Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I am very thankful for what I have- my family, my co-workers and students, and for meeting such great people through the blogging world! Enjoy your holiday

Laura

By the way our inspiration for these fun pumpkins is Polly Jones. She is a fabulous artist and I just love her work! Check out her blog http://pollyjones.blogspot.com/2010/10/8-square-acrylic-on-gessoed-masonite.html

My second graders loved painting these vivid pumpkins.. The students added a painted paper border to complete the look!

Time to Sleep Tear Bear

Now that it is time for the snow to fly...We created these precious little bears with painted paper, inspired by the children's book Time to Sleep, written by author Denise Fleming.



Day 1
After reading this delightful book, of all the animals in the forest getting ready for winter, we painted our paper. Student choose a dark brown or black 9 x 12 piece of paper and then dragged or smeared brown, tan, and/or black paint with pieces of cardboard across the paper. Let Dry.

Day 2
Students then tore the painted paper to create legs, body and a triangle to create the head. Details were added such as eyes, ears and tail to complete the bear. The bears were added to a snow background with some torn snow on the the ground. They turned out great with a fun painted border on the edge.

A little bit of Chihuly

At our OAEA conference we took an awesome tour of the Franklin Park Conservatory. I loved all the works done by Dale Chihuly nestled among the beautiful plants. Here are some of my favorites.....

Tibetan Doors

We looked at various palaces in Tibet and how beautiful the designs were around the doors. The tassels on the door represented the different levels of Lamas who could enter the palace.

Students folded construction paper in half, cut on the fold. Glued down the outer edge of door to make them "pop out." The students used scrap painted paper to created the door header and scroll work on top and added animal print strips for the sides. This was one of our last projects of our unit yet some simple and beautiful designs were used. The kids really added fun details like door handles and brackets to name a few. I love it when they really take off on a project!

Trash to Treasure

Every art teacher loves to find an awesome piece of junk and make it into treasure. Well, well look at what 2 wandering art teachers found on their way to the office....

These heavy cardboard forms held chairs that were shipped to the middle school band room. So we dragged them to our rooms, and made buildings with added decorations inspired by India and Tibet.


2nd graders sponged painted the base color, then 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students added details and designs through out the day. I had to help of course and add the door.

completed project 6 feet long cost- FREE

Dia de los Muertos-Day of the Dead

Reposted on Crafty Crow


We have been studying about Dia de los Muertos-Day of the Dead. The students just absolutely love this unit! We have been making all the items used to create an altar in one's home for the special day celebrated on November 1 and 2. In 5th grade, each student created their personal designs on paper skull, painted fun backgrounds and borders on construction paper then added sequins, and jewels. The razzle-dazzle really added that extra touch.

Blog Award

I was presented with a One of the Top Midwest Art Blog Award!

It was a great surprised to find the award in my inbox!

Thanks to all who visit my blog and I hope to produce many more fun art projects!

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