DIY Ugly Dolls- 4th Grade Art Project

Hey all:
I got the flu! It was a nasty strain, viral of course, so nothing to do but suffer through it. I missed many days of teaching, but now I am back at it and I wanted to update the rest of you on our 4th grade Ugly Dolls project. These are so great and the kids are loving them. We sewed each piece, right sides together, and then turned them inside out. Now we're stuffing them and sewing them up, take a look at the cuteness!

Adaptive Art Project

For this post, I wanted to share a project I am doing with my CI and ASD classes. I have experience working with special education students before, but in my new school, I have a class of 13 Cognitively Impaired students and also a smaller class of Autism Spectrum Disorder. This is the first time I've really had to get down and dirty with planning for students who have special needs. We started with a lot of cutting and pasting, my goal is to have students really work on those fine motors skills that they are struggling to develop. These skills are necessary for life as well as art class.
After students improved at cutting and pasting, we added painting to our projects. Now students paint and then use their painted paper to cut and paste and create a piece of artwork. The project below was focused on getting students to control their brush enough to paint straight lines across the page.

During the first class, we talked about all the painting we had done. I chatted with students about how we were going to be painting lines. We all practiced moving our arms in a line in the air and then with an empty paint brush over the table so that students had the correct motion down. Then students were given a piece of white paper and red paint only. They painted lines across the paper just using red paint. Then they put their paint brushes into water and got a new paint brush, a new piece of paper and some green paint on their paint tray. Make sure to pass out the paint brushes last so that they don't put them in the red paint on accident. Lastly, give them a new paint brush, blue paint and a new piece of paper. If you have some students who are more advanced, you can have them paint stripes with two different colors for each paper and use a pattern as seen in the first picture below.

For the next class, pre drawn legs, body, neck, and head on to the different striped paper. Now students can begin class by cutting out each piece. Have the students make a pile of their pieces as they cut. After all the pieces are cut out, have glue handy to allow the students to glue the pieces together. I used the glue to dot things and make it easier for the students.

Lastly, and this can be done during the second class as well, I had students glue on small black circles and blacked striped ears that I cut out before hand.

The students loved this project and they turned out awesome! I added a hole punched, yarn tail on each one after the second class was over. I think this project was great for building fine motor skills and helping students to paint in a controlled way. I love how much the students are improving and learning new skills!

DIY Ugly Doll and an Update on Some Projects

Hello all!
I think I've finally changed my name with every known institution in the universe. Now that I have my prep time back, I'm hoping to blog weekly again!
In this post, I want to post a quick update on the latest kinder project and then talk about how we're doing a sewing project with the 4th graders! We're all making our own Ugly Dolls!! Which are so stinking amazing and we've just started. Okay but before I start gushing about that...

The Kinders! When I last posted, they were working on drawing faces using their knowledge of line and shape. We used pencil first and then traced over it with black marker. We had a chat about facial expressions and each student picked a different expression to use. Here are what they looked like before we colored them:

After that, we got out the oil pastels and talked about the correct way to use them. We also discussed how we wanted to be sure to get the right color before we started coloring, especially when coloring the face! We came up with a neat trick of testing the color on the back of the paper to make sure it was the right one. I had them color the whole thing; skin, hair, eyes, shirt, and background. They turned out so awesome and expressive! Check them out!

Now on to the very exciting 4th grade sewing projects. Ugly Dolls were designed by David Horvath and his wife Sun-Min Kim.to see their homepage, click here. What I love most about the Ugly Dolls is the message they preach which is: "...we should be celebrating that which makes us different, never hiding the twists or turns which make us who we are, inside and out." What a great message for our kids!!!

We started by looking at examples and then we went to work drawing a pattern for our own Ugly Doll using construction paper. Students were encouraged to be creative. But I also warned them that very tiny appendages etc. would be hard to cut out and sew and maybe they would want to stay away from them. The pattern was then cut out and pinned to a piece of felt that the student chose. They traced around their pattern with a pencil and then came back to me to have the pattern moved so that the could trace it again. They cut those identically shapes out to make the back and front of their Ugly Doll!

Now we're working on attaching any features or accessories to the front side of the Ugly Doll. Although it's taking them awhile to figure it out, the kids love working with their hands and creating something like this. Look at how awesome they look so far and we've just started! Stay tuned for more updates!

Update on the Art Room and a Wedding!

That's right folks! I got married! Sorry sorry for the lapse in posting that has been going on for awhile. But I just got bogged down in trying to move and then finish planning the wedding and then actually get married! All while only taking a two day break from teaching all my little angels how to make art!

So here's an engagement pic for you all :) Awwww!

And here's an update on what's been happening in the art room!

Kindergarten students are learning about shapes and using them to help draw pictures. We just finished a series of observational drawings using block towers to inspire us. Now they have started on drawing faces using simple shapes. It's been a ton of fun!

1st Grade students have been painting away. We're making a 3-D color wheel! All we have are stacks of painted plates. More to come soon hopefully!

2nd Grade has been working on drawing self-portraits using a picture reference. We've been focusing on using basic shapes to help us start drawings and using symmetry to give us clues for drawing our faces. I have used this project before, but it works well, helping the students to be good observers.

3rd Grade students finished a Landscape project, using two different landscapes. We then cut them up and attached them to an accordion paper. This allows the viewer to see two different Landscapes depending on how they stand when they view the piece. Now students have begun a fruit drawing, They will be painting them next week using Complementary Colors.

4th Grade students finished their Contour Line Self- Portraits and are now working on a Pop Art piece using Grumpy Cat and Analogous Colors. I've also done this project before, but it's a good one.

And lastly, 5th Grade students finished up their shaded crayons, and are beginning on a painting using Aerial Perspective to show depth.

Art Room at the Beginning of the Year.

So we've really dug into the first couple of weeks of the year and the kids are already working hard to complete their first art projects. It's a time that's full of experiments, both on the part of the students and their artwork and for me as a teacher. I'm learning the personalities of the students and the classes and deciding what will work with each one. It's a stressful time, but also exciting!
I'm especially proud of the 4th and 5th graders who have started the year learning about, and creating projects using some tough stuff. Shading and contour lines. With the 4th graders, we're even trying Continuous Contour Lines! Here's what they've accomplished so far:

4th grade is working on Contour Lines, We learned about how to draw using Contour Lines. We chatted about going slowly, following the line with our eyes as if we were ants crawling, going along the outline, and even trying not the lift our pens! (Check out the video I used to show this, I didn't use it all, but it was neat for them to see) Then we practiced doing a Contour Line drawing of our hands. They were frustrated that their hands didn't 'look right', but it was a good exercise in slowing down and taking our time.

In our next class, I showed them our finished project, which is taking a picture of each student and placing a transparency sheet on top of it so that students can use a Sharpie marker to trace the contours of their face. We also worked on colorful backgrounds to accompany the transparencies when it's all done. Next week we will attach the two and mount it on black paper. I'm excited for this project because it's easy, but they learn a lot and it looks cool! (Inspiration for this project comes from here)

Next, the 5th graders, who have been learning all about shading. We discussed what shading is and why we use it. We came to the general conclusion that we use shading to make objects that are on a 2-D surface appear to be 3-D and realistic. We practiced a bit and then dove right into using oil pastels to shade crayons on black paper. (we traced the crayons the day before we started using oil pastels.) So far so good, although nice and messy so watch out! (inspiration for this project can be found here)

DIY Apron and The First week of School

Just in time for the first week of school, I finished my new DIY Apron! (instructions courtesy of Cassie Stephens! Check her out!) And although we didn't get really dirty during that first week, it was still fun to wear around. A good art teacher needs a good art room apron!

Since this is my first year in this new school, I wanted to really establish my rules and my art room setup to the kids. During the first week, I took all the classes on a tour of the art room. Some, (kindergartners) took an actual walking tour of the room. While the older classes, who have been in the art room many times, only got the new elements pointed out to them. Then we talked for a little bit about what matters most in my art room, which is creative thought. We looked at a thought-provoking picture and the kids had to make up a creative story about what happened in the picture. We talked after that activity about how being good at painting and drawing doesn't matter as much as being a creative thinker.

Picture found on Indulgy

Then to start the year of right, every class did a mini self-portrait. We had a small chat about what a self-portrait is, mostly this was just review, except again for the Kinders. And then we went right into looking at our finished project. A Rainbow Wall of self-portraits, with each student contributing! 

I gave each student a 5x5 white piece of paper and assigned each table a color. Students could only use shades of that color. We chatted about pushing harder or softer to get different shades. We also talked about what should they draw? Head and shoulders, or the whole body? I let the students make a decision. Then I stressed filling in the background to make sure we could really see that the color they were using was represented. After talking simply about these few things, I let the students work for the rest of the time.

Since it was a relatively simple project, it also gave me time to walk around, learn names, make notes about student behavior, and get a feel for how each student worked and what level they are at. (This project idea was found at Mrs. Crosby's Art Room)

We're just starting to assemble it, but it already looks great!

DIY- During the Summer

Hey all:

Although I had good intentions of blogging over the summer, sadly that just did not happen. But since the beginning of the school year is upon us, I have become motivated to pick up the habit again. I thought for my first post, I would share some of the DIY projects that I have worked on over the summer!

The first thing I tackled, was a house-warming present for my little brother who has just moved into his first apartment! So cute! He works at a local zoo and he loves everything having to do with animals. One of his favorite animals is a red panda, so I painted him a picture of a red panda for his wall using oil paints and a palette knife.

I also have started making an apron for my classroom. I'm following Cassie Stephens and her Apron-Sew-Along. Her directions are awesome and she's quite humorous. Here is the material that I picked out.

I only have one side and the pocket done, however eventually it will have a neck and waist tie and some borders, along with a backing to keep the mess that is sure to get on it from bleeding through onto my clothes!

My last project of the summer involves a new classroom! That's right folks, I'm at a new school this year! Still teaching elementary art, but I had the challenge of reorganizing a new room and making it ready for the new year. Not to mention planning for a new curriculum and getting to know new staff and procedures. Here are the before pictures of my room:

After several days of very hard work, here's how it looks now!

This is the entrance as you come in.

This is the free-create station for early finishers

The front of the room, complete with Smart Board. Also notice the Artist's Word Wall on the grey cabinet.

To the left of the Smart Board is a bulletin board with the class room jobs, Star Chart for behavior, and an area for writing down 'I Can' statements for each class. I also made a book nook for reading and playing art games after work is done.

I moved my desk to the back of the room and beside it are all the shelves for students work.

Lastly, the room is shaped like an upside down 'L', so in the corner is the drying rack, sink, one of the store rooms, and a table for working with clay and prepping materials.

So now I"m all ready for the school year. My next post will hopefully be next week. I will want to share the first projects that my new students start!