Eric Carle Inspired Bugs

Eric Carle Inspired Bugs
3rd Grade

Eric Carle is one of my very favorite artists.  I thought up this project idea my first year of teaching.  I discovered my 3rd grade students where doing a play about bugs.  It was perfect timing to do an Eric Carle inspired class! Not only did I love it, but my students had a lot of fun with this project.  This lesson stressed the idea of process.  One can't move onto the next step right away, and each layer uses different media to create a unique product.  

Step 1.  Choose idea for a bug and its background.

Step 2.  Hand out watercolor paper (9"x12"), watercolor, and paintbrushes. Paint background.

Step 3.  Hand out plain, white paper (8.5"x11" or 9"x12"). Paint paint with a variety of colors that will be need to make up chosen bug.  Make sure to add flicks of color, so the bug isn't made up of plain, solid colors. (Note: The use of different tints and shades and colors in Eric Carle's bugs and animals.)

Step 4.  Allow time for both background and painted papers to dry.

Step 5.  Once dry, cut out needed pieces of painted papers to create all the bug's body parts.

Step 6. Glue bug pieces onto background.

Step 7. If any other details are needs, add color/detail with oil pastels.

View my lesson plan with link below:

COMING SOON!

3D Snowman

3D Snowman

3rd Grade

I found this lesson on Pinterest.  I wanted to teach my students about how value, which we had just learned about, could show form.  Before we started, we talked about why it looked 3D and not 2D.  Making this project was simple enough and the students really seemed to grasp the concept of form with it.

Step 1.  Draw snowman and ground on a 9" x 12" piece of light blue construction paper.

Step 2.  With oil pastel, color left side white and ground.

Step 3.  Color right side blue.  Add a shadow on the ground just to the right of the snowman.

Step 4.  Color the rest of the snowman and his accessories as desired.

Email me/comment below for a full lesson plan (including standards, list of supplies, assessment, etc.).

Clay Leaf Bowls

Clay Leaf Bowl

3rd Grade

I did this lesson after I had done the "Leaf Movement" lesson.  I did this lesson to show students how leaves can move in other ways like curling up as the dry.

Step 1.  Have leaf outlines printed off and hand out to students.

Step 2.  Hand out clay.

Step 3.  Roll out clay.

Step 4.  Use the leaf outline as a stencil on the clay.

Step 5.  Curl up edges (can place around the bottom of a bowl to help).

Step 6.  Allow dry time (about a week).

Step 7.  Fire in kiln.

Step 8.  Glaze with desired colors.

Step 9.  Fire in kiln, again.

Email me/comment below for a full lesson plan (including standards, list of supplies, assessment, etc.).

Leaf Movement

Leaf Movement

3rd Grade

I did this lesson after I had already taught my students about lines, shapes, and color. Before I had them stay drawing, we talked about movement.  I would walk around the room and ask students if they thought I was movement.  "How do you know I'm moving?" I would ask.  I would stand as still as I could.  "Am I moving now?"  "How do you know?" Next,  the students were asked to show movement of the leaf by creating lines in their paper.  For this lesson,  I brought in fallen leaves for students to look at well their were working.  This lesson was also a good review on not only line but color.  They had to color their leaves with the warm colors and was cool colors on the lines.  One more thing I think about this lesson would be using watercolor and crayons together.  I like how the students discover how the two materials react to one another.

Step 1.  With pencil, draw a leaf in one of the corners of the paper.

Step 2.  Draw the lines to show the movement of how the leaf was to have traveled throughout the paper.

Step 3.  With crayons, color in the leaf with warm colors.

Step 4.  Still with crayons, color the lines with cool colors.

Step 5.  Paint background with watercolor.

Email me/comment below for a full lesson plan (including standards, list of supplies, assessment, etc.).

Plant Outlines

Plant Outlines

3rd Grade

Randomly thought of this one when I had to think of another project for lines.  Some of the students seemed to struggle with painting inside the different lines.  (I like rainbow patterns if you haven't noticed already).  I had students brainstorm different types of plants as I wrote them down on the board.  Yes, it may take more time at the beginning of class, but it helps give students different options if they can't think of anything or the plant they were thinking of drawing doesn't work out.

Step 1.  Pick a plant and draw it.

Step 2.  Outline the plant until the entire page is full. 

Step 3.  Color in plant with oil pastels.

Step 4.  Color in each of the lines around it.

Email me/comment below for a full lesson plan (including standards, list of supplies, assessment, etc.).

Crazy Hair Portraits

Crazy Hair Portraits

3rd Grade

Another idea I found on Pinterest.  I made this during student teaching.  Not going to lie.  I really enjoyed this project.  I feel like the kids do, too.  They only time they seem to complain too much is when I tell them that besides the eyes I should see absolutely no white on their paper.

Step 1.  Draw oval for head at the bottom half of paper.

Step 2.  Draw eyes in the middle of the head.  

Step 3.  Draw nose half way between the eyes and chin.

Step 4.  Draw mouth half way between the nose and chin.  

Step 5.  Draw different types of lines and shapes to cover the rest of the paper.

Step 6.  Color with marker.

Email me/comment below for a full lesson plan (including standards, list of supplies, assessment, etc.).

"Gold" Medals

Gold Medals

3rd Grade

At my school, we have superheroes for each of the pillars of character (plus Pixie... superhero for our Purple Hands Pledge program).  The kids love them.  So when I did one of my latest projects, I asked the guidance teachers if I could include the superheroes.

See, I made "gold" metals out of clay and metallic paint with my 3rd graders. I thought the gold medals would be a good ideas with our character counts theme being the Olympics and the actual winter Olympics are coming up.  So, the kids had to partner up (with someone they don't usually work with), roll out their clay, cut out a circle, and design it for their partner.

I decided I could make a little contest out of it.  Each 3rd grade class has a designated superhero that they can design a medal for.  I will pick a winner from each class, and they will get to make their medal for the superhero and hopefully get a picture with them.  I'm super excited.  

Below is one example I made and give to one of the guidance counselor (don't worry I made another for the second counselor).

Monochromatic Moonlight

Monochromatic Moonlight

3rd Grade

Tints and shades lesson for 3rd grade. 

Step 1.  Demo how to mix white in with the color to get tints.

Step 2.  Demo how to mix black in with the color to get shades.

Step 3.  Demo how to gradually go from the tints of the color to the shades.

Step 4:  Show what a silhouette is.  

Step 5:  Allow the kids to work.

Email me/comment below for a full lesson plan (including standards, list of supplies, assessment, etc.).

Warm and Cool Hands

Warm and Cool Hands.

3rd Grade

Found this lesson idea from Pinterest (you gotta love Pinterest).  Before I start the kids on this lesson, I like to talk about the different colors.  How does each color make us feel?  What does each color remind us of?  

Step 1.  Pick a shape and draw it in the top, right corner.  Keep outlining it until the entire page if full.

Step 2.  Trace your hand and part of your arm on the page.

Step 3.  Decide whether you want the hand warm or cool colors (with the background being the opposite one) and trace each section of the hand with the appropriate colors making sure you are following a pattern with the colors (i.e. red, orange, yellow, red, orange, yellow...)  I found outlining helps with the kids because then they remember to stay inside the space they outlined when coloring.  If they didn't, I saw a common mistake on coloring outside the hand outline.

Step 4:  Color the background with the opposite set of colors.

Email me/comment below for a full lesson plan (including standards, list of supplies, assessment, etc.).

Japanese Cherry Blossoms

Japanese Cherry Blossoms

3rd Grade

This lesson is simple enough.  I did this lesson during my student teaching.  My students thought it was so much fun.  Popcorn and straws... what kid wouldn't like making art with that?!?  It is different from "the norm" in the art room.  Plus, they turn out pretty cool if I do say so myself.  Plus, this lesson is the perfect opportunity to introduce historic art scrolls from Japan, talk about the significance of the cherry blossom in Japan, and the time of year the cherry blossoms bloom.  I couldn't believe how much of the little details and the fun facts my kids remembered at the end of the lesson. 

Step 1.  Paint the background with blue watercolor.  Let dry for a little bit.

Step 2.  Use watered down black tempera paint.  Use your paintbrush and put drops onto the paper. With a straw, blow the paint across the page.  Doing this will create the branches.

Step 3.  You'll popcorn and pink tempera paint.  Dip the popcorn into the paint and then press it down on the paper.  It will look like little cherry blossoms.

Step 4:  Either draw with a red pen or make a little stamper to create the little Japanese signature down at the bottom.

Email me/comment below for a full lesson plan (including standards, list of supplies, assessment, etc.).