Minnie Evans was a new-to-me artist that I became fascinated by her beautiful and intricate face designs. At the end of the school year I taught about her artwork to my distance learning students. Here is the Google slides I used: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1SYYp6IORiCHurWQFwUoFkVdl–8t9tWwYKuaorGSNRI/edit#slide=id.gbccc15b226_0_86 And here are the images of the slides:
I used this simple “Snowflake Starter” to help my 1st and 2nd graders draw their own snowflakes. This is a great way to teach about radial symmetry. If you are going to use watercolor paints or glue thicker materials on to the paper, print the templates onto thicker cardstock. Simply draw shapes or designs on the spokes of the snowflake. If you draw something on one line, make sure to repeat the same shape or design all the way around. … Read more…
This month we were very proud that my 2nd grade daughter’s artwork was selected to be in her school’s Youth Art Month show at the public library. This is Daria below, with her art teacher, Ms. Tuttle. They have their own iPads they carry with them at school (which is very cool and I am starting to wish we had at our school!). They have done a lot of things on them in their regular classroom, like making presentations on … Read more…
One day this summer, my daughter came home from camp with a circle design drawn using metallic gel pens. I thought it looked so cool, I wanted to try it with my students in 3rd/4th grade. I usually teach about mandalas and radial balance at this age level. Mandalas have religious and spiritual significance around the world. They have been used for meditation and relaxation. I showed the students mandalas including Tibetan and Navajo sand paintings, ancient Aztec and architecture. … Read more…
My kindergartners recently made these pretty coffee filter snowflakes. The process is simple. First, color the coffee filter with Crayola washable markers. Then spray with water. The colors will run and blend together. Let dry. During the next class, fold the circle in half three times. Cut out shapes as you would a regular snowflake. Unfold and glue to a black piece of paper. Add designs with metallic paint markers or Crayola Metallic Markers.
Earlier this summer I wrote a blog post about how to make watercolor doodled flowers. These mandalas I created were made with a very similar technique. Both these mandalas and the flowers were made by starting with watercolor paints and then doodling on top with thin markers. Products I Use (Amazon Affiliate links are used) Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: Tropicals Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: The Classics Sakura Koi Brush Pen Set Sharpie Permanent Marker, Fine Point Sakura Micron Ink Pen … Read more…
I have been working on making printable activity sheets to put into sketchbooks for my students. My plan is to have them work on some of these for “bell ringers” or 5 minute warm-ups while they are waiting for the rest of their class to arrive (my students travel from class to class on their own and some trickle in minutes later than others… it’s a complicated scheduling story which I can explain if you are interested.) The sketchbooks will … Read more…
