Thanks to Zoe...its Crazy Hair Time!

  I came across this book when I met Ard Hoyt, the illustrator, at my Arkansas Reading Conference I chaired.  Fell in love with his illustrations and what better a book to do self portraits with CRAZY HAIR! 
My student's work is below.  This is the link to a SUPER EASY AND BASIC power point I did to help my young ones make thier heads large enough for the big paper.  http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/huskeyj72501-1347048-crazy-hair/

Here is a little tid bit about the book that I found:

Mom and Dad Fleefenbacher think their daughter Zoe’s hair is wild and beautiful. And for her kindergarten teacher, Zoe’s vivacious tresses were a comfort. But Zoe’s about to start first grade, and her new teacher doesn’t fool around….

“School has rules,” she says. “No wild hair in my class!”

So what are Zoe and her free-spirited hair going to do now?

With exuberance and humor to spare, Laurie Halse Anderson and Ard Hoyt, the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, tease up a terrific tale of hairy hijinks, classroom chaos, and the importance of teachers and students learning to work together.

Pinkalicious Cupcakes! Mixed Media

Well...it so worked with my sweet tooth I had during Valentines week!  In this great book she has an addiction to pink cupcakes.  She eats too many and she turns pink all over!  It was a great lead into our Valentine Cupcake Heart Art!  They used hearts to design and color their back grounds.  We used scraps of burlap to make the cupcake cup, tissue paper for the frosting and foam pieces to design the cherry. Some used markers to add sprinkles and details. It needed a little text with it, so I pulled out my gazillioin letter stickers.  We made a word list on the board and they selected their word, searched madly for thier letters and completed their creations!  So Scrumptious! 

See a quick power point I used to help build the cupcake:  http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/huskeyj72501-1347049-cupcake/

Wild about Arkansas! Go Team!

Wooo Pig Sooie!!!  Thank you Stacy at SleepyHeadDesigns for the motivational ideas!

http://sleepyheaddesignsstudio.blogspot.com/2011/06/painting-razorbacks.html

We also viewed some of the fabulous art works from

Abby Carman.

http://abbycarman.com/razorback_art.asp

My afterschool group of 2nd-5th graders showed how proud we are of our Arkansas with our tribute to the Razorbacks, Arkansas State Redwolves and our schools Pioneers. 

My students used large flat dell computer boxes for our canvas.  They primed them first then used yellow paint to draw their outline then let their creativity take hold.  I really love all the personality these pieces have.

Here is the link to the power point I used with some of Carmen's Work and ideas from Sleepyhead.

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/huskeyj72501-1347955-razorback/

In LOVE with Reading...Printmaking & Zentangles Heart Art!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!  We have been following up our Jasper Johns printmaking creations with I would say what has turned out to be some of my FAVORITE pieces!!   Below I posted our steps and some examples.

First I gave my student foam rectangles and we use old ink pens to create the Embossing. 

Embossing

Any process used to create a raised or depressed surface, sometimes without ink.

Drypoint

Drawing directly on the copper plate with a sharp point creates a rough ridge of metal--a burr--along the furrow. When the plate is inked, the burr catches the ink, producing dark, velvety accents.

They cut out the heart shape from their foam piece.  Then we rolled colored ink over their hearts and began the printing practice.  After they felt confident with printing then we used old book pages that had been falling apart.  Glued them to colored backgrounds and they did their final heart right in the middle of the text. 

              

WE HAVE HAD ENDLESS COMPLIMENTS ON THEIR PIECES.  I used the caption "In LOVE with READING" and displayed the art in the hall.

As my 5th & 6th graders finally finished their alphabet sculptures we moved into the zentangle heart art that I borrowed from SmART Class at:

http://elementaryartfun.blogspot.com/2012/01/heart-works

I love the ideas on Natalie's site!

Castles from Once Upon a Time...Previously.

Kindergarten-3rd graders began this project after our artist in residency from Ireland came and did a production with our entire school.  We looked at many impressive castles from Ireland as well as some various art works of castles.  We discussed perspective and proportion (which some had a great concept of…and some not so much.)   One of our key discussions was the shapes and forms we saw as we observed our castles.  The students drew their castles with black sharpie then used water color to paints. 

Here is a link to the little power point I made with examples and a how to draw an easy castle:
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/huskeyj72501-1347962-castles/

My favorite part, of course, was the book and writing piece I found to go along with it.  Fairy Tales were one of the key places mentioned when I asked students to make connections with where they had heard of or seen castles before.  As I looked for books with castles I came across a variety, but this one caught my eye.  There is a small castle in the book if you look…but not one that you want to be inspired by for creating a castle.  However, I loved the story.  The book Previously is kind of a backwards chronological tale of a mixture of fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters and how they intertwine with each other.  Each page begins its lines with “previously” which led to a great writing piece.  I had my students look at their castles and decide what “previously” might have happened in their castles.  As each of them told me I typed their sentence on the computer so they could view it on the projector and edit my errors as needed then we printed them off so they could cut and paste on their art work.  Love love love these!

Falling for Rapunzel is another really cute book we used.  I also had several illustrate her long hair coming down the tower.



ALPHABET SCULPTURES



"A told B and B told C I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree.  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom."  Well this project that I found at Dick Blick has turned into an extremely L-O-N-G project!!  If we ever finish them it will be quite the accomplishment.  They cut their letters out of cereal boxes and used dixie cups and toilet paper rolls to create their letters form.  Then it was paper mache mania!  I have been doing this with 5th and 6th grade and we have gone through a ridiculous amount of paper mache glue.  :)

They started painting this week...so hopefully I will have some cool pieces to share soon.  These are just some clips to get you started.  My plan is to make a giant coconut tree that covers the ceiling in the hall and hang the letters with finish line from the ceiling. We shall see if it works.  Send me any other ideas you might have on displaying them.