• Subscribe to Blog via Email

    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 4,532 other subscribers

Tag Archives: fourth grade

Inspired by Artist Justin Vining: Abstract Whimsical Landscapes

By | | , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

This may have been my favorite unit we studied all year!  We looked at the whimsical landscapes of contemporary artist Justin Vining.  Here is one of his paintings: We watched videos of him talking about his influences, watched time lapses of his paintings and emailed him some questions about himself.  He responded to our questions in this interview I posted previously.  This was a perfect artist to study for us because Justin lives in Indiana in a rural area and … Read more… →

Mandalas | 3rd & 4th Grade

By | | , , ,
18 Comments
Mandalas | 3rd & 4th Grade

Materials you will need: Compass Pencil White paper Things to color with like markers, crayons, colored pencils Sharpies (optional) Crayola Twistable Neon Crayons (optional) Goals: understand the meanings and purposes of mandalas in other cultures learn to use a compass use radial symmetry in artwork develop fine motor skills and craftsmanship personal expression Steps: 1.  Start by showing and discussing mandalas around the world.  There is a slideshow linked above or create your own. 2.  Demonstrate how to use a … Read more… →

Salt and Watercolor Fall Leaves

By | | ,
5 Comments
Salt and Watercolor Fall Leaves

I came across this beautiful technique at the Happy Hooligans blog.  She practiced letter writing with glue, salt and paint.   I thought this technique would be a fun experiment for my third graders and make beautiful fall leaf paintings. Here’s how this works.   First, we used real fall leaves for inspiration while drawing.  We drew leaves with pencil on watercolor paper.  Then, we used regular Elmer’s white glue to outline the leaves. While the glue was still wet, we poured … Read more… →

Mosaic Stepping Stones and Coasters

By | | , ,
7 Comments
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… →

Reach for the Stars – Back to School Bulletin Board

By | | , , , , , ,
Leave a comment
Reach for the Stars – Back to School Bulletin Board

I hope you are enjoying your first few weeks back to school!   Here is a Reach for the Stars bulletin board my students made as their first art projects. The tape letters were made by 1st graders.  I don’t know how people use painter’s tape for this technique, because it just caused my paper to rip.  I discovered the Post-it Label Roll which worked great to block out the letters. The kids painted over the label tape with a crayon … Read more… →

Secret City Drawings: 3rd & 4th Grade

By | | , ,
3 Comments

Learn shading!  Practice drawing cubes, spheres and more.  Add dimension and depth to your drawings!  All this can be achieved with SECRET CITY DRAWINGS.  Check out this awesome video.  GUYS, LOOK AT HIS CLOTHES!  amazing. Once in awhile I will show the kids this goofy video and have them draw along for kicks and giggles. If I’m running low on time, we’ll skip the video and just use handouts from his book  (affiliate link to Amazon). The kids practice drawing … Read more… →

Foreign Language Art Postcard Contest

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment
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… →