Butterfly Mural from Art Projects for Kids

We had quite a few changes in schedules this year at my school (which is the norm). They took many fourth and fifth grade band students out of band for 6 weeks and put them with the regular specials to accommodate their homerooms standardize testing schedules..and many other complicated issues that I do not wish to go into. Anyhow, this left me with 25 + students in my classes...many of whom had not been in art all this year or last year. I know many of you are okay with getting out the expensive watercolors and acrylics for this many students but I am not afraid to say that I AM NOT...lol. Especially due to the fact that most of these student didn't spend the first of the year going over procedures and routines in my class. I was looking for a lesson that wasn't too messy and involved materials that could be shared by such a large number of kids. I downloaded this butterfly mural from Art Projects for Kids, we used crayons, and some rubbing plates. The kids had to use warm colors for the butterfly parts and cool colors for the background or vice versa. They were only allowed to use one rubbing plate on one area. At first I let one class color them however they wanted, and they were a mess! They used crazy color combinations and too much texture. So for the next classes I had to set the rules. There were a few who strayed from the guidelines but they still came out okay. Overall I am happy with the results. I had more completed butterflies but only took these two pictures :(

Freedom Quilts

We are in the process of making Freedom Quilts for Black History Month. It is a group project we are doing in  fourth and fifth grade. The groups each have their own family of slaves that they must make a quilt for. They all have different routes to follow to the North and must figure out which codes are needed to help their specific family. This one is the first one finished and today I hung it up in our town library as a part the local Black History Month display. We used scrap book paper to acheieve the fabric look.

P.S. Say a prayer for all of us Texas teachers (and Texas students)...if you haven't heard, the whole state is looking at massive education budget cuts. They will let go of 1000 Dallas school district employees next school year. I don't work for that school district but in a smaller Dallas suburb district.

Mondrian Inspired Trees

Where did I get this idea from???? I saw it on someone's blog and have looked and looked but can't find whose it was! If you know please tell me so I can give them credit.

This is a lesson I did with fourth grade and fifth grade. (I have a few classes with a mix of fourth and fifth graders, so now I teach the same lessons to both grades.) We talked about Piet Mondrian's Tree paintings, and the symbolism trees meant to him. We painted the trees with black tempera paint, and used liquid watercolors for the background. The blog I got this from used oil pastels I believe. I made a few examples to test what media I liked best for the tree, oil pastels, black glue but I like the way the tempera best.

***I got this idea from Marcia at Vivid Layers!!