FALL inspired seasonal projects

seasonal projects - fall

as much as i love to hang on to the nostalgia of summer, i love introducing fall projects to the kids.  unfortunately here in phoenix we don't get much exposure to the "seasons" so i like to inspire my kids with images and art from other parts of the country who do experience one of the most wonderful seasons of all: fall!  as long as you are tying in a learning goal and the standards into your seasonal lessons to avoid that "art just for art's sake" feel - your imagination is limitless.  make these projects meaningful...tie them into previously introduced concepts or segue into a different element of art or essential question...

one source of my autumn inspiration: flagstaff!! i miss the weather changing and the fall trees.  can't beat the beautiful scenery!

here is a kindergarten warm/cool fall tree.  we started with a "Y" shape for the tree, then slowly added branches.  i like to tie technique into this lesson.  we slide our paintbrushes across the cool colored paper (of their choice) and then we learn how to "stamp" the warm, autumn-colored leaves around the branches.  

5th grade aspen trees!  all about technique!  we scrape the black paint across our 9x12, 80lb. paper (you could probably get away with 50lb. paper if that's all you have).  use small pieces of cardboard dipped in black paint to do the scraping.  the next class time, we painted the blue sky, green grass and then stamped on the warm colored leaves.  a very helpful tip from a colleague: every time you get a cardboard box, deconstruct it and cut it up!! very "green" way to use cardboard for a paintbrush :)

kindergarten pumpkin farms. these either turned out GREAT or terrible.  it was a little too difficult for my kinders to grasp the concept of perspective that early in the year.  but so is teaching! experiment, reflect and adjust accordingly.  maybe i can try it with an older grade next year...

life's little surprises!!

life's little surprises
i love when i'm wrong about something. haha, ok not really, but i love when i gather a negative impression of something and then get totally blown away by a positive surprise.  this happens a lot: we judge someone or something and then end up LOVING them or enjoying a new adventure.  

i used to despise liquid watercolors.  they stained my fingers when prepping them, were hard to store, they were hard to pour, i would end up wasting them if i poured too much...they basically looked like glorified food coloring. 

but then something magical happened.  i was inspired by other blogs when i noticed some of their students' painted having really vivid, bright pigments.  i was teaching a paul klee lesson and needed something with an extra pop.  i decided to give liquid watercolors a 2nd try since it had been years since i had tried them the first time.  this time i poured them into muffin tins and discovered, although not ideal, i could just add a little bit of water to them to reuse when dried.  loved them!! although they are still a little bit of a pain to prep/store (they use up my muffin tins that i have set aside for tempera paint sets) they create that extra wow-factor in my students paintings.  and if you are excited about something, chances are your students will be, too.  needless to say, they LOVED using them.  a little something new never hurt anybody!!! :)

here, i store them in muffin tins and although there is a filter used to edit this photo, they are still very vivid and give that "watery," effortless look.  compliments children's painting styles well!

here is the work-in-progress paul klee castles.  lots of shapes, lines, designs, patterns and colors.  a little goes a long way with these liquid watercolors!

 shape robots - 2nd grade
to continue the concept of building upon the elements of art slowly, i was inspired by these shape robots. in a cartooning class i was teaching, i wanted my students to create a robot to help solve a problem.  "why would it be built out of the things you chose? how can this help solve problems for you and your family?"  naturally, they began brainstorming with electronics: mostly using ipods and ipads to help build their robots body and i noticed how many geometric shapes they were using to create them.  i decided to carry this over into the school year to help teach rigid, everyday geometric shapes so that later it could help me introduce a contrast matisse collage using geometric/organic shapes, but that is another lesson entirely!!

anyway, the students were challenged to identify as many geometric shapes they could list.  they also needed to start thinking about "real-world" shapes that they could imagine building a robot out of.  

they loved doing this project and i loved seeing the results.  so many different results with this one project.  each one had it's own little personality.  i would probably use 9x12 paper next year seeing as these were HUGE and it would help reduce time as well as help saving paper, but otherwise, it was a successful lesson and helped me continue on to lessons about organic shapes :)

here is a worksheet i used to help my students brainstorm in a visual way without feeling threatened that everything had to be "perfect" - they are so hard on themselves!!!

loved tracing everything in black crayon first so we don't lose any of those fine details my 2nd graders added!

i had templates of large rectangles and squares for my students to start off tracing.  they added smaller details themselves.  

lines!

3rd grade construction paper crayon drawing on black paper, inspired by gustav klimt's tree of life

 LINES!
working in elementary art (well, at least in some schools i have worked in) you just never know how familiar students will be with materials or art processes.  although i was taught to teacher DBAE (discipline-based arts education) i try to start simply and rely on the elements of art to lay a foundation for my classroom.  we almost always start the year off with a line lesson in each grade.  it could be as simple as brainstorming/demonstrating lines to kinders to having 5th graders create a contour line drawing of an animal.  either way, we start with the basics.  

line sun, 1st grade (warm/cool colors)

line sun, 1st grade (warm/cool colors)

creating the warm/cool contrast resist

   here are a few line lessons i started off with this year.  some, i have tried before and some were completely new!  after your students get familiar with using pencils, crayons, markers you can slowly introduce other mediums for them to experiment with.  

mentors!

bill stone and i, october 2012 college of education - northern arizona university

this is either a little too late or REALLY early...but teacher appreciation is key in having success as an educator.  the most influential people in my life, whether they are teachers or not, have taught me something in an unconventional or inspirational way.  it's great to reflect on those lessons and ask "how are these people influential, how did they teach and why did these experiences stick with me so long?"  for me, bill stone (pictured) was one of the most influential people in my college career.  at many points along my college education i wanted to give up, i just simply thought college was NOT for me.  but he made teaching and learning BEYOND fun; he made it memorable to my experience and applicable to real life experiences.  he gave us tools to problem solve and the confidence to then explain what we just experimented with.  he was my elementary science teacher at norther arizona university and i try to use a little of his teaching tactics in my classroom every day.  humor & positive reinforcement.  thank you bill stone!! 

bill stone has since retired (right after i graduated, phew!!) i am so grateful i have had the chance to get to know this amazing educator, person and man!!

thank you all educators who have inspired me and continue to inspire me on a daily basis!!!