Penguin Prints

First graders learned all about penguins. They watched a short video to learn all these amazing facts. Penguins eat fish, cannot breathe underwater, but are excellent swimmers, and slide around on the land on their bellies (this is called tobogganing.)

First graders learned about the art of printmaking. Printmaking is the art of making prints, often using printmaking tools. Printmaking can be compared to stamping.

Students used potatoes and sponges to create a print for the body of the penguin. They then used a paintbrush for the other details. They did such a great job!!

Tinted Winter Landscapes

Second Graders learned all about landscapes through this lesson. First we learned about value of colors and how to create a tint. Each student had their own paints to mix 3 tints of blue. While those dried, the students drew three different sized trees and colored them in with 3 different colors of green. The following week we dived in deep to discuss how to create a successful landscape. I found a Smart Board lesson on the Smart Exchange ( I can't take credit for creating this awesome lesson), that really broke down and identified the three main parts to a landscape: foreground, middleground, and background. Students watched a short art video of an artist creating a landscape drawing and then we identified each part of the landscape in that artwork. Next we played a vocabulary game that was like wheel of fortune to identify the parts of a landscape. Students then cut out and glued their different sized trees into the correct part of the landscape.

Lesson Idea from Dali's Moustache:

http://dalimoustache.blogspot.com/2011/12/winter-landscapes.html

Paper Cut Snowflakes

Students learned about the “Snowflake Man” Wilson Bentley. A self educated farmer, Bentley attracted world attention with his pioneering work in the area of photomicrography, most notably his extensive work with snow crystals (commonly known as snowflakes). By adapting a microscope to a bellows camera, and years of trial and error, he became the first person to photograph a single snow crystal in 1885.

This lesson focused on radial symmetry and craftsmanship. We began by tracing different sized circles and folding them in half three times. Each line became one point of the snowflake.  Students then cut away shapes and once unfolded had a one of a kind snowflake. Learning targets were:

I can use my scissors safely.

I can cut paper with no jagged edges.

I can use correct amount of glue and glue papers flat.

Lesson idea from Dali's Mustache 

http://dalimoustache.blogspot.com