Mondrian Masterpieces.

I don't often repeat projects, but when I do, it's usually because I heart them big time.  And this is one of those favorites.

For step by steps on this one, check it out here.  Since having a baby artist in the house, I'm loving process-y art and projects that give children more of an option in terms of color choices and media.

My Kinder artists loved reading Perfect Square and really knocked our study of Mondrian's artwork out of the art park.  Our art smart focus words were "repetition," "blending," and "outline." We focused on his Broadway Boogie Woogie (1943) and listened to boogie woogie as we worked, thank you Pandora.

 

 

I took an incredible amount of pics, but just couldn't get enough.  I seriously wish I could tape them on me and wear all the time.  Keep boogie woogie-n' arties!

Warm and Cool Colors with Kinders.

In my most recent post on Warm Trees, Cool Breeze with my Kinders, I told you I'd be sharing the quick little learning game I used with my little artists.

I've really been trying to incorporate quick assessments more and more often this year and this game was definitely one of those.  Can you say cornerstone assessments, oooo ooooooo!

I flipped over our "I Can" board and turned it into the COOL and WARM board.

After reviewing our cool and warm colors using my giant color dots, I pinned them to the board and told the young artists that we were going to be doing a quick game of "Smartest Artist."

I borrowed flashcards from the Kinder classroom teacher and would reach into the pack, pull out a card, and ask, "Smartest Artist?"

Then, I called on and "interviewed" the Smartest Artist (or in this case, a student with their biscuits on the floor and super silent hands) so they could share their answer.

The correct answer cards were then placed into our baggies.

Everyone was SO excited to participate and this game was a great way to reinforce how to participate in classroom lessons appropriately (raised hands, safe seats, etc.).  And who doesn't love talking into a LIGHT UP echo microphone?!

It took us no more than 5-7 minutes to play this little game and the kids LOVED it!

Warm Trees, Cool Breeze.

Here's today's favorite Kindergarten quote of the week.  To introduce it, I have little Andy Warhol banana signs near my sinks reminding students to count aloud and prevent little sink and soap hogs...

Kinder girl 1:  Juliette, did you forget to count your bananas?!

Kinder girl 2: No, I was counting quiet bananas in my head!

And now in a not so smooth transition, we're moving from bananas to leaves!  We read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert to introduce this lesson.  

This story is AWESOME.  The illustrations feature hidden creatures, use warm colors (one of the objectives of our lesson), and each page features a different sort of cut line at the top of the page.  The story is seriously an art grand slam!

We started out by making painted papers, half warm and half a cool green.  Some students even used the bottom of their brushes to make little white dots for leaves.

I love making painted papers, but man oh man, that mess every time is rough!

This lesson ended up being a 3 day-er, because next class we started to work on tearing out our green hills, cutting out our warm trees, and then gluing everything down.  So, I demo-ed and then we practiced using our scissors safely as this was the first time cutting for many many kiddos.

The next class also happened to be the day that our new district superintendent popped into the Art Room to check out what exactly happens in my room.  Before he came in and witnessed the madness, I  pulled him aside, and said something along the lines of...

"Look, I just want to prepare you for what you are about to see.  You are visiting on the very first day of Kindergarten cutting.  So be prepared."

And as we know, there is no way to adequately prepare someone for Kindergarten cutting madness, so some tears were witnessed, (no digits were severed), a massive mess was made, but all in all, the class went well (and the superintendent left my room paint and glue-free....can't say the same about my clothing that day).

We also wrapped up with a really fun way to reinforce warm and cool colors too.  I'll show you that another post.

And on the last day, we finished up!  Adding trunks, branches, and a final frame to finish up these fantastic little fall scenes.

They've definitely got a sweet little Scandinavian vibe to them.  Or a little Orla Kiely-esque inspo perhaps?

Happy October everyone!

Primary Polka Dots.

I am BACK and getting down and dirty in the Art Room with this year's batch of kiddos.

We're kicking off this year with The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds since September 15th is Dot Day!  I've been reading his book aloud to all of my K-5 classes as a first day intro, but did something truly dotty with my Kinder kiddos.

Now this year I wasn't feeling as gutsy, so I didn't dive into paint the very first day BUT, we did dive into some gluing.

Each student was given a pre-cut black dot and many strips of red, yellow, and blue paper.

During my demo, I talked about glue etiquette (Just a Dot, Not a Lot) and demonstrated how to twist and turn and weave our strips through each other.  A great way to introduce lines too!

This lesson ended up being a really great way to assess students' abilities to follow directions, look at their fine motor skills when handling the glue and their strips, and check out students' overall motivation and patience.  After all, this was all done during our very FIRST Art day together!

At the end of the project, each student had the opportunity to present their project to their classmates (a good first day critique practice) and share what it reminded them of.  A lot of students said that their dot reminded them of a rollercoaster or a carnival ride, but I had one friend who stood up and said this:


Kinder:  Welllll, my dot reminds me of Miley Cyrus.
Miss French Fry:  And why is that?
Kinder: Because it looks CRAZY!

Well, welcome to the Art Room my Kinder friend, the land of the crazies...

Mooooo-vin' On with Kindergarteners.

What do you do with Kindergarten when you only have ONE remaining Art class left?

a) hmmm, good question...

b) movie?

c) get ready to sleep REALLY well after a day of teaching Kinders.

d) PAINT!

I decided to dive into paint one last time.  We read one of my favorite read alouds Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type.  The first time I heard of this story was on NPR and the radio folks started a whole discussion about collective bargaining, as the cows, chickens, and then ducks end up going on strike and refuse to produce milk and eggs.

Collective bargaining is not a topic I'm about to explore with my Kinder kiddos, but the vocabulary in this story is fabulous.

We used only Q-tips and black paint to paint our cows, farms, and any extra details.  I really liked the Q-tip's effect and the wobbly lines.

We talked a little bit about the expression to add onto our cows' faces.  For example, sometimes the cows in the story look surprised, sometimes puzzled, and so on.

Because this was a one day project, we used watercolors to add a quick splash of color to our farms too.

Surprised cow momma and her baby.  Note the evil farmer lurking in the background...

How impressive is this 3-D barn, folks?


I find this story a little bit ironic as my district is currently in the process of negotiations.  Fingers crossed everything goes well and both "cows" and "farmers" are happy at the end of things!

Kinders Do Self Portraits.

Ohhh yeah, we so went there.  Each and every year, I try and do a self portrait unit with each and every grade.  And each and every year, I am ever so curious (and just a little bit nervous) to see how they go with my Kinder kiddos.

To begin, we read Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss and my students were a little concerned about my well-being because it never fails, I ALWAYS tear up big time while reading this book.  Darn end-of-the-year emotions!

After the story (and wiping away my tears), I did a quick little demo of drawing my self portrait with only an oil pastel starting with a basic "U" shape for my head and going from there.  We talked about our eye colors, our hair colors and textures, and proportions of our facial features all while I did the drawing demo on our Smart Board.  I felt juuuust a little bit like Bob Ross as I talked while drawing, and found myself saying things like, "and let's add in a happy mouth."  Love that guy.

After the Kinder kids drew their own portraits in oil pastel, I demo-ed how to mix colors on our mixing papers to make my transparent skin color (seriously, I look like I belong in The Walking Dead) and then use the primary colors to add in a pop of other colors for our facial features, clothing, and backgrounds.

The next class, I plopped down some palettes of paint with varying skin tones, some white and black, and the primary colors.  I wanted to share just a few of my favorite portraits with you below.  Now, while I gave some of them silly titles, I want you to know that EVERY single little artist put their heart and soul into their paintings and I don't mean any disrespect.  Sometimes we art teachers just need to have a little fun, especially when we have an ENTIRE week added onto our school year. Grrrrr, Midwest weather!

 So without further ado, here are some select portraits below:

The "NO! My Hair is Orange" Portrait

Here's how the conversation went:
Me: "Ummm, what color is your hair sweetie?"
Kinder:  (without hesitation) "Orange, of course!"
Me:  "Are you sure?  It looks kind of like dark brown to me.  But maybe run into the bathroom quickly to check."
Kinder:  "No! My hair is orange."  (runs to the bathroom)

Five minutes later...
Me: "Did you check your hair?"
 Kinder:  "Nope, but I did use the toilet."


The "Most Beautiful Bambi Eyes" Portrait

The "Cosby Sweater" Portrait

The "If Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes Was a Real Kid" Portrait

The "Most Textured Hair" Portrait

The "Friendliest Kindergartener" Portrait

The "Dot-alicious" Portrait

The "Jackson Pollock" Portrait

The "Yeah, I'm Wearing a Mouth Guard" Portrait

The "Channeling My Inner Modigliani" Portrait

The "Primary Color Party" Portrait

The "I Just Might Be Part Gonzo" Portrait

Best of luck to you with your end of the school year.  And if you're already on break, enjoy a well-earned grown-up apple juice for me, you lucky teacher, you!