Penguins

We got messy last week! 

It was  a very busy day and we did not have much time to squeeze in our art lesson. A 'torn paper' artwork was perfect! 

If you attempt one of these, be prepared for the potential for tears. I have found that students of this generation do not have great paper skills - especially tearing. You will need to demonstrate very clearly how to tear paper. 

They will most likely grab the two corners of a piece of paper, fingers as far away as possible from each  other, and try to tear a shape. They need to bring their fingers closer together to tear with control. Show them, and reinforce that we tear slowly and keep stopping to check the progress of the overall shape before tearing another small section. 

It takes practise. Lots of it. 

This was my students first attempt, some students told me they had never been allowed to tear paper ever before.  My students really struggled with confidence. I had to give them quite a bit of verbal encouragement, praise, scaffolding and support to get through this lesson. At the end, they were thrilled and excited and really appreciated what they had made.

To tie into my class' work on 'informative writing' we made a penguin. We had read and investigated a penguin themed big book for our morning literacy work. 

After we got started, I could sense my students were struggling - the "I can't do this" started and a few looked on the brink of tears. They really wanted me to give them a shape to cut out!

I held up a few shapes that had been torn and showed the class how wonderful they were. Some were squares and rectangles, when they were supposed to be ovals, but it did not matter. I told them they were great and that I thought they were perfect for our artworks. 

Gradually the students got more and more confidence until we were in the midst of quite the paper-tearing party!

I had not planned on doing snowflakes for the background, but several students added this on their own. They turned out so well! 

You can find my program lesson notes HERE if you would like to try this lesson! 

Here are some penguin writing pieces we did earlier in the day, after our informative collaborative reading session. I just quickly drew this up at recess for my students. 

This is one that I made for you when I got home, if you would like to use this idea. 

Find it as a pdf in Google Drive HERE

Thanks so much for visiting my blog - have a great week!

- Mel 

Australian Dry Environment Art

These gorgeous artworks are from a Year Two class I work with once a week. The teacher that implemented this lesson integrated it with a 'Wet and Dry Environments' unit of work and with a particular study of Australian deserts. 

It was completed in stages and as you can see, had a lovely 3D effect on the display wall. 

To start, students scribbled with desert colours on art paper. They then did a thin orange paint wash over the paper. When it was dry they scrunched it up, to achieve a dry arid land effect. 

To make the snake, they covered a piece of paper with lovely bright rich coloured crayons. A thin coat of black paint was then applied, and before it dried students scratched scribble marks with the end of their brush to reveal some colourful lines (crayon under the paint). 

Once dry, the snake was cut out and glued onto the background. The students did not glue it flat, instead, lifting sections and applying glue in random places to achieve the 3D effect. 

Maps and posers showing Australian deserts environments were displayed with the artworks.

This artwork would make an excellent accompaniment to the Aboriginal Dreamtime story 'The Rainbow Snake". 

Frog Life Cycle Hats

This week my students made a Frog Life Cycle hat. We had the role of presenting at our weekly assembly. These hats provide a fantastic way of combining a 'performance' style presentation with a showcase of our learning. I found the templates HERE

I demonstrated the entire activity before I handed out materials. I also showed some simple frog life cycle animations from YouTube to revise our learning on frogs. 

1. We coloured all the life cycle stages (this links in with our work on animals, information reports and explanations). 

We cut all the template pieces. I still have students learning to cut effectively, so this was a great fine motor activity as well. 

2. We glued the template pieces to make the frog face. 

3. We glued the life cycle pictures, and wrote about each stage on the hat band. 

4. I reminded students to glue the stage pictures close to the frog face, because the ends get trimmed off. 

5. Here are our hats ready for our assembly performance. 

My students LOVED making these hats. They were engaged, excited about their learning and it built anticipation for the upcoming assembly. 

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I love that I can share some ideas from my classroom and connect with other teachers around the world!

- Mel 

Frog Paper Plate Craft

I am so excited to share these adorable frogs with you! These were made by a 2nd grade class I work with during the week. The teacher of the class is incredibly dedicated and passionate about her students  expressing their learning in creative ways. 

I do not have the program notes for this lesson as it was not my lesson. The teacher taught this lesson as part of a 'Wet and Dry Environments' unit of work. She developed the craft from ideas found on Pinterest. Do a search on Pinterest for 'Frog Paper Plate Craft' and you will get lots of ideas!

Inside each puppet mouth is a party blower for the tongue. The children LOVED them! 

Much time and consideration has gone into the display and presentation of the children's work, and they are so proud of their lovely classroom! 

Thanks so much for visiting!

Possum Magic Low Prep Craft

One day each week I have the role of supporting other teachers and students within their classrooms. It is a wonderful role and I feel very privileged to be able to spend the day with other teachers and be an active participant in their classroom and pedagogy.

The second grade classroom I visit is always a hive of activity and the classroom displays reflect the teacher's dedication and passion for education. I asked her if I could share some photos from her classroom. Here are some adorable possums her students made after reading Possum Magic by Mem Fox. 

Real foliage has been added to the line where each possum is attached - and the effect is well worth the additional effort.  

This low prep craft was made using paper plates painted with grey paint and template pieces. I do not know the location of the template pieces - perhaps try a google search. 

Hopefully these will inspire you to create some possum magic in your classroom too!

Seahorse Art Project

Here is a lesson I did in 2014. We did a directed drawing of a seahorse as part of a marine / ocean unit of work. I just directed the students to draw a seahorse using an illustration I found in a picture book - but if you need more step-by-step details, you may find one on Pinterest to assist. 

This lesson is a good example of one where your best laid plans end up changing. We used crepe paper scraps and water to achieve a sea textured background.

My beautiful students ended up experimenting with the crepe paper to find better ways to use it than I had planned. I demonstrated how to create the water effect with strips of paper, and they found that scrunching it, wetting it and dabbing it provided more 'watery' markings. Let your students be creative! They also asked for green paper to create seaweed, which was not in my planning, but I easily accommodated. 

I encouraged the students to fill their seahorse with patterns and fun colours. 

We drew and coloured in one session and did the messy background work to finish in the second session.  

In this photo below you can see that I purchased plastic plant pots to use as water tubs. They are big and have a solid firm base. With all that brush washing and tapping that happens, a solid container works best! 

If you would like my program notes, please find them in Google Drive HERE

To leave a comment on my blog, be sure to be signed into your Google account. 

Have a wonderful day! 

Rainbow Bird Artwork

Last term I did a visual arts lesson with my first graders using the Aboriginal story 'How the Birds got their Colours' as a stimulus. Mary Albert, the author is from the Bardi Language Group in Broome, Western Australia. 

The illustrations in the story are made by children from the same community. I have found that this book always captures the attention of my students and they love the illustrations. For art appreciation I always discuss how the illustrations have been made. We discuss painting in primary colours using a medium sized brush and what effect this has on the artwork. 

We talked about how the paint and brushes do not allow for much fine detail in the art - but how expressive, vibrant and energetic the pictures are. 

We also talk about cleaning our brushes between colours. This is a great art project to establish the classroom routine of using a colour palette and cleaning brushes appropriately. 

I talked the students through how to draw a parrot, using the image on the from cover as an example. We drew a large oval body, then added the semi-circle head followed by the other features and detail. After sketching, I invited students to paint their bird using the paint palettes of primary colours that I distributed. Once dry, we did a pale blue paint wash for the background. 

Here are some of the artworks from our classroom: