Romare Bearden Jazz Musicians

Each year when our 5th graders start learning about the Roaring 20s I do a lesson on Georgia O'Keeffe but this year I decided to try a lesson that has been in my "Want to Try" folder for a while. We focused on artist Romare Bearden and my students spent a few weeks working on a collage of jazz musicians. It was a great way to start a unit that all of the related arts teachers could participate in because we all love the 20s! The collages turned out AMAZING and everyone was so proud to see their work displayed. Enjoy!

Caterpillar Collage

We are on a collage kick in the art room and 1st grade is no exception. Anyone who know's me will tell you that I absolutly ADORE Eric Carle. I love his books, his prints, everything about him. Because I do so love Mr. Carle I make sure that I use his techniques of painting paper to make collages as much as possible.

In first grade we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and then got started! My first graders spent a few weeks painting papers. We used green with drops of yellow to make the body and reds to make the heads. Then we spent a week tracing and cutting ovals from our painted papers to make our caterpillars. Color a background habitat and you've got yourself one cute caterpillar!

Enjoy!

Perky Penguins!

Once again Pinterest to the rescue! Just when I'm feeling like I need a new idea there they are, waiting for me on my board. It's the best way to keep all of the ideas in my head organized and in a place where I can remember them.

This lesson was done a while ago but I'm just getting around to posting pictures. We made penguins for winter and I think they are just adorable! Lot's of scissors, glue and ribbon. (All of my favorite things!)

I did this lesson with 2nd grade and they turned out fantastic, such personality. The background is a sheet of construction paper, however I would like to have a painted paper background next time. Then we did construction paper for the body, head, etc. I found some fun holiday paper that the kids used for the ear muffs. This is also a fun way to use wrapping paper.

Take a look at our penguins!

Peacocks!

Pinterest is my new obsession! I mean seriously, what an amazing way to find lessons and project ideas. This is a lesson that I pinned and am so glad we tried it. My 4th graders have created the most adorable peacocks using a bunch of different techniques and I'm so glad to share them. We spend quite a bit of time on this project getting all of the papers ready so that we could assemble our collages. They were totally worth the time because they are a total hit and project that I will be sure to add to my "Must Do" list for next year.

Week 1 was spent using shaving cream and paint to create a marble background. All you do is spread out the shaving cream and drop the paint onto it. Then take a chop sick or paint brush handle and swirl it around. Be sure to keep from totally mixing the colors! We used blue and purple paint for this step. I thinned it down a bit with water and we used straws to drop it onto the shaving cream. Next year I want to try this step with liquid water colors.

After you swirl the paint you lay your drawing paper down onto the surface and make sure to get contact for the entire paper. Then just peel it off the shaving cream and scrape the shaving cream off and viola your paper looks like marble! Just let it dry on the drying rack and clean up. Clean up takes a while but the good thing is your room smells fantastic!

Week 2 we created the peacocks heads and feathers. We used marbles in pizza boxes to create the feathers. Then I added the Crayola Pearl paint to my blue paint to make the peacock heads special. (Does anyone know where you can buy just a big bottle of the pearl paint? I can only find the little ones in a 3 pack with other stuff.) Make sure to add lots of texture to the blue painted papers so their heads look cute!

Week 3 is assembly! We talked about drawing on the back so you don't see the pencil marks and making sure to have a big peacock and fill the page. We used construction paper to make the feathers pop and added wiggly eyes to make them look sweet! Finally I added the glitter glue (found on sale after christmas!) around the feathers for a little something special!

Take a look at our perfect peacocks!