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Category Archives: fifth grade

Triangle Collage on Canvas for School Auction

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Triangle Collage on Canvas for School Auction

Every year, my 5th/6th grade class carves rubber stamps with symbols they have designed.  This year, we stamped extra prints on tissue paper with acrylic paint to make collaborative artworks.  To stamp, simply use a foam brush to lightly paint acrylic paint on the stamp. Then, the tissue papers were decoupaged (with hard-finish Mod-Podge) on these fun triangular canvases called Squangles.  These are going to be put in our school auction at the end of the year.  We made three … Read more… →

Mosaic Stepping Stones and Coasters

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Mosaic Stepping Stones and Coasters

I have been wanting to make some more permanent artworks to beautify the school grounds.  I had pairs of kids working on these stepping stones.  This was such a fun project I am planning on making more in the coming years ahead to add to our collection. I have never made outdoor stepping stones before, so I asked for advice several times on the Art Teacher Facebook group.  I just want to give a shout out to them for answering … Read more… →

Radial Name Designs: 5th & 6th Grade

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Radial Name Designs: 5th & 6th Grade

These gorgeous radial designs were made by fifth and sixth graders by using their name.  You can see all the steps to make these in a previous blog post.  The only difference is that now we use light tables (or hold it up to a window) to trace the design over and over again.   We focus on learning about the characteristics and history of Islamic art, which connects with their studies in Social Studies class. We love using the … Read more… →

Foreign Language Art Postcard Contest

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Foreign Language Art Postcard Contest

Last fall, we participated in the Wisconsin Association for Language Teachers postcard contest. The theme was Languages:  Literacy for Life.  The students created postcards to fit this theme and one winning card was chosen to be reproduced in a pack of postcards that was given to all of the association members.  The members were encouraged to use the postcards in correspondence to parents or administration.  This would be a wonderful idea for arts advocacy! This is the card that was … Read more… →

Art and the Brain: How do kids imagine their brains?

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Art and the Brain: How do kids imagine their brains?

[cryout-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”100%”] How do you experience your brain? What does your brain do for you? How can you express the feelings of your brain? [/cryout-pullquote] Students at our school connected with a scientific researcher to create diverse and artistic representations of their brains.   I teach art at a school for gifted and talented children.  Our students are highly interested and curious about science, so when I was contacted by Ayla Kruis to work with her on a project … Read more… →

Carving Rubber Stamps with 5th and 6th Graders

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Before I left for my maternity/medical leave, my 5th and 6th graders were carving rubber stamps.  They were turning out so well and I can’t wait to see all of the finished projects. Here are some of our stamps from previous years.  We looked at African Adinkra symbol stamps and the students created their own personal symbols. We print our stamps by applying acrylic paints with a foam brush.  A light touch is best. Students can also test their stamps … Read more… →

Have You Ever Drawn Flowers with Watercolor Pencils?

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Have You Ever Drawn Flowers with Watercolor Pencils?

The week after winter break was up in the air.  Due to construction, we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to use our art room and we didn’t know if we would have easy access to supplies.  I planned for most of my classes to complete observational drawings during that week period, since they all could use the same supplies and learning to observe the edges and shapes of objects is great training for the eye. It … Read more… →