Recycled birdfeeders

This was a really fun project and the kindergarteners were able to do the project with just a little help. The nice thing is that it used up a lot of our cardboard items and let them do a variety of skills especially cutting and threading. 


We started with white TP tubes and drew pictures on them to attract the birds. Each was marked off about an inch from the bottom with a line for cutting. They cut slits and a notch to let the seeds out then bent the bottom back to glue to the egg carton top. It works well with this kind that has no dividers. 


Last they threaded ribbon through holes at both ends so the feeder could be hung for the birds. We did the knotting of the two sets of ribbons to form the hanger. At this point things went south as everyone wanted to wear the birdfeeders!

1st grade illustrates the parts of plants

The 1st graders have been studying plants so we did a collage of materials to create plants then labeled the parts. We used fuzzy yarns for the roots and added pipe cleaner stems, leaves, seeds, berries, and seed pods from a hibiscus and tissue paper flowers to complete the project. The students learned how to twist the paper to make a blossom with a contrasting center. The yarn provided a good discussion on what roots look like. Everyone wanted to be sure the plants had dirt in some manner.

3rd grade completes ecosystems

 This is a creative project that uses recycled materials as the base to create an example of types of ecosystems. The 2 water based systems -fresh water on the left and salt water on the right have covers painted in blue with fish swimming on strings. the fresh water one has a cave and water plants on a sandy base while the  salt water one sports reefs and a variety of shells on its sandy base.

The three land based systems were desert, forest and grasslands. Everyone wanted to use all the materials but were able to limit themselves to only the items required. A lot of sand and clay went into some of the ecosystems. all the groups drew their own animals and plants then placed them into the plastic boxes. Sometimes the animals or plants were a bit out of proportion to each other but almost all were easily identified. It was a great group project and a good way to have them work with a variety of material. The groups had to submit supply lists the 1st week based on what system they were creating.

Leaf people art kindergarten

It started with a nature hike and a lesson on anatomy but turned into an imagination session combined with a wide aray of supplies to provide unique projects from every child. 
The class was directed to take the leaves, twigs and other items on thier tables and rearrange them on the paper until it looked like a person to them. They were encouraged to remember that people have certain body parts and the placements of those parts. They were able to add eyes with berries and seed heads from flowers in addition to acorn tops.
After the "leaf person" had been created the students were given tacky glue and spreader sticks with instructions on attaachment of the leaves to the paper. Part of the lesson is creativity but some of it is basic manipulation of supplies and how to follow directions. Almost all of the class was able to master the gluing without covering their hands in glue. I think they enjoyed this project and it again spurred on their imaginations.

Kindergarten draws animals and more

This has been the week for drawing using the books from the library collection. We started with the basic shapes and added details and color once the drawings were completed. Most of the students added a final "free time" drawing on the back of the page. A couple of them had trouble with the idea of imagining something to draw from the shapes even after the lesson reverting to hearts or scribbles but it was fun for all. 

2nd grade studies Integrating art and studies

This project was the final one in our art studies grouping. They spent the month learning about different kinds of art and making examples. In today's project we discussed how we used artwork during the last year in each of the other subjects from fractions in math to making maps for geography and life cycles in science to drawing and painting a mosque in the religious/cultural studies.
Students were able to make drawings and color or paint them. Sometimes the detail work won out over completing the full assignment. Remembering their past project and what they learned from them or what project they did seemed to also generate a lot of discussion.
This is another project that I will definately repeat.


The first grade is busy constucting their ecosystem and as part of that project yesterday the students were to draw and paint a building in the area as well as a plant and an animal.

We apparently have lions and tigers but no bears in our parks. The kids used q-tips as brushes. I am looking forward to seeing the completed project and getting a couple of pictures to share. Nothing says art to the kids like paint. They are getting a bit of assembly help from the grownups but all of the artwork on this mural is theirs. Great job!

Weaving is completed and exploring the purple crayon

 We added 3 new colors this week to the basic weave and a handful of beads. Lots of happy squeals as each 2nd grader figured out how to best do his project. Some got theirs really tightly compacted and others kept them loose. We tied off quite a few of the ends into a kind of tassel.
The hardest part was letting me keep them overnight to take a picture before they could take them home. Both of the parent helpers got pretty good at the weaving too.


The kindergarten project started with a reading of the book " Harold and the purple crayon" then we talked a bit about using our imaginations. Each student was give a sheet of black paper, a purple crayon and construction paper in purple to assemble a crayon and start the project. Each table got a baggie full of purple items- beads, feathers, cloth, paper shapes, foam shapes, letters and more to create their pictures. Having them draw with purple didn't do much as it just melted into the black paper. They had a blast just gluing everything onto the page and using the materials. Although this project is supposed to be for kindergarteners, the concept part of it was a bit beyond them. The homeschool mom does have good ideas: http://www.kinderart.com/across/purplecrayon.shtml