County Art Show 2011

The month of March is Youth Art Month.  So to celebrate, my county puts on a Youth Art Show in town.  All 6 of the elementary schools, and both middle schools submit artwork for the show.  This year the show was held on Saturday, March 19th at the Train Depot in Culpeper.  There were about 500 pieces total in the show.  Below are some pictures of the artwork from Yowell Elementary, and some of my great and talented students that came out to the show! (I got permission from these student's parents to post their pictures on my blog). Enjoy!

Koi Fish Pond

Third graders learned about the warm and cool colors as well as a pond habitat in this lesson.  This was a 2 day project.  

Day 1 was painting day.  First I talked about the warm and cool colors.  Students identified the warm and cool colors and then brainstormed things that reminded them of each category.  Next they used a white crayon on water color paper, to draw waves.  The waves didn't show up, but the students were soon surprised to learn a technique that would show those white lines on white paper.  They used the cool colors in their watercolor paint set to paint the paper- and like magic the white waves appeared!  Next, on another piece of water color paper, students use a black crayon to trace 3 koi fish.  After tracing, they added details like an eye, scales, gills, and a mouth to make the fish look more realistic.  Students used the warm color water paints to add color to the fish.  

On the second day, students discussed what a koi fish habitat would look like.  We talked about the plants and other animals you might find in a koi fish pond.  Koi fish are originally from Japan, and are quick little fish that like to dart in between the waves and lily pads. After discussing the koi fish pond habitat, it was time to start assembling our pond.  Each student received a piece of green construction paper to use as a background.  The first step was to tare the pond paper (cool colored water color paper) into 6 strips.  I showed students how to apply glue to the edges of the water color paper on to the green background paper- making sure to leave open "pockets" for the koi fish to fit into later.  Next step, students used green tissue paper to add seaweed and lily pads.  I also passed out yellow and pink tissue paper, that students could squish up and use as a flower on the lily pad. The last step was to cut out and attach our koi fish!

Check out our koi fish ponds below! 

Painted Peacocks

This first grade lesson was a 2 day project.  On the first day, students learned how to draw a peacock using simple shapes of ovals, rectangles, circles and organic shapes.  They also painted the "eye feathers" using gold, pink and blue tempera paint.  The next day, student's painted the body of the peacock with metallic paints.  I put out blue and green paint for the feathers.  Some students decided to create a pattern with lines on their feathers, to add just a little extra detail.  The last step was to cut out the "eye feathers" and attach them on the long feathers with glue. I think our peacocks turned out great...take a look! 

Scrapy Fish

This is the first project I do with my Kindergarteners.  It is all about following directions!  Before students arrive, I set out paper plates with their names on it, at each table.  On the paper plate, a triangle is drawn at the edge.  The first direction for Kinders- is to cut out the triangle to create a mouth for the fish.  The triangle from the plate is then used for the fishes tail.   Next, students used a glue and water mixture to attach square of tissue paper to the paper plate.  Once the whole plate was cover, students raised their hand to have glitter added to their fish.  The last step was to use glue to add an eye! Enjoy our creations below!