House Weavings

This was the weaving lesson I chose to do with the small ones this year. The first day of the lesson was used to make the paper background. They picked a color blue for the sky and a shade of green for the grass. They then added a sun and clouds to they sky. The following day was used to make the actual house weaving. I let them choose two different colors and demonstrated slowly how to weave the strips. It always seems that half the kids get it right away and the other half struggle a lot. I always have the kids who understand it really well to help the ones who need it. Once they completed their weaving they got to add a roof, door, and windows. I will definitely be repeating this lesson in the future! They are so adorable :)

Van Gogh Sunflowers

For this lesson I read Camille and the Sunflowers to the students and showed them a PowerPoint on Vincent Van Gogh. The kids loved his paintings and were sad to hear that he only sold one during his lifetime. We learned about why he chose to paint so many sunflowers at one point in his life and what they represented. The students got a sunflower worksheet along with a pair of dice and used these to complete their drawing. Each number rolled represented a different sunflower or vase shape/design. Gold and yellow paints were used for the sunflowers and neutral colors for the vase. Once dry, they outlined in black crayon. Unfortunately, we ran out of time in the school year for them to sign their names on the vase like Van Gogh did, but I encouraged them to do it once they took it home.

Blowing Kisses on Mother's Day

Okay so this project was inspired by something similar I saw online. Can't remember where I saw it but I changed it a bit and tried it out with my little ones. Mother's Day was coming up and I wanted the students to have something really sentimental to give to their wonderful mommies! I took a photo of each Kindergarten and 1st grader blowing a kiss to the side. This was harder for some kids to do than others but we made it happen, haha. I printed them out in black and white relatively small and glued them in the bottom corner of a white piece of paper. This was a lot of prep time on my part but so worth it. On the first day of this project we talked about why we love our moms, what they do for us, and what we wanted to say to them on Mother's Day that would make them smile really big. Then we used oil pastels to draw hearts coming from our lips and hands to represent our 'kisses.' Red, pink and purple liquid watercolors to make a splashy background. While it was still wet, we used glue and glitter to make it ever more special. Having the kids pinch and sprinkle over a bucket didn't cause too bad of a mess luckily. The next day was used to add special messages to our mom. I printed out some of the most popular phrases I heard from the kids and they chose one to glue onto their paper. 

Watermelon Self Portraits

For one of the last projects of the school year I thought it would be fun if the 2nd and 3rd graders did a self portrait eating a watermelon. We drew the picture together step by step and then they were encouraged to tweak it to make it look more like them. Students could add freckles, design their shirt, add jewelry, freckles and whatever else they could think of to make it unique. Oil pastels were used for coloring and the background was painted. A few also chose to add strips of picnic blanket patterned ribbon on the edges. The other half of this project was for them to write a picnic short story. These were stapled to the back of their work and each student presented to their class. I loved hearing their stories of what they packed for their picnic and the woodland animals they shared it with!

Corduroy Bears

One of my favorite childhood stories was definitely about Corduroy the bear. I was surprised to learn only a few kids recognized the book! Once I read it to them, they loved it as much as I did :) We created our own Corduroy bears showing different kinds of texture. We used gold paint for the bear and green construction paper for the overalls. Each student got a small piece of cardboard to dip into a darker green paint to make a corduroy effect on the overalls. We also used gold oil pastels to add fur around the outside of our bear. Students picked out a color for the background as well as 2 buttons for me to hot glue on their picture. I love the results!

Growing Vegetables

I thought Spring would be the perfect time for a vegetable garden themed project! 2nd and 3rd graders learned about several different vegetables, their physical attributes and tips for planting each. It helps to bring in an example of each vegetable for the students to pass around and study. Their artwork shows what the vegetable looks from above and below the ground, which I think is pretty darn cool. We talked about how their greenery is what clues us in on what's growing beneath; they all have unique qualities. The vegetables were drawn in pencil, and then oil pastels were used to outline in specific colors. Paint was used to fill it in.