all about COLOR!  First we did this cool color mixing project and now we're learning about value.  We looked at some of Wayne Thiebaud's work:


We were inspired to make our own special treats!  We decided to make ice cream cones with not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE SCOOPS!
On day one we drew out scoops and a cone on a large piece of paper.  Day two, we practiced mixing paint to make different shades of a color.  Day three, we chose a color for our ice cream and made 5 different tints and painted all of our scoops.  We also mixed all the primaries to make a brown color for our cones.  After it dried, on day four, we cut out all the parts and assembled our ice cream cones. The last day we added in special details like the cherry on top and golden sprinkles!

Here they are:

Pre-K Stamped Friends

Pre-Kinders used shape stamps dipped in tempera paint to stamp in the faces and bodies of their friends at school. After they dried, they used black marker to add in all the details of their friends. They added in eyes, noses, mouths, hair, neck, arms and legs.  What I love best is how each child's drawing style comes through!
The shape stamps we use:

Lego Printing! 


I got an amazing donation of legos and put them to use having second graders make these collograph prints.  Second graders study the history of NYC and what better than to make our own printed city! We glued the legos on cardboard to make our printing plates and then used brayers and regular printing ink to print them.  Kids made several prints on colored card stock before printing all together to make second grade cities.