Metal Embossing

Kindergarten Snowmen

Third Grade Texture Snowmen

Although the drawings/paintings themselves look simple, the students had to measure and mix tempera paint and baking soda to create a snow-like texture to paint their snowman:

Gelli Prints

I took a professional development class this year from one of our district's awesome high school art teachers. The class was over Gelli Printing. I had never heard of this technique before but found it very interesting and so did my students. I used a recipe I found online to make more permanent Gelli Plates although you can buy them. I could not find where I had written down the recipe we were given at the professional development session. The recipe I used just called for gelatin, glycerine, and rubbing alcohol. I made several plates over Spring Break in various sized casserole dishes. My principal approved the purchase of a small refrigerator to keep in the art room for Gelli Plate storage. Here are some prints my students from Kinder all the way through Fifth Grade made. They used whatever colors of tempera they wanted and a variety of texture tools. I'll post later some of the finished projects they turned their prints into.

Kindergarten Kandinsky Inspired Art

Kindergarten created abstract paintings based on the works of Wassily Kandinsky. They first used cardboard tubes to stamp black circles all over their paper. They then added implied texture by printing small circles on top with bubble wrap and peach paint. Once these had both dried, the water colored the inside of the circles and painted over the rest of the white space. The use of water colors on top of the peach tempera paint allowed the bubble wrap design to still show through.

Wayne Thiebaud: Kindergarten Cupcakes

I taught an artist study to all of my students from Kinder through Fifth Grade. Kindergarten made oversized cupcakes with texture. They first traced a template for the bottom portion and cut it out. They then drew a cloud shape and cut it out for the frosting. After gluing it on to the base, it was time to add texture to the frosting. I helped them mix baking soda and white tempera paint. They painted this all over the frosting. Once dry, they used Dot Paint to add fun details to the cupcake wrapper. They then added small pom poms for sprinkles in various colors and a large red pom pom on top for a cherry. All of their cupcakes were displayed for Open House.

Dale Chihuly: 3D to 2D

I challenged some of my fifth graders to create a 2D representation of some of Dale Chihuly's 3D glass work. They used liquid water colors and fabric paints for their artwork. Their pieces were hung up as a collection at our district's Education Center for a few months.

Grand Prairie ISD Experience

Our district is an open choice district where families and students can apply for a school of their choice. To showcase different options within our district, they hold Grand Prairie ISD Experience each year. As a part of the experience, each school was able to show one piece of student artwork. Below is work that one of my fifth graders created. He drew the landscape and painted it with colors he mixed himself. He added baking soda to the white tempera paint to add texture and a more realistic look to the snow scene.

Fourth Grade Pumpkins

Fourth Graders worked on drawing overlapping pumpkins. They added a horizon line to separate the land and sky. They added details to show implied wind and texture on the grass. They traced their drawings with colored permanent markers and then water colored them.

Second Grade Scarecrows

Second Grade has been working on drawing pictures using simple shapes and then adding detail such as implied texture. The students followed multi-step directions to draw a friendly scarecrow. After drawing, they traced their scarecrows in permanent markers and then painted them using watercolors. I love how these turned out!

 

Physical Properties

In science the students learned about various physical properties. They explored various objects and described them on a graphic organizer based on their color, texture, shape, and size. To further explore the concept, the students glued down various objects onto handprint template to feel various texture.

Physical Properties: Texture

In science the students explored a variety of textures. They created handprint with various objects glued on it to represent the textures of rough, bumpy, smooth, hard, and soft.