Welcome 32,000 BC! 

 I am so excited about this new art experience I just created for my students.  I brought in an exhibition about cave art from teachersdiscovery.com so that the whole school can be taught a unit about prehistoric art.  I wanted the kids to really experience rock art the way that it is meant to be experienced, the way that the artist originally painted the art.  That is to say, not on a flat surface, and in a cave.

 Here is how I made a cave for my students.  Starting at the art room door I hung sheets from the ceiling using clothes pins and string, to basically make I giant sheet tent.  (kind of like at home when my kids and I need to make a fort).  Then I put a digital projector on the floor in the back of the rectangular tent and angled it up to project on the walls and ceiling on the tent.  the uneven surface of the sheets clothe-pinned together was very effective.  I found that the structure of the tent needed to be wider towards the back so that there weren't big shadows cast.  There is an awesome website that is a virtual tour of Lascaux.  [Note: on PC computer the F11 key will hide the Internet tool bar, making the virtual experience even cooler] The virtual tour only lasts about 10 minutes and that's if you click and explore all of the different images available.  To make the experience last I put together a slide show of prehistoric art from around the world, which lasts about another 15 minutes.  This has been a great end of the year activity.  Next week I'm going to line the halls with crumpled up butcher paper and let the kids make drawings using charcoal and chalk pastels, then they can sign there art with a hand print.  That way I can take down and pass back all of the artwork, without leaving the walls of the school hallways bare for the last 2 weeks of the year.

Cut Paper Ocean Envroment

After learning about the art work of Wyland students make there own under the sea scenes. While doing this, students are learning about overlapping, tucking, foreground, middle-ground and background.

Materials Needed

• Glue
• Scissors
• 12x18 blue construction paper
• Construction paper scrapes
• Crayons

Student Examples

Abstract Expressionist Sculptures

Materials Needed

• 2 pecies of white construction paper
• Watercolors or Temprea Cakes (and cups and bushes)
• Liquid Glue
• Paper clips

Winter Project: Cup of CoCoa

Students will use a verity of lines and shape patterns to decorate a paper coffee mug. Students will learn about landscapes. They will then practice their cutting and gluing skills to assemble their artwork.
---Materials Needed Coffee Cup template
Window template
markers
crayons
6x12 fabric scrape for table cloth
1x5 strips of fabric for curtains
12x18 construction paper

Student Examples

Aboriginal Bark Drawings (perfect low budget project)

Materials Needed:

• Brown Paper: 
• You can use paper sacks, cheap brown roll paper, or even construction paper, but I'm not a fan of construction paper for this project.
• Pencils
• Markers

Student Examples:

Native American Pottery Drawings

  Student will learn about the Southwest Native American Pottery and create paper pots that look 3-D. See more info for list of materials

**Note***

I suggest stopping the video at the Next Step Chapter for the first session and then showing the second chapter during the next class session.

---Materials Needed----

• a verity of size and shades of brown construction paper
• a 12x8 piece of paper
• brown, white and black colored pencils
• #2 pencil
• scissors
• glue stick

Student Examples:

Dreaming with Miro

I did this with 2nd Grade but it could be use grades 2nd-7th
Materials Needed:

• pencil
• sharpies
• crayons
• watercolors or tempera cakes (not liquid tempera)

Student Examples:

Color Circle Experiments

Material Needed

• an assortment of lids, found at any recycling site or collect from home
• 1 black oil pastel for each kid. 
• watercolor paints (no substitute) I prefer Prang brand
• water cups
• Brushes

Student Examples