Eric Carle Insects

 This is my rendition of Eric Carle's insects. Kindergarten and first grade students are learning about the life cycle of insects, so I showed them a short video of Eric Carle talking about "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"( Eric Carle's 40th Anniversay Video)
Next,  we talked about how many body parts insects have, how many legs and that they have antennae and usually wings, too!
With painted paper from past projects, the students drew circles and ovals on the painted paper, glued it to their yellow papers and added lines, patterns, legs, eyes, antennae and wax paper wings!
The sweetest little insects I've ever seen!

Waitress of the Arts

A waitress of paint, water containers, pastels, pencils,

A constant voice of encouragement, of positivity, 

A mentor, patient as the day is long-

Understanding, kind, a pleasant voice, smiling eyes,

This is me-my art teacher persona-

Day in and day out-No child left behind, 

No character broken, no damage done-

The arts heal-

Not only the students, but they heal me.

Spring Birds

1.  This week fourth grades learned about spring birds and how they know when its time to build their nests. We also talked about how trees know when its time to bloom and grow leaves. 
2. We drew the bird step by step, but first we used a small, plastic condiment container and we traced it for the head size. Doing this started everyone off of the right foot and not one student felt overwhelmed. From the head we drew the oval body, feather details, beak, eye, feet and feathers. We then put the birds in a flowering tree filling up the empty space and they drew a border to finish it off. A great way to teach proportion, size and observation. They colored the background with blue oil pastels and painted with secondary colored tempera cakes. Spring has arrived!!

2nd Grade Habitats

 This week 2nd and 3rd grades studied habitats and what animals need to survive in their environment. The students water colored their animal and then added details with oil pastels and then went to work on the habitats. They were required to include; food, water and shelter. To make the habitats more interesting we talked about horizon lines and drew them and then cut the lines we drew to make for an interesting line! I told the students it was like "cutting the sky off". Check these out!!