Silly Pumpkins are too fun!

 

 

I have seen these pumpkins before online from various locations. I thought they looked so fun I gave them a whirl with my kindergarteners this year.

We spent 2 weeks on this project.  The first week we read a book about the life cycle of a pumpkin. There is an assortment of books out there on the subject so most any one would do. Then students painted a 9 x 12" piece of white paper with orange and yellow tempera paint. We left them to dry.

(Front and back of paper)

The second week I pre-drew an oval on the back of each student's paper.
I also set up the tables with small pieces of white and black paper (2 x 2 inches), a 4 1/2 x 6 inch piece of black paper, and one small green piece of paper.

(Table set up. Pink box has pencils, red tray contains paper)

We began by cutting out our ovals. Students had to decide whether they wanted a tall pumpkin or a short and wide pumpkin.

Then we drew a rainbow across our 4 1/2 x 6 piece of black paper. We cut it out to create the mouth. Glue to the bottom of the orange oval.

Next, draw a very large circle or oval on two pieces of white paper.  Cut out and glue above the mouth for eyes.

Next draw a circle on two pieces of small black paper (2 x 2") for the pupils. Cut and glue onto the white paper.

Glue on a green stem.

Then lastly, I used white paper scrap from another project for teeth. These were pre-cut white squares.

These turned out remarkably cute and everyone was successful!  I will certainly do this project again!

Statues Complete!

My first graders have finished their statues and they look fantastic.
I left off in my last statue post that we drew our statues with pencil using the steps I provided the first week.

The second week we traced our statues with a black sharpie marker. Then we painted them green with liquid watercolor (created from dried out markers).

The third week we cut out our statues (this was by far the toughest part). Then we used construction paper crayons to draw a background for our statues. We drew wavy lines for the ocean, then a variety of lines from a middle dot for fireworks.

We glued a piece of brown paper to the bottom for the island, then glued our statues to the island. Make sure your toes touch the island!

Lastly, students added 4 or 5 dots of glue in the sky to which we added some glitter. They are fantastic and oh so adorable. After this project I must say that my students are definitely experts on the statue. Did you know that she was unvieled in October? So this is technically her birthday month. The old gal is 126 this year and looks darn good for a lady over 100.

Kindergarten Shape Mice

My kindergarteners have been learning about "pets" and families in their classrooms. I have a storybook from my childhood that is all about pets. Its called "At Mary Bloom's" by Aliki.

 

This book is nearly impossible to find. I've looked on Amazon for a new copy, but this one is out of print. If you find one anywhere hold on to it. You can tell my copy is a bit beat up.

 

The point of the story is this little girl has a mouse that has babies. She would like to share them with her friend Mary Bloom, but there are a whole series of pets at her house. It has super onomatopoeia and my students loved saying the sounds with me.

 

After our story, we created our own little mice using shapes.

 

On a piece of brown construction paper I had students trace a tear drop shape. Then draw or trace two ovals (depending on how capable you feel your students are thus far in the year).

 

Students cut out the tear drop and two ovals. We glued them together to create the body and ears. We cut out small pink ovals for the inner ear and glued them into the large ovals. Students then cut out a black circle for the nose and drew eyes on with black crayon.

 

The last step was gluing on a long strip of brown construction paper to the end of the body. I showed students how to create a curly tail by wrapping the paper around their finger or their black crayon.

 

(The mice have invaded!)

We allowed our mice to dry in the hallways outside of our classrooms. They all turned out so fun :)

This project took 1 forty minute class and used the following materials:
1 - 9 x 12" brown construction paper sheet per student
pink scrap paper
small square of black construction paper
glue
scissors
black crayons

Funky Fall Trees

My second graders just finished some fun and funky fall trees!

 

Students first drew their tree with pencil onto 9 x 12" white paper. I showed them how to create a 'stick' tree at first that included roots, trunk, and swirling branches.

 

 

We painted the background with red, yellow, and orange liquid colors. We painted right over the tree then allowed these to dry. I suggested students paint in a horizontal motion and allow colors to mix. But everyone did their own thing.

 

The second week we reviewed our warm colors, then painted our trees with black tempera to create a silhouette. The key was to hold our brushes like a basketball player... TALL.

 

 

After we painted our art work skinny, students then went back a second time to thicken up their branches, trunk, and roots. We went right over or next to the first lines we painted.

 

 

I love the way they all turned out. We have had so many great comments on our works. Each one is so original!

 

We are now moving on to our Burger collages... one of my favorite projects of the year.  You can find that post here: Burger Collages

 

This project took 2 forty minute classes and used the following materials:

9 x 12" white construction/heavy weight paper

pencils and erasers

liquid watercolor - red, yellow, orange

black tempera

small paint brushes (size 6)