Fifth Grade Observational Drawings

Here are a few of the drawings my fifth graders did this week using the still life bin below.  Aren't they lovely?  

Observational Drawing Center

When I surveyed my students at the beginning of the year I learned that some of my students love drawing from life.  Fall harvest makes lovely opportunities for still life drawing and I set up this bin solve the problem of keeping a still life center stocked with fresh items each week.  The green bin contains my fall still life center and includes a small clip on spot light, three mason jars, a table cloth, and a bucket of flowers; everything needed to set up a center.  The bin makes it easy to transport and I carry it with me form school to school. On a small cart or table I set up the spot light, the table cloth and several small flower arrangements.  At the end of the session I switch off the light and  pack everything back into the bin.  The bin is tended at home and replenished from the garden as needed.    

Can you see the sunflower seed heads are plentiful in the garden now?  I cut the stems short enough to fit into the mason jars.  Even after their petals have fallen they make great still life objects. Can you guess what artists I might reference with this center?  Van Gogh and Gaugin are great choices.

Apple season is next...can you say Cezanne?  

Rewarding Positive Behavior

I'm always on the lookout for fun and engaging activities to offer students as a reward for all the effort and good behavior they demonstrate week after week, and also as an incentive to keep up the great work.  I'm not a big fan of rewarding kids with "things", because it's just not in my budget...but special activities are another story.  I use the Whole Brain approach to classroom management, and my classes can earn one point in the "art bank" each day they successfully complete the scoreboard.  After they have four points we take time for a reward activity.
Koo Koo Kangaroo is our current reward.  The dance is easy, lively and  a whole lot of fun.  Kids really enjoy learning the steps and stomping it out.  This is a keeper.
What incentives do you use in your art room, classrooms?  Please share.

Hawaiian Sunset

The long winter must be getting to me, because I find myself fascinated with all things tropical lately. So, aloha friends.
Today I'm sharing a little bit of the aloha spirit and also my Hawaiian Sunset lesson.  Aloha is more than a word, isn't it?  It means hello, goodbye, but also carries a deeper meaning.  The aloha spirit signifies giving without expecting anything in return.  I means accepting each as a valuable part of the whole, living peacefully in the present, and being one with the natural world.
Students made these beautiful tropical sunsets for our PTG fund raiser this year. They'll send them away to be printed on various items.  To make them we first made a watercolor wash to make an ocean sunset.  We used liquid watercolors, but you can use what you have.  Then we used our backgrounds to create a beach silhouette.  Students really loved this lesson.  We used this video to practice drawing our palm trees (not a native species in Vermont). How to draw palm trees And we used this video to practice our hula. Aloha Music.

Aren't they fun?  Don't they make you want to create a little aloha spirit of your own?

Student Art Goes Up

There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to stage a show.  Mounting the work, labeling, sorting, and finally hanging the show.  Here's the 2013 student art show going up at the Southern Vermont Art Center.  I was so appreciative to get a little extra time at school this year to get student work ready.  Usually I do a lot of this work on my own time at home.  This year I was able to get a lot done at school, and although I still ended up putting time in at home to pull last minute things together, it was much better this year.   I hung the show on Thursday.  Enjoy.

Mini Mosaics

Found a bucket of stone tiles laying around.  These were leftover from someone's long ago renovation.  Can you tell I have a hard time saying no.

To these I added some busted up China and a sprinkling of odd beads.  Glued it all down.  Added some grout.  And there you have it.  Mini mosaics.

If you don't have a bucket of stone tiles laying around your house, you could repeat the same process on some smooth river rocks for some awesome garden art.

Which do you prefer...grey or white grout?  I kinda like the white, but the bits and pieces seem to stand out better against the grey.  Which do you like?

Story Stones

I made up this set of story stones this weekend.  They were a lot of fun to make.  I envisioned a small set, but ended up with all of these.  I got a little carried away, because they were so much fun to make. I made them with Sharpie Marker.
The stones are supposed to be used as a story prompt, but I think I'll use them as a drawing prompt.
My plan is to tie up a few stones in a piece of colorful cloth.  Kids can choose a bundle, untie it, and make up a picture based on their stones.  I think there are enough for a whole class if the children partner-up. Could be a fun sub-plan, too.
What do you think?  How would you use them?