The Lion and The Rat

Inspired by another wonderful Brian Wildsmith story, The Lion and The Rat, kindergartners created lions for Family Arts Night at Swallow. 3rd and 4th grade students helped design and hang a jungle mural to display their work. I found a great children's book review blog, check it out here: http://theartofchildrenspicturebooks.blogspot.com/  and Brian Wildsmith's website: http://www.brianwildsmith.com/

Our Color zoO!

Inspired by our artist of the month, Lois Ehlert the first graders created collaged animals from their imagination. First we read both Color Zoo and Color Farm by Lois Ehlert, and then we talked about collaging, how to create lines and shapes without drawing them. I did a quick demonstration and then I put out heaps of construction paper pieces (great way to use up odds and ends!) and boxes full of shapes (recycled this, that, and the other!) These are the best days in art class, I love listening to their imaginations run wild while digging through the recycled objects-- envisioning...an ear, a paw, or a pair of wings with every new shape they discovered. The biggest challenge for the first graders was not drawing any details, rather finding an object that resembled what they had in mind. Cheers to collaged paper- it's a great medium.

what a HoOt!

Collage Owls by the Kindergarteners inspired by the wonderful vintage children's book. "The Owl and the Woodpecker." Check it out here: Brian Wildsmith

First Grade Planted a Rainbow

First Grade created beautiful flower collages inspired by the book, Planting a Rainbow by Milwaukee's Lois Elhert. As you can see, there is a theme in the art room-- the First Grader's also kicked off the start of the school year by studying color. After we read the book I placed a paint try on each table with a big glob of white tempera and a big glob of blue tempera and some sponge squares. We talked about how the sky can look many different ways depending on weather, and each sky painting will look different, and left it at that to see what they came up with. The next class period they added the "color wheel" pedals and the other plant parts using different methods that they discovered throughout the class period. I was impressed by the individuality of each flower. While reflecting on the past two weeks, I have discovered something we need to work on in the room- there is no right or wrong answer! From Kindergarten, all the way up to Fourth Grade I have student's asking "is this right?" "how am I doing?" Which is fine sometimes, but I would like to work on decision making skills and self confidence.  Onto Kandinsky!