The Dot Project -- Digital Art!

I read about The Dot Project and thought I'd try it out with my first graders. We read the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. This is an inspiring story about a student who doesn't think they can draw and ends up making great art. The students were ready to make their own art after reading this book!

Drawing on iPads would have been super fun, but we don't have any in our classroom. So we went to the computer lab and used Kid Pix to draw our very own dots. They are all unique and beautiful. The kids really enjoyed this and I'm sure we'll be doing more digital art in the future! Just another easy way to incorporate some tech into your day!

All About Clouds

This week is all about CLOUDS! So many fun things planned for my class this week.

Today we read:

Then, they students learned about 3 main types of clouds -- stratus, cumulus, and cirrus. By using gestures and the Whole Brain Teaching technique of Teach, Ok....my firsties were able to distinguish these 3 types of clouds.

We are working on this poem all week....I love how it introduces the other clouds as well because when we start cloud watching this week, they'll need this information! Our class motto is "We Can Do Hard Stuff!" If I teach the hard "college words", they just eat it up and love it!

Types of Clouds



Then we had a lot of fun painting puffy clouds! Combine equal parts of Elmers Glue and shaving cream.....use a spoon or popsicle stick to glob on the "paint" onto blue paper. This dries with a puffy texture and just looks too cool!

I have more cloud activities that I will post later this week! Happy Monday!

Apple Art

It's my favorite time of year --- the air is cooler, I can wear my boots, and anything pumpkin and apple makes my heart sing. I LOVE everything about fall!

My class made these pretty stained glass apples last week. I make them every year and they are one of my favorites! Our room just looks so bright and cheery with these hanging in the windows.

If you haven't made these before, you'll need wax paper, half and half white glue/water mix, tissue paper squares, and a shape as a base. Tape the shape base to the wax paper. Pour some glue on the wax paper and have the kids spread it around with a Q-Tip. Then they can start layering on the tissue paper. I have my kids do two layers of tissue paper....this gives it a bit more durability.

After they dry, peel the art off of the wax paper. This does take a little bit of time so you don't rip the tissue paper! But the end result is worth it.

Happy Fall, ya'll!!

Out Of This World Art Activity!

Sharing more of the space unit I've been teaching this week! Check out this fun planet art we made today:

Directions:

1) I traced different sized circles onto an 11x17 piece of paper. I ran this through the copier, and each student used watercolors to paint the planets. They tried to paint them how they were shown in our science text. Once dry, cut out the planets.

2) Take a 12x18 sheet of black construction paper, some watered down (washable!) white paint, and a toothbrush. This is the best part! Flick the toothbrush to spatter the 'stars' across the black sky!

3) Once dry, glue the planets on the black paper.

"When Can We Paint?!" :)

Pretty sure I've been asked this question a GAZILLION times since we unpacked those brand new vibrant watercolors on the first day of school. I decided today was the day.

We started our unit on the Sky and Space today. Today's focus was on the sun:

 

Then we FINALLY broke out those watercolors and got busy painting the sun. What wonderful artists I have this year! This really helps brighten up the dull wood paneling my room is rockin'! 

 

Tomorrow we move on to the moon and stars! I just LOVE teaching this unit!

Back to School Buses!

This is one of my favorite back to school projects -- these buses always get lots of positive comments when they are displayed in the hallway!  I got this idea sometime ago from a Mailbox Magazine.

Here's what you'll need:

• 9 in yellow paper square
• 2x9 in. black rectangle for bumper
• two 2x3in black paper rectangles (tires)
• 3x5in white paper rectangle (window)
• two 1x2 in black for lights
• Orange, red, black, and white paper scraps
• crayons
• glue
• scissors

You'll need to round the bottom corners of the short side of each tire, glue them on. They glue the bumper on. Round off the top corners of the bus. Glue small black  rectangles to go at the top, add red and orange circles for lights, and 2 more red circles for tailights. Round off corners of the white rectangle, draw self portrait in window. Add a label with the students name for the license plate. Write a bus number on the bus, and add black stripe detail.

We also took a white crayon and added some detail to the tires.

Hope you all have a great start to your new school year!

Super Cute Earth Day Art!

With Earth Day coming up, I'm sure a lot of us are talking about the 3 R's with our classes! My student teacher led an adorable art activity that is getting a lot of oohs and ahhhs when people walk past in the hallway!

Here's what you need:

• coffee filters

• green and blue markers

• spray bottle with water

 Students color their entire coffee filter to look like the earth...plenty of green for the land and blue for the water. 

When they finish, they take the spray bottle and spray their coffee filter. We put the filters on chinet dinner size plates which worked out great. Soak the entire filter and you will start to see the colors bleed together. 


Let them dry overnight and mount on black construction paper for a beautiful work of art that is out of this world!

Each one is different and I just loved this little saying to go with the display. 


Later this week, I will be posting some pictures and information on how my class is planning and putting our Earth Day music video together.