Oil Pastel Autumn Leaves! 1st Grade!!

To celebrate our first cold front of the season, our first graders got to explore the medium of oil pastels! They are so bright and vibrant and so much fun! We discussed the colors associated with autumn leaves and the different shapes leaves can come in. The students then traced each leaf shape and filled it in with beautiful fall colors. Then, they painted the backgrounds with blue and purple watercolor paints! We've been talking about indigo and how to mix it, so it was perfect!!!

Just check out the awesome finished products!

Color Mixing Pumpkins! 1st Grade!!!

Our 1st graders have been learning about color mixing! This week, we used our color mixing knowledge to paint some lovely pumpkins!! After drawing the pumpkins, the leaves, and the vines, the students mixed the colors for their paintings right on their paper! Here are the awesome results:

I just love how these turned out! Great Job!

Primary Gumball Machines! First Grade!

In First grade, we had so much fun making mixed media gumball machines! We used our prior knowledge of lines and shapes to create the different pieces of the machine. Then, we glued all of the parts down to our background paper, and last, but not least, we got to use our fingers as a paintbrush to paint the gumballs!!!! The students mixed the primary colors together if they wanted orange, green, and purple gumballs for their machine! These turned out absolutely fabulous!

Here's Ms. Carney's!

and here are some great student examples!

Great work, First grade!!!

Back for a new school year!

I am so incredibly excited to be back for another awesome school year! We are rounding the end of the 4th week of school already! Man, time flies! My first big project for the year (and it was a biggie!) was to create a Dot Mural for the entire school! So the first week in art, we read the awesome book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, and it was just in time because International Dot Day was coming up fast on September 15th!.

After reading and discussing this wonderful story of bravery and creativity, each student created their very own dot, just like Vashti in the story! We hung up all of our Dots in the cafeteria, students and teachers, and boy! It was a bunch!

Here's to another great year! Talk to you soon!

~Ms. Carney

Piet Mondrian Collages - 1st Grade!

Our first graders created some fabulous collage paintings as an hommage to the great Piet Mondrian! We've been learning about primary and secondary colors and this was a great opportunity to put our knowledge to work to create an amazing piece of art!

First, the kiddos put in the black lines by cutting strips from black construction paper. Then, they filled in all of their spaces with red, yellow, and blue watercolors. Amazing work!

Cat in the Hat - 1st Grade!

In preparation for our full week celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday, our first graders learned how to draw the Cat in the Hat from one of Dr. Seuss' most famous and beloved books! These turned out just wonderful!!! I can't wait to hang them in the hallway!

This is my teacher example!

And here is the magnificent student work!

Picasso Hearts - 1st Grade!

Since Valentine's is right around the corner, what a great time to learn about Picasso and symmetry! This is our second Picasso Project this year in 1st grade! The students first painted a lovely design on pink or red paper and then learned how to cut a giant heart out of their paper while it was folded in half! Then they got to add even more decorations to make it really special! Check out the great hearts below:

This is our lovely hallway display right outside the art room!

Paper Roller Coasters! - 1st Grade

This first week back has been a busy one! Our first graders did their first official sculpture project!!! YAY! We created three-dimensional paper roller coasters using colorful strips of construction paper! They did such an awesome job and had so much fun!!!!

Snow Globes - 1st Grade!

This week, our 1st graders are making paper versions of one of my favorite holiday decorations! Snow Globes! The kiddos today had a blast making these and they turned out just great!

Drawing the Grinch - 1st Grade!

This week we learned how to draw the Grinch from Dr. Seuss' wonderful Christmas tale, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The kids have been having an awesome time with this project. After we finished our drawings, we all sat together and read the story. Here are some of the finished projects below!

 These kiddos did a magnificent job! Happy Holidays, everyone!
~Ms. Carney

Figure Drawing Pilgrims!! - 1st Grade

November is here! and that means cooler weather (hopefully!) and the wonderful Thanksgiving holiday is upon us. I like to use this wonderful opportunity to introduce figure drawing to my 1st graders and teach them a little bit of history too!

We always draw a boy pilgrim and a girl pilgrim so we can discuss the different clothing styles from back then compared to the ones of today! This is a super fun drawing project that our 1st graders always enjoy!