Kindergarten has patriotic themes

 We have had some fun with the patriotic themes in February creating flags, Liberty statues, and stick puppets of Lincoln and Washington for president's day. The kids are getting pretty good at following more complicated directions and filling in the blanks. They were able to do alternating stripes for the flags and most breezed through the stars. Those that had a bit of trouble still managed some pretty good stars. They were concerned that the examples did not have faces and put faces on all the puppets and the liberty lady. She even has her torch. 

2nd grade paints landscapes

This was a project that we really looked forward to doing. This class likes to paint and draw so having them do a landscape painting was a natural. I brought in a few that I had painted as examples. We discussed what kind of elements would be in a landscape and began. They used 1/2 sheets of stiff cardboard for their paintings. Each drew the landscape then painted them learning how to make clouds more fluffy, making waterfalls with a bit of movement, painting birds, and making a foggy sky. I think they did a remarkable job on them.

3rd grade Makes ecosystems

 This is a project that we have done before and it works well. We used smaller groups this year and did more projects which seemed to work better. The project starts with naming the ecosystems and choosing the one they want to create. We used plastic vegetable containers about 4"x8" and around 4-5" tall. The students created all the elements of the system on the lid so when closed it was like a small diorama. They created animals and other elements using clay and construction paper. Each is labeled as to the system and what elements are comprised within it. Some are quite detailed, others take a bit of imagination to confirm the elements within. 

more clay creations

We are spending the month of January working with clay. Sometimes this medium really lends itself to integrating into the lessons as with the plant parts for the kindergarten. Each student got a 3x5" note card as a base and a ball of salt clay. We discussed plant parts and drew a plant on the board then they were off. Each was to include all the parts on their plant remembering to include roots and seeds. They are pretty good at the proportions on these. When the plants were completed we used washable markers to color them with pretty great results.

The 1st grade created a 3D map with most of the correct elements. We had a discussion of which would be on a map and which would not. The volcanoes, train tracks, roads and rivers would. Trees might although not in as great of detail as some of the trees acquired. People and animals would not appear. They completed the project by giving it some color using water color boxes. It was a bit messy but turned out well. This is a different clay than we used in the past made with cornstarch as I was given a 50# bag of it.

The 2nd grade is studying landmarks so we created replicas of several of them using the soda/cornstarch clay, chenille stems and toothpicks. We determined that Mt. Rushmore was going to be too hard to create but Natural bridge, Washington's monument and a few others fit the bill. The monuments never had such color before though!

Lastly the 3rd grade got to add a bit of color to their vertebrates from last week using watercolors. They were really great creations and the color was just what they needed. 

Creativity with clay abounds

This was a great day for mushing and mashing to start off the new year. Every class did clay projects and did very well with them.   The kindergarten class made animals using salt clay and chenille stem pieces. They are quite detailed for  5 year olds with no example to follow except their imaginations. 

The 1st grade helped make their own salt clay then was free to create any item using the clay. Lots of  nests, snakes and a good bit of clay play before the end of the period. It was interesting to have them participate in the clay making. The dough made up pretty well and captured their interest as it went from solid to liquid to a soft solid. Nice science type project. 

The 2nd grade learned how to create faces in clay by pinching and using the palette knives and brush handles. We used a cornstarch/baking soda clay that looks really pretty and dries way too fast. We used little cups to dip our fingers into to work the clay and came up with some pretty great president face replicas.

  The 3rd grade created vertebrates and invertabrates. No photos this time but fantastic alligators, snakes, flying squirrels and more. This is a great medium for all of them as it is forgiving and allows for a great deal of creativity. 

Winter scenes in pastels and crayons

The kindergarten and 1st grade have been working on their drawing skills in addition to getting to use pastels in creating these winter scenes. The 1st  grade class was told to draw a box for a window and the draw the winter scene outside the winter. I did one on the board with them suggesting what might be outside the window. They were to draw in crayon then use pastel to paint the picture blending with their fingers and a wet q-tip. The results were wonderful. Of course a trip to the handwash location was in order. The kindergarteners got to draw another snowman with cuing on what might he have: hat, arms, mittens, etc. They then got to add lots of color. Pretty good job on including details and using the whole paper.

2nd grade bat bridge in pastels

All of the classes this month are getting to try out pastels. I had done an example for the afterschool group and decided to use it for this group as well. Last week several of the students helped draw the bridge on regular manila drawing paper. It has enough tooth to work for the chalks and is easy to run through the copier (sometimes) The class studied about bats and we discusses the way bats fly. Some had been downtown to see the bats leave from under the bridge. They used mostly their fingers for blending and q-tips. Great versions of the sky and a chance for us to talk about how reflections work.