Bubble Painting

Every so often I think it is good to expose students to process art.  Process  art is more about the process of making the art then the end result of the art.   It's hard as an art teacher not to focus on the end result.  For some reason I feel like all the work we do in school must be 'pretty' enough to hang on the walls, but it's worth remembering we don't hang math tests and spelling homework on the wall we don't always have to hang art.  Sometimes it is good to try something new, take a risk and learn a new process.  That's really what this lesson was all about.

First I showed students how to make their own bubbles, our colored bubbles were 2Tbs dawn dishsoap, 2 Tbs, washable paint to 4 cups water.  Then we made our own bubble wands from pipe cleaners and we made bubble blowers using old bottles and a sock.  We cut the bottom off of a water bottle and covered the cut end with a little kid sock.  Yes it is that easy.  (Also super fun to do because we got to talk about Earth Day we reused and recycled to do this project).

Then on really big paper (outdoors of course) we blew colored bubbles.

Once they were dry students added some drawings on top and some added poetry as well.  These will go home just intime for mothers day.

Color Mixing

Kindergartners have been learning all about color mixing.  We started two week ago by reading "Mix it Up! by Herve Tullet.  (My kids love this book.)  Then we mixd all our colors, And painted circles of each color.  Kids who were done early took markers or extra paint and were able to turn their circles into birds or other fun little creatures.
 This week we talked about tints, colors made from mixing white with a color.  Students were given a piece of black paper to paint on and then given a pallet with white, red, yellow and blue.  (On their black paper they created a frame of flowers.)  Working with small groups at a time kiddos then created a bouquet of fingerprint flowers for the center of their frame.  These will go home for mothers day.

ART & Chocolate

A Big reminder Art and Chocolate is this FRIDAY from 5-9pm in downtown Grandville.  Do not forget this amazing event.  It is a great chance to get out and see artwork, hear great music and taste some fun foods.  West Elementary has over 100 pieces of art at this event.   See Here for more info.

First Grade Rocket Ships

 First graders have been working on these paper reliefs.  First they designed Rocket Ships.  Their ships were colored in oil pastel and students worked hard to attempt to create shine and shadow to make ships look round.

 Then we created our skies.  Students used crayon to create distant planets and then Oil pastel to make some that appear closer and finally some glitter sand to really make things sparkle.  (The kids absolutely loved the glitter sand.  

 Finally they added the flames to their rocket ship.  They used scrap paper to cut out paper flames and then a variety of techniques to make their flames shoot from their rocket.  

2nd Grade Robots

 2nd Grade students have spent the last few weeks thinking like engineers and city planners.

First they designed robots,  Students were asked to think about: What their robots would do first, what tasks would they want their robots to complete?  Then what tools would they need to do those tasks?  How would that effect what their robots looked like?

Then their robots were cut out and our cities were designed.  Each student added buildings and windows deciding  what kind of building to add, day or night and exactly how they should look.
I love how creative students got with their robots.  Parents please ask your kids about why they designed what they did.  A lot of thought went into these project.

Kindergarten Clay Fish

 Kindergarten students created these beautiful clay fish.  They each started with a ball of clay and pounded it flat then using a pop-cycle stick they drew their fish and added scales (I love the way the sticks can be easily pressed in to make a scale texture for the fish) and any other details they could think of.   After their fish were fired though the kiln they were painted with tempra paint.   Hopefully these made it home safe in kiddos backpacks because they were super cute.