Remember those awkward school photos in the 80’s?
Well, obviously my 8th/9th graders don’t, and as we were making these, a friend of mine gave me the idea to turn this surrealism lesson into the laser beam pictures, and thus, “Awkward School Pictures” was born. The kids had a great time finding their animal head and adding the Zen tangle-styled clothing, and they used markers and colored pencils. The background laser beams were done with oil pastels watercolor. Fun stuff!
My 3rd-5th graders had a pretty good time with this, and they came out so nice and bold!
If you’ve never used liquid watercolors, I highly recommend trying it. It gives completely different results!
This has probably been my favorite project so far this year. It was such a great feeling to see the kids do so well! They all had a great time making these, and they’re so colorful because the students used painted paper they made a few weeks ago. The background is a paper bag, and they used white and black acrylic paint for the eyes and mouths. Good stuff!
Here’s the process:
The finished tikis:
I wanted to have the kids do a notan this year, and they wanted to make dragons, so why not combine the two? It was a tricky process, but in the end, all the dragons were unique and awesome! Making notans is a great way to teach symmetry, and my Wednesday class nailed it!
Here was the example piece:
And here are the results:
The 3rd-5th graders had a good time making these. They used metallic Sharpies and chalk pastels. I just love how all the houses have their own personalities.
My two Wednesday art classes got to make their own masks. That was a great fun! From start to finish, it took about 1.5 hours, and then on the next class day, they were able to paint them.
The mask-making:
The masks all together:
All painted and finished:
My 3rd-5th graders had a pretty good time with this one. Well, they always have a good time with the chalk/glue resist projects. I think they turned out beautifully, and the kids are nice and proud of them.
We did this a couple of years ago at the summer art camp, so I felt like it was a good time to revisit the project.
Yep! We’re still south of the border. This time, we’re in Oaxaca (wah-HA-kah), and we’re making “wood carvings.” We used florescent tempera paint (Sargent brand) on black paper to achieve these beautiful results. I was truly impressed by how detailed some of my students got. They’re really growing in skill! I wonder how cool they would look under a black light…
In my (now 2) Wednesday classes, the kids made their own ojo de Dios: Eye of God. My Wednesday classes are a mix of mature 6th-graders through high school.
I let them choose from two different styles: the regular 4-sided ojo, or the complex 8-sided one. The 8-sided ojos look more like mandalas when they get done, but they’re still classified as traditional ojos. Interestingly, the 4-sided ones took only a LITTLE bit of less time to complete than the 8-sided ojos. The students had a great time making them, and I love how they all came out so different! The key is to offer a LOT of different colors of yarn to allow for them to really get creative!
Here’s my sample I showed the kids. I had it out a couple of weeks before we did the project, and the students were perfectly teased and salivating to start! They didn’t believe they were going to be able to make them!
Here are a few in-progress shots:
And the beautiful results!
schooled in love 