Time Flies 1.2 Second - Fourth Grade Projects

Second - Fourth have been working hard, or hardly working at times...lol We did a baseline portrait to kick off the year. Due to Jury duty, I missed the first day of class, so their regular Room Teacher gave them a piece of paper and asked them to draw a picture of themselves.

Sara, Second Grade

Max, Fourth Grade


That was followed up by a lesson on Lines and Joan Miro. We did some abstract, geometric pieces. They took a LOT longer than I ever anticipated they would, four 50 minute class periods! Looking at some of them, I just can't imagine that was all that was accomplished in what is essentially, 3.3 hours...


Amanda, Third Grade

Jack, Third Grade



Cammie, Third Grade

After that, the teacher requested a project incorporating recycling, and I had Jury Duty again, so we did a very simple project using images from old Magazines. I printed out a large font using the first letter in their names. They were instructed to cut them out, then pick one primary color and one secondary color. They were to find each color in the magazines, choosing one for the letter, and one for the background. I still need to photograph those.

I really enjoy helping/teaching these kids what little I know about art. But...I am at a loss in how to get the students to really care about art class. I was given a quote of "My parents don't care, they say it's JUST art. They don't care what I do so why should I?" It is disheartening sometimes...

Time flies, whether you are having fun or not!

I just can't believe it is the middle of October already. I have been so busy doing things at home, volunteering at school with art & treasury work, and at church. I remember my mother talking about how fast time goes by and thinking "What is she talking about?!". For me, as a kid, time seemed to almost stand still at times...

We have completed almost 4 projects in each classroom so far. K - First grade started with baseline self-portraits. I wasn't there due to Jury Duty, so I just had the Room teacher give them a sheet of paper and ask them to draw a picture of themselves;

Alex,Kindergarten

Lydia, Kindergarten

Then came Van Gogh sunflowers. We reviewed some of Van Gogh's work, ending with his Sunflowers series. Then we drew several practice sunflowers, talking about the different shapes that can be seen in a sunflower.

We talked about how the flowers are large flowers, and the petals are large and pointy too. After they sketched their flowers, I asked that they color them in with crayons, pressing hard. Next I showed them how to do crayon resist, and finished with outlining their drawing with black Sharpie to give them more definition;

Georgette, First Grade

Elibern, First Grade


They were studying the farm in science/social studies, so I had them do Painted Pigs from Deep Space Sparkle. They LOVED mixing their own colors for the background.


Karis, First Grade

Pictures from the rest of the class can be found on our Artsonia Gallery, Louisville Adventist Academy.

Another project which I will talk about more later, T.A.G. Time signs. We are currently working on our Fall project from Deep Space Sparkle, Fall Leaves. LOVE Patty's blog!

Expanding My Domain

So, I did my best for the 2009-2010 school year. I bought some art books such as: I must say though, i ended up going to the web more than anything. So many real Art Teacher's have wonderful blogs, with awesome examples and even lessons which a faker like me could use. My K-2 class of 15 students had lots of fun painting, gluing, cutting, and even making pinch pots. we only did about 7 projects all year. I just didn't realize how long it can take to get my point across to this age group.

I was taken aback by how many times I heard, "I can't draw that" or "I don't know how to do that". I was also surprised by how many of them were more in to how fast they could do it, rather than making the best project they could. I wish that I did have some formal Art education, because I found that I LOVE "teaching" Art!

The school has asked me to expand my volunteer Art classes up through the 6th grade, to give the teachers a break. I have agreed, because I think this is something I will really enjoy doing. I am, however, slightly terrified as well. I have NO Art budget. Anything used will have to come out of the classroom teachers classroom budget. We need so many basic things. I think I will see if the teachers can add a set of paints, paper, and pastels to the classroom supply list. Or, maybe I can get a store to donate the supplies...

I am excited, and slightly queasy at the same time!

Collage Self Portraits with Crayon Resist Background

My example

I decided to have the kids do self-portraits. Th kids were given a piece of tagboard and told to color the whole thing heavily with crayon. They were told not to draw anything too detailed. Then they did Crayon Resist with watered down Tempera Paint or Water colors.

Four shades of construction paper were provided and they were asked to choose one for their skin. An oval template was placed on the skin color paper and traced. Then a neck and shoulder template was also traced. After cutting out these templates, they pasted them on to the crayon resist background.

They were asked to draw eyes and mouths on white paper. They were encouraged to draw lips, as well as teeth and to make sure their irises were large enough. They pasted the eyes into place, then drew on eyelashes. The mouths were pasted on next , followed with the nose being drawn on.

Next, they used the neck and shoulder template to sketch a shirt and then used tempera paints to color them in. When they dried, they cut them out and pasted them into place. They were given a choice of strips of construction paper in various colors for hair. They also could choose from some yarn I had. Once the hair was in place, they were to draw whatever they wished on the background or to add whatever they wanted. ie: hats, birds, butterflies, planes, etc.

I really loved the results from this project. They were all so unique and colorful. I think this was my favorites project of the year.

Kendall, Kindergarten

Kenny, First Grade

Amanda, Second Grade

Cut Paper Turtle Collages

Elibern, Kindergarten

I abandoned trying to teach Art concepts after my first Art class on Shapes and Lines. They had a hard time following directions in my abstract coloring project from this awesome book, Drawing with Children It was very similar to this "draw three lines from one edge of the paper to another, draw seven dots, and draw a circle that intersects another mark on the page." The kindergarteners didn't seem to understand what I was trying to say about lines. They were not engaged at all. I just didn't have the skills to keep them engaged at that point. So I decided to try and do a collage with my K-2 class.

Before class I printed out some turtles on construction paper. I gave them the turtles to cut out. It was good cutting practice for the kindergarten class. I asked them to decorate the turtles. I also gave them a piece of gray paper, had them cut out a rock shape. Once the rock was cut out, I had them crumple it up to give it some texture. The they smoothed it out again and used it with their collage. I used some stamps to create patterned paper which the kids could use to add foliage and flowers.

I heard a lot of "I don't know what to do" and "I don't know how to cut out a leaf/flower". I makes me wonder how much other parents encourage their kids to draw, cut, color or paste. I think it is an important part of learning, so I often encourage my girls to make things. I hope that other parents are doing the same. The kids had a great time and were much more engaged in this project than the previous week.

Here are a few of my favorites...

Amanda, Second Grade

Karis, Kindergarten (also, my daughter...lol)

Sara, First Grade

Volunteer Art Teacher K-6... what was I thinking!

So, a little about me... I am a 42 year old SAHM who is an RN by profession. I live in Kentucky and the oldest of my 2 daughters attends a private, christian school in Louisville. It is a small school, with about 70 students. We don't have the funds to hire an Art Teacher, so the teachers generally teach Art themselves, if they have time. Last year, my daughter was in the K-2 Class, in kindergarten. I am friends with her teacher and offered to teach art, to give her a break.

Now, I have absolutely NO training in Art or teaching. I mean, I did teach English as a Second Language in Russia for a year, but I have not had any classes in education. I also am not an artist as per se. I can draw a recognizable house/horse/human, but no one would pay anything to look at it. I just wanted to give the kids more than a craft project every week. Don't get me wrong, I love crafting... I just wanted to get the kids thinking about the emotions and feelings that color and paintings (and music) can evoke.

I also went to private christian schools growing up, but they were all much larger. They had full time art and music teachers. I was blessed to experience the fun of seeing my creations up on the school hallway walls. I wanted these kids to have that fun too.