My 4th graders made gingerbread houses as props for the school holiday music program. Students worked in groups of 3-4 kids per house.  After they'd served their purpose in the music program, we drew names to see which person from each group would take home their house.

If you're wondering about the trees in the scene...

They're made from toilet paper and paper towel tubes.The trunk is paper towel tubes (2) and the "needles" used about 8 total. I attached the needles with hot glue, and then spray painted the whole thing when it was finished. I think it would have been easier to paint the toilet paper tubes with a brush, let them dry, and then cut them into fringes and attach. But... I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out until it was done, so I didn't want to waste paint!

In addition to art, I also teach speech and special education. My first year teaching, I participated in a reading challenge against the middle school kids. Whoever got more AR (reading quiz program) points than me would be able to put a pie in my face. I had 9 pies that day...

...and the pictures were published in the local newspaper. Do you know how hard it is to get Cool Whip out of your hair and ears (and nose)? It's greasy. But, the kids will never forget it. 

In the fall, the 1st-4th grade kids made masks (they were complete and ready to take home the day before Halloween weekend). They had such a blast making them! We looked at different types of masks for inspiration- tribal, animal, festive, etc. Most of them turned out as some combination between tribal and festive looking. I did have one very cute bunny rabbit, which unfortunately I didn't catch in a photo. :(
*Sorry, some of my face blurring turned out really weird.

 

I created this sign for my classroom door using free, downloadable letter pictures from this Flickr collection by Leo Reynolods. I used Microsoft Word to create the document, then inserted pictures from my computer. I adjusted the pictures so they'd fit onto the page when set to landscape orientation. Although you can't really tell in this picture, the "Art" and "Ms. Scott" are two separate signs. I just stuck it right over that boring old engraved plastic sign on my door.

Today's project was making Kandinsky-style concentric circles and painting them. This will eventually come together as part of a large project that K-4 are contributing to. I got the idea from the blog Some Kind of One-derful, which I found on Pinterest. Our version will be a little different, and I'm super excited to see how it turns out! Essentially, we will have a large tree (I'm going to attempt to fashion one from a plastic tablecloth since we don't have any brown rolls of paper) with Kandinsky's concentric circles (similar to the blog linked above). Beneath the tree will be Kandinsky's circles as flowers. Kindergarten and first grade made birds and owls to place in the tree and around in the hallway. All I can offer right now is this sneak peek of their circles drying patiently in the rack, waiting to become a masterpiece! It should all come together in a couple weeks, so check back for progress!

2nd Grade has been working on Op art for the past two weeks. These are a few who are finished. This is one type of art where precision and neatness pays off! These may go in the art show... it has been difficult to pick the best projects to put in the show. We still have until the end of April, so we'll see what all we collect!
This particular design was shared on Pinterest. The kids have enjoyed making their eyes "pop" and they've learned a lot about op art and how complimentary colors work (some did not use complimentary colors, although it was part of the directions, and they have been disappointed with the results).

2nd Grade made landscape drawings to put in the art show. They showed a lot of creativity and we had lots of very nice looking landscapes!