Here Come the Mummies

4th grade studied Egyptian mythology this year and we made mummies! 

You can find a video on the process here. 

We also made paper boxes with hieroglyphs for our sarcophagi. This was a fun project, will definitely do again! 

Fricken Love Bats

This lesson is from Easy, Peasy, and Fun. Art club made adorable bat artworks! I gave them die-cut bats and warm colored paints. We used sponge brushes to add texture and waited for them to dry. Then we saw our bats magically appear!

Scarab Necklaces

1st grade had a blast making these scarab necklaces based on the Egyptian myth of Khepri the beetle. We used model magic to create ovals. Then we used a wooden stick to make the impressions on the back and for the neck. We used the round end of the stick for the eyes. Then they used washable markers to add designs. We also made beads and strung them onto pipe cleaners to finish the necklaces. How cute are they?!

Khepri the Beetle

Using chalk pastels on black paper, 3rd grade explored the myth of Khepri the scarab, who moves the sun across the sky in their Egyptian myths project. We cut them out and glued them to backgrounds with hieroglyphs. So cute!

The Riddle of the Sphinx

5th grade started their Myths & Legends Unit by studying the myth of the Egyptian Sphinx! We created sphinxes from clay. You can find a video for that here. 

Then we wrote riddles to go with our sphinx. I loved this!

Van Gogh Coloring Sheets

Vincent van Gogh Coloring Sheets are here! I transformed 8 of his most famous paintings into coloring sheets. These are great for introducing the artworks, sub plans, or early finishers.

 Find them here in my TPT store! 

Autumn Leaves

4th grade did a fantastic job on these autumn leaves! We used chalk pastels and oil to blend, a technique I learn from the amazing Jennifer Alvarado. They could choose warm or cool colors, just to keep it nice and neat. Gorgeous!

New Year, New Look!

This year we are bringing more positivity into GES! We have been working hard all summer to spread positive messages throughout the school, and here is one part of that: bathroom stalls.

Thank you so much to everyone who helped out and everyone who volunteered but didn't get a chance because we finished too soon. ^_^

Lizards in the Jungle

These paper sculpture lizards were a favorite for 3rd grade. I feel like 3rd grade is getting all of the awesome projects this year? Good for them. ^_^

We looked at many of Henri Rousseau's jungle artworks and discussed what kind of animals live in the jungle. Then we viewed many images of different lizards. I created an outline for them printed on green construction paper to get them started. This saved us some time on drawing so that we could focus on the paper sculpture part of the project. If you want them to draw the lizards themselves, Art for Kids Hub has a fantastic lizard drawing video they could follow here. 

After we cut them out, we folded them down the center to make them pop up. We created a paper leaf, added some oil pastel details, and attached the lizard. 

Some kids asked if we were going to put googly eyes on them, so I made sure we had plenty to add. :D

In the Art room: Jungle

Here are some pictures from our Jungle room transformation for our study of Henri Rousseau.

Streamers across the room with paper leaves stapled on. Our plants that have been growing in the windows all year came over to the tables. 

Beret and French flag our for his home country.

More streamers for vines, paper flowers, and a video of jungle images and sounds that you can find here. 

Posters of Rousseau's work, giant snake from the library. 

A cut-up Dollar Tree table cloth for the door and windows. The librarians already had 3 giant trees that they let me borrow (thanks). Love doing these room transformations. ^_^

Faith Ringgold Mural

1st grade viewed the quilt artworks of Faith Ringgold. We reviewed symmetry and introduced radial symmetry. Then we worked together to create radial designs that would become quilt squares. 

I used their squares as the edge of a giant quilt mural, basically a giant version of 2nd grade's Ringgold cityscape collages. 

The quote is the last line of Ringgold's stroy, "Tar Beach". This mural took me the longest to make so far this year, but definitely worth it! ^_^

The Highwaymen

5th grade learned about the Highwaymen, a group of artists in Florida during the 1950s who sold their artwork by the highways. Their oil paintings of landscapes are very popular now and can be found all over the country. I learned about the highwaymen during Art Scouts last summer from amazing art teacher Jennifer Alvarado and I was excited to share their art with my students.

Original work by Highwaymen artist.

We started by viewing their works and identifying foreground, middle ground, and background. Then we sketched out our landscapes.

We added color with chalk pastels, working in "cloudy" shapes, then blending with liquid starch. I love this beautiful, painterly look they got! Gorgeous!

Look at that depth!