"Grumpy Monkey" Portraits

I just love finding great books to teach with art lessons. And to top it off, this book is great when adding in emotions to artwork. When these are complete, they are absolutely hilarious and adorable. 

2nd Grade "Grumpy Monkey"

There are tons of "Read-A-Louds" on YouTube of this book. I of course always purchase the book and I read this aloud to my students. But have included a read-a-loud in my lesson. 

We discuss EMOTIONS and COLOR and how they can make a person feel when looking at art. I also like to introduce them to other works of art that portray emotions and we discuss them before starting this lesson. 

When designing art projects, I try to be creative with technique & medium. This one is fun because they CAN NOT use a paintbrush to paint with. The kids LOVE it!  

I love this little video of a student painting her artwork, lol:) 

Check out this lesson on my TPT shoppe:) "Art is My Jam"!

Grumpy Monkey Portraits TPT 

 

Tim Burton inspired
"Self-Portraits"

Probably one of my all time favorite artists is Tim Burton. And I'm so excited to share this 5th grade lesson inspired by his art and movie "Frankenweenie". 

©Tim Burton movie "Fankenweenie"

The black and white characters make for some fun and interesting conversations and works of art. 

I have always wanted to use tinted paper but never really liked the look of the things that were drawn on it. But I have to say this worked out perfect for this lesson. And, if you knew some of these students...their pieces actually have characteristics like they are in real life, lol. And, not to mention the conversations they had while making them. 

I'll post and link this lesson with resources soon. I'm still fine tuning it. :) 

Mulga inspired "Parrots"

I did a lot of research and found a few new artists that I've been following and absolutely LOVE! Mulga is one of them because of the bright colors and fun paintings he creates with animals. He also has a book and this link will take you to the link to buy it. 

This lesson I created for my 3rd graders. It was a tough lesson because they had to do this following my videos on their own. They also got choices in what type of shoes their parrot is wearing, the sunglasses style and what he/she was eating. 

This lesson will be posted on my TPT Shoppe soon. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have in creating and implementing it.  

4th Grade Examples

Digital Self-Portraits

I have to admit, when I started working on this project, I wasn't sure how it would turn out. It is one of my "original" art lessons and I was so excited to try it out and I have to say the results were so awesome. 

I'm LOVING the APP Green Screen by DoInk! 

Here's the link to the step-by-step instructions for teachers on my TPT Shoppe. 

First grade "Pete the Cat" inspired art work

Check  out these Amazing Artists!

Everyone's been creating some awesome art.  First grade is working on their "Pete the Cat" inspired pieces. Who doesn't love these books. They always inspire and have a moral to the story.

I just love this book: "Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses". So we created our own cats with "magic sunglasses". The only twist was, we added a rainbow because we learned to always look on the bright side. 

This was a great opportunity for first grade to learn how to blend oil pastels to create their secondary colors.

African Clay Masks

Creating African Masks

This is a continuation of a previous post about how I teach this project to 3rd graders. Here's the link to the first steps: Clay Masks before Bisque Firing.

Part 2 - Glazing & Adding the Final Touches 
When I set up tables for glazing, I do each glaze color at a separate table and have students travel with there pieces. 
- I know you might think what if they drop them? We review all the rules and procedures and I've not had anyone drop them. 
Rules:

Glazing Process

1. Hold your piece with two hands.
2. Walk.
3. Gently place you piece on the table.
4. Only 4 people at a table at a time.
5. Wipe off glaze on tables if it drips (sponges are on each table).
6. Paintbrushes stay at the table (don't travel with a paintbrush).

Glazed African Masks

After the glazing process is complete, I fire their masks again. Once fired then they start adding some detail to their masks - such as beads, raffia, etc...

Lesson Concepts:

- 3-D Shapes
- Clay - techniques and vocabulary (bisque, kiln, slip, score, etc...)  
- African Art
- Ceremonial Art 
- Elements and Principals of Art

The Creative Classroom Book...

Exciting News!
I'm working on my second book and I'm almost done. I just love that way this book is turning out and I can't wait to share it with art teachers, classroom teachers, homeschool parents, etc... The video above will help explain how my book looks and the great lessons that you will find inside.

It's similar to my first book in that the lessons are full illustrated, 4 color photos, links to book, videos, etc.. and so much more. If you haven't seen my first book, here's a link to it in my TPT Shoppe: "The Creative Classroom" Art Book

Pablo Picasso 4th Grade Rooster Portraits

"Roosters" Pablo Picasso Style

Art by Pablo Picasso

If you have access to Brain Pop, Jr., I recommend using the site to introduce students to the art work and artist Pablo Picasso (https://jr.brainpop.com).  The print (to the left) is of Picasso's original that I based this project on. Love all the bright colors. 

4th Grade Student Examples

This lesson is a good change from the basic Picasso portrait lessons that you might normally do with students. You can teach this lesson using a variety of different mediums and concepts. I chose watercolors and oil pastels because I wanted to introduce the concepts of analogous and complimentary colors to students. 

Portraits - artwork of a person, animal and/or both a person and animal.  

Lesson Basics: 
- Portraits - Brain Pop has a great video you can use when teaching/introducing students to portraits. 
- Elements and Principals of Art - Line, Shape, Texture, etc...
- Color - Analogous and Complimentary (Check out my color wheel posters that I use when teaching these concepts. Just click on "color wheel posters" in purple above
- Medium - Oil Pastels and Watercolors



If you'd like to see step-by-step directions and lessons on my art projects, check out my Teachers Pay Teachers Shoppe. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Clauses-Creative-Classroom
I love creating new art projects for my students and am happy to share my passion with others. Enjoy!

January 2018 Newslettter!

I hope you enjoy our January 2018 Newsletter! So many amazing things happening in 2018, I can't wait to share them all with you. I have the best career ever...

To view the PDF, just click on the link above and download the PDF to you computer. You do not need dropbox or to install anything, just download the file.

December Newslettter!

It's already December, I can't believe the year is going by so fast. I hope you enjoy our December Newsletter! What a great group if artists I get to teach each day.

To view the PDF, just click on the link above and download the PDF to you computer. You do not need dropbox or to install anything, just download the file.

3rd Grade "Cat Art" in the style of Laurel Birch

      

Laurel Birch's Art

If you haven't watched the "30 Minute Interview" with Laurel Birch, I highly recommend you do. It will change your whole perspective about triumph through adversity. Her outlook on life and her story is inspirational to say the least. 
- Just click on the link: Laurel Birch to view.

This lesson is great because it can be done with a variety of different medium. I chose this time to use oil, fluorescent and metallic pastels to really make the colors of their cats pop. You could use almost anything with this design (construction paper, paint, etc...).  

This lesson teaches a variety of things: 
Portraits
Symmetry - Balance
Line, Shape, Color, Space, Texture, etc...

Brain Pop has a great video you can use when teaching/introducing students to portraits. 

I also have a game in my TPT Shoppe on "subject matter" and "purposes of art" that I use with the students (click on the link). I believe it's important to connect these things together when teaching art concepts.