In the Art Room: Kindergarten Monarchs

Need a big ole messy project that introduces your kiddos to the magic of monarchs and the spectacularness of symmetry? Try this fun painting project that I did with my kindergarteners on for size!

We started our 40 minute session with this video about monarch butterflies. The kids LOVED this short clip! I then had them go "shopping" at the "store" (my term for gathering up supplies) for one large brush, two small brushes and a piece of pre-folded papers. I also had the kids grab their aprons as I knew this was gonna be a messy one. 

This process is similar to one I have done with my second grade kiddos. We created these butterflies a couple of years ago:

Here's a video I created to share that lesson:

Same concept, different lesson!

Once at their seats, the kids wrote their names and teacher codes on the back of their paper. From there, I told them that I'd be painting something on my paper. Whenever they heard me say, "your turn!" they would go for it. When they heard my chime, even if they were not finished, they were to press the pause button to see what I was painting next. 

We worked on big 12" X 18" pieces of paper and the kids had a blast. They loved the magic of printing and symmetry. 

 Once our big masterpieces were complete, we placed them on the drying rack, put our dirty brushes in the paint brush hot tub (where they go to hang out before being washed by my amazing middle school assistant) and learned a song about the monarch butterfly! It's def a earworm of a song, watch out. I've been humming it all weekend. 

These lovelies will be displayed in both the halls and as apart of our clay displays for our art show! It's coming up THIS TUESDAY...I'm so excited. Video tour to come. Until then!

In the Art Room: Rizzi City by Third Grade

 A while back, I had two third grade classes that were a head of the pack (I see my third and fourth grade classes combined, meaning I have two classes at once. It's how I am able to get an hour with my older kids). I didn't want them to jump ahead to the next project so I got a WILD hair (I get many, it turns out) and decided that they should learn about James Rizzi and create a giant Rizzi City...in one class period. Crazy is as crazy does, whatever that means. 

 I allowed the kids to pick their Rizzi City Building Teams with groups of 4 kids. I had a mountain of large painted papers for the kids to pick from as the base for their building. Smaller papers were used for the roof tops. 

I often have a stockpile of such papers because when my students finish early, one of the options for them is to go paint some pattern papers. I'll lay sheets of bulletin board paper out, paint a pattern on it and they are to repeat the pattern. These papers are then used for large projects such as this. 

 After the teams picked their building paper and roof, they set to work with scissors, glue and mountains of papers for windows, doors and faces. We'd spent some time going through a prezi I had created on the artist, so we were feeling all sorts of inspired. 

Once the pieces were glued down, the kids were allowed to use white and/or black paint to add details. The kids really loved working together to create their building and they turned out so fun and happy. A fellow teacher said they reminded them of PeeWee's Playhouse which you know is a HUGE compliment!

 For our art show next week, I thought I'd get these bad boys up! There is a cork strip behind the buildings. With the help of my P.E. buddy, I got the buildings pinned in place and just added a couple of lines of hot glue to the tops of the buildings. They'll stay up until the start of the new school year. OR when the Fire Marshall says to take 'em down. 

Then I got ANOTHER wild hair and decided that the buildings needed some clouds above them. This was totally a pinterest idea, y'all. I picked up a set of 6 light up lanterns at the local craft place and, with the help of my other P.E. buddy (what would I do without my specials team?!), we hot glued cotton batting to the lanterns. They won't stay up for long, just until the art show. 

The fact that they light up pretty much makes my world go round. 

 If I had all the time in the world, I would have had the kids then create a Rizzi-inspired cityscape. But, alas, this was just a go-between project to slow down a group that was speeding ahead. 

This has gotten a lot of giggles from the kiddos (and adults!). These buildings are as fun as Rizzi's paintings, says me. 

So much to do until the art show next Tuesday...but I can scratch this off the list!

We had more buildings than we did space...which meant that some of the buildings had to flank our It's Okay mural from last year. I can't bear to take it down, I love the message! 

 Um, yes. 

I can't wait to give y'all a tour of the art show...until then, have a fun Friday! 

In the Art Room: First Grade Fish UPDATE!

First grade just finished up their clay fish sculptures and before they get placed in our art show display, I thought I'd share them with you. This was a fun project where we used speckled glaze (Jungle Gems by Mayco) and a metallic watercolor. Here's how these cuties were created:

I see my firsties for 30 minutes twice a week. On the first day, we created the base, complete with a starfish (Patrick!) and seaweed. After the kids left, I added a hole in the base and their names to the bottom. On the second day, we created our fish. I did the same thing to the fish...it was tricky writing their names on such a small surface, but I managed to get it done. 

 After the pieces dried for two weeks, I fired them in the kiln. I then dipped the bases in a gold watercolor to completely cover them. From there, the kids used metallic watercolor paints for the seaweed and starfish. Glaze was used on the fish. I encouraged the kids to use at least three coats of glaze for complete coverage. 

The speckled glaze really is the coolest. And the kids love the surprising change they see once their creations have come out of the kiln. 

After all of that fun was done, I had the pleasure of gluing the pieces together. I used chopsticks (I had a donation given to me) that I broke down to a smaller size. After gluing a couple of tall fish, I realized that they might be more inclined to tip over and break than the shorter ones. 

They are much more stable with the smaller sticks. And super cute, I might add. I want one for my home!

The kids had a lot of fun adding texture to their fish which really turned out beautifully with the glaze. 

By the way, when first adding the holes to the bottom of the fish and the base, make sure you wiggle the stick back and forth a bit. Clay shrinks as it's drying and the wiggle will keep the clay opening the right size for the stick. 

Our Pet Shop themed art show is next Tuesday night...I'm slowly getting the art room ready for the transformation. I can't wait to see these fun fish on display. I'll be sure to share!

DIY: Intro to Fashion Felting!

Last week was our very last felting craft night! All during the month of April, every Wednesday night at 8pm CST, me and a group of many others, learned the fine art of felting. I've had so much fun sharing my fibers hacks and learning from all of those who joined the fun. You can still participate and purchase supplies here as all the LIVE videos are archived both on my YouTube channel and on my Facebook page. For our last night, I shared how to create a palette hair clip. This one was created by Charlene @artteacher. Here's the video of our session together:

This week, we began a new creating adventure: working with clay! We explored Celluclay, one of my favorites. We are working with this kit (but you don't have to purchase to join the fun). We have been spending the first 20-ish minutes of our session just chatting all things art teacherin' and clay. Then we explored the medium together! You can see what folks are creating (and share your creations as well) by using the hashtag #creatingwithcassie. 

So to wrap up our fibers fun, I thought I'd share what we created. Shout out once again to the amazing Sue Bunch for creating those kits and joining our live sessions. You are a rock star! 

Don't you LOVE Heather's Leia? How perfect for May the Fourth, y'all. 

 Sculptural needle felting was new to me and I loved sharing the process with folks. Desiree's colorful owl is so stinkin' cute! 

 Maddie's fox is so cute. A coworker of mine had a baby fox in her yard this week and it immediately reminded me of Maddie's creation. 

 Ms. Yoon's shirt is just about the cutest thing ever. I bet you she could sell these cuties!

 Deborah's creations have been blowing me away every week. I never thought to felt on a straw hat such as this. She's got me excited to explore new surfaces!

 She also created this needle felted dryer ball. 

 Mariana's sweet daughter needle felted this portrait of Friday. How incredible! 

 I love the incorporation of embroidery with this needle felting. Maddie created this blouse that looks like it is straight out of Anthropologie. 

 Desiree's sparkly woodgrain on her palette was so creative. I loved seeing everyone's spin on their palette hair clip.

 Seeing photos of everyone's creation throughout the month of April really did make me so happy. I loved that folks got to experience something that I truly love. Look at all of this beautiful felted goodness!

 Angela's palette made me so happy but this knocked me off my feet:

Love her tribute to Klimt. 

 Meganne's addition of the two brushes was a super cute idea. 

 Love Rachel's needle felted name on her palette. 

Biggest heartfelt thanks to all of you who have been joining our live chats. We hit our 25th chat recently and it made me so happy...spending time with my favorite folks is something I look forward to all week. Thank you!!

In the Art Room: Kindergarten Creates Arlo Needs Glasses

 We are winding down the year and heading to the art show...which means art projects now need to be short, sweet and a review of what we've learned. Today, kindergarten did a review of both pattern and texture while listening to the tale of Arlo and his need for glasses!

These cuties were created in 45 minutes and it was go time from the moment they walked in the door. I LOVE author Barney Saltzberg (his book Beautiful Oops is an art teacherin' fave) and I'm a big fan of Arlo Needs Glasses. Unfortunately, I don't own a copy but I did find a sweet little YouTube video of a boy reading the book. 

The kids were immediately interested in Arlo and couldn't wait to create. I had them gather up an 11" square piece of construction paper with any color of their choosing and a paintbrush. Once at their seats, the kids wrote their names and then used oil pastels to create a colorful rubbing. After a few minutes, we did a guided painting together. Here's the one minute version:

So much fun!

I loved how sweet and cute each Arlo was and so did the kids. I overheard the kids talking about how much they loved their creation. "I like mine and so does Mrs. Stephens!" to which another replied, "She likes everyone's art. That's her job." It's true. 

There were a lot of squeals when I said that we'd be finger printing. 

 I love how some of them look like koala's in glasses!

Once paintings were completed and drying racked, the kids met me on the floor to create the pipe cleaner glasses. 

 I played the book video again while those who finished early with their glasses helped those who struggled. 

 As they finished, I had the kids bring the glasses to me. I placed them on a large sheet of paper and wrote their names on the paper. Once the paintings were dry, I took them off the drying rack and hot glued them to the paintings. 

One more masterpiece for our pet-themed art show! Since the artwork for kindergarten is already hung, these just might be displayed on the cabinets in the art room.

 This one is so stinkin' cute...

 And this one completely cracks me up!

 Kindergarten is a tough beast to tame...but this project was definitely one that got them excited (more so than usual!) and one that I would def do again.

How about you, what are some of your fave kinder lessons?