20 Minute Classes

If your school is like mine there are a few times a year when your schedule is re-arranged for early outs. At NMS we have a few times when we have an 11:30 dismissal.  All the classes are still held but we only have 20 minutes per class period.  That isn't much time to get anything out, let alone accomplished.

Rob to the Rescue....

Rob from Art for Kids has a lot of really great "draw along" videos.  I love that he draws along with at least one of his own kids so it is super kid friendly.  He also has lessons broke down into different age groups and mediums.

Our last 11:30 dismissal was earlier this fall.  My 5th graders drew along to create an awesome owl.

recreated on the computer... how cool!

My 6th graders drew along to create a tough looking football player.

recreated with an entire football field

While these work great for as a time filler I have struggled with how I could make this into a creative activity.  I solved this dilemma by turning the project into a contest.  Each class drew along with Rob in during class time and then were given the following week (until I saw them again) to finish it in the coolest way possible.  Each grade level had the top 3 projects selected for a prize...

5th grade 1st. 2nd and 3rd place

6th grade 3rd, 2nd and 1st place

Exploding Color Wheels

As review of colors wheels and as an starting point to painting, students created "exploding color wheels." The requirements were:

1. that they had to draw something in pen and ink 
2. make the color wheel "explode" from that object.  

I wish we had spent more time on discussing pen and ink work before we started.  However it was fun to see the students solve the issue of making their color wheels explode.

You can check out more at Artsonia. 

Not So Plain White Cups

My 6th graders have a unit that focuses on drawing skills.  This year when we were tackling contour line we switched it up from our usual hand drawing and challenged ourselves with drawing "plain white coffee cups."  I started by photographing a group of cups together.

After we worked through our contour line drawing practice they tackled drawing these cups in contour line.  I let them "cheat" and draw on a piece of plastic on top of the drawing.  Since it is the beginning of contour drawing for them it can be hard for them to see the connecting lines.  

Next we worked on shading.  They completed a value scale and worked to identify the light, medium and dark values on each cup.  As they finished their practice work I shared the assignment.  They would have to draw a cup photograph using contour line and shading BUT they had to add something to their image to make them unique.  They turned out pretty fun!

You can check out more at Artsonia

Cartoon Posters

This quarter the Aftershock kids are focusing on cartooning.  They have spent some time developing their own personal cartoons.  For today our focus was on creating a "poster" for their cartoon character.  Here are what a few of them came up with...

**pictures were snapped "in progress" and then kiddos took them home.

Lego Mania

A while back I saw this awesome post by Abby Schukei over at Exploring Art: Elementary Art.  She had done these cool Lego people with her 5th graders.  (Check out the post here)  Since my Afterschock kiddos are focusing on cartooning I thought this would be perfect for the class I would miss when I took kiddos to the Joslyn Art Museum for Celebrating Creativity.

Miss P works hard at everything she does and really wanted her picture with her Lego person... happy to oblige!

I printed off some Lego guys so they could really see the shape of the awesome little people.  They drew them out and colored them while I was gone... and they did a pretty good job!  I could really see their personalities coming through!

I love these so much I think this will be going into my sub file as an awesome sub lesson! 

Thanks for sharing Abby!  

... now go check out her awesome blog! 

Exploring Art Mediums

One of the first projects my 6th graders did this year was inspired by the one and only Nic Hahn over at MINI MATISSE (if you haven't checked her out - go there NOW!).  Anyway... Nic spent the summer making these awesome "Medium Monsters" to help her mini's know more about art mediums.

I shared a few of Mrs. Hahn's monster and then challenged my students to create something equally awesome using art mediums.  They were given a lot of freedom (in retrospect too much freedom for a first project). 

Their project requirements were to create an image using a minimum of 4 mediums - NEATLY!

We started by creating stations around the room and the students filled in their medium books.  

Then they filled out a proposal for their idea and got to work.  While many of them had each medium represented, they didn't use them in all their awesomeness!

Feel free to stop over at Arstonia and check out more of what they have done. 

More Circles

After students finished up their circle (dots) with clay we tackled some fun "Cassie Stephens" inspired sewn dots.  I will admit it took me watching her how-to video on YouTube to feel comfortable tackling this project.

The students did a great job of following directions and I am thinking some sewers have been born...

Dot Day in Clay

So the first day that I was teaching Aftershock art just happened to be September 15... International Dot Day!  The class had been challenging; students were working to find the balance between fun after school activities and showing classroom behavior.

So I started with clay...

Students were told they had to create a circular design with texture.  All else was left open for them to decide.  We were using up old clay left from last year so I wasn't getting too worried about what they wanted to make.

and of course a few finished early and got to "play" until clean up time. 

Lunch is Served

This year our school is piloting an after school program called AFTERSHOCK.  There are several different "classes" offered for our 5th and 6th graders to keep them busy until their parents get off work at 5.  Due to a conflict in times, the first quarter aftershock art teacher was unable to finish teaching and I jumped in to finish.  These lessons were really informal and a lot of fun...

During this time the lunch ladies got rid of a few old, stained lunch trays.  They asked if I wanted them and of course the answer was yes.  We took one Aftershock art class to create these fun projects. 

a little school lunch surf and turf

a few students "made" their food rather than drawing it on the tray 

some students did not even do food...