Fabulous Fall!

Hey Science Friends,
This Weather Wednesday was all about fall. I was looking forward to it considering the school hallways and walls are being filled with all things fall. One of my favorites has always been fall tree projects.

These two fall trees were made by our fabulous art teacher Mrs. Lane and served as such an inspiration for what we did in class.

As you can clearly see fall is all around me! I really wanted something to create after our discussion about the seasons. So, we decided on simple torn paper trees because we had plenty of paper on hand and we knew this would be just the thing to kick off thinking about all things fall.

And the kids had a great time making the leaves. We had plenty to work with in no time. With a little classical music playing in the background I am willing to say it was a peaceful ending to a perfect day.

Inspired By Nature!



Hey Science Friends,

The other day we were outside and noticed on our playground that we had a beautiful blooming bush. Considering that our school in under construction this was a welcome sight each time we went outside. In science we had been previously talking about plants so we naturally wanted to create something after our observations and discussion. This was pretty simple and very child driven but the end results are always simply amazing...

In the first picture the children drew plants and plant parts on their paper. Afterwards, they independently used watercolor paint to paint in the entire picture. We all love projects like this because anything goes. No matter the color or painting technique it always comes out beautiful. This is one of those projects that is open ended and child directed. All I am really looking for are the plant parts and a little conversation about what the child knows about plants.

The painting of this project has taken several days but it does not bother us a bit. This is something to really look forward to do when all other work is done in a quiet area of the room. Who am I kidding? Is there really a quiet area with 22 kids? Between each session these dry pretty quickly on a small drying rack just waiting for more paint.

Our favorite part is adding the oil pastel in black to outline the drawings. This step really makes the drawing defined and the painting come alive. The child uses his or her finger to smear or smudge the lines. It is always interesting to see who smears or smudges. You can clearly see the personality in each painted picture.

Zaniaria wanted very thick and smudgy lines that she smeared deep into the painting. It looks like her work. And she sure had to remind me that she had true artist nails! As soon as our paintings are finished we will post them here!

 





Switching Gears!

Hey Science Friends,

Like I said last time... One of the benefits of having more than one blog is that when one blog is busy you always have the other blog to go to and post. And since it is summer it is the perfect time to shake things up a little. I usually keep this blog straight Science but like I said...it's summer so let's shake it up and get ready for a new year all the way around! So I am super excited about a few new things taking place in my room this coming year. I have revamped and rethought my Creation Station with the goal of full integration of Language Arts in mind. And I have really thought long and hard about those long forgotten Art Objectives. So I have created a few things to integrate into my Creation Station and I am pretty excited about it all. I can't wait for some real hands-on fun!

 

One of the first things on the list for me this summer was an activity for the first week of school as we were getting to know each other. And so I put together I Can Be An Artist~The ABC's of Me! Just perfect for Open House or Back to School Night. And you know I wanted this project easy for me to prepare as a teacher so it was created with that in mind.

 

And I have had such a wonderful response to all this artsy fun that it inspired me to create this as well. Just the right thing to add to any Creation Station for the beginning of the year! I'm on a roll and now I can't wait because this station is gonna be a hit! And we are going to be covering those standards like crazy! So if you are interested just click on the links for more information!