Name that bird

It's spring time. Time for the return of the birds!

Bonus points to all who can name these birds!
The third and fourth graders drew these wonderful birds.

We couldn't help but try to bring spring more quickly by bringing the birds to Kidron.

I love this little baby bird. She struggled with it at first, but after learning some shading techniques, it really took shape.

I played bird calls on my CD player to help the learn the sounds.

The students were supposed to draw the background in a setting they may find the bird.

They also had a picture of the bird they drew (thanks to Ranger Rick and Our Big Backyard).
Much to their dismay, I would not let them trace them!!!

For most students, I was insistent that they color like 10 year olds, not 5 year olds.
They get a little tired of me saying that they are learning new drawing and coloring skills and cannot revert back to their first grade pictures in their minds or coloring techniques. They need to see things in a new way. (They have the phrase memorized!)

The first & second graders learned to draw the bird houses by shapes because I didn't tell them what they were drawing until we connected lines. We did part of it upside down.

The birds were done in another project, cut out, and glued on.

We drew the birds using an "S" laying down for the back, then drew different parts of the bird before connecting all the lines. The birds did not have to be painted realistic colors if they didn't want to.

Last, we added some kind of background so the houses were not floating.

These birds followed the others, and we drew a flock (small, but still a flock).

I wanted to show them how to over lap.

Some got the concept better than others.

I would probably do lots of bird projects, but I guess we will move on to other less important things now. Tweet Tweet! :)

Spring Art

It's Easter time, time for eggs.

3rd & 4th grade worked on a project that taught them to overlap or layer items.

The eggs are supposed to be different enough to tell the layering process and to look like they are laying together after coloring them.

Part of the grade is how they chose their colors.

Part of the grade is their designs and originality

The first and second graders were supposed to design their eggs with shapes, not "pictures".

I did give them the liberty to use crosses if they wanted to.

When they finished with their eggs, they were supposed to make spring flowers.

The older students were supposed to make them three dimensional.

I promise these are the last winter pictures!

I just had to show these winter trees because they did such a great job on them.
Bare trees are difficult to draw.
The student above is really not very artistic, but his tree turned out so well!
It has character!

Say good bye to winter now.

Winter Art Projects

Time to update some our the elementary winter projects.

Making a snow or ice scene is difficult for children (and some adults) because you can't really draw snow if you are using white paper. You have to draw shadows or reflections.
I chose penguins because kids love penguins! (and a few other bird type people like penguins)

I took the students through a lesson on drawing penguins, then we added the background. Some students did better than others at "seeing" shadows.

I also gave the option of a sun, but would not let them draw it like they used to in first grade, a circle with rays coming out.
They could only draw the colors reflecting from the sun.
Again, some did better than others.
That really stretches the kids!

First & second graders drew clowns. I was trying to teach face proportions, but still allow them creativity in their clown faces. I think next time I will do a regular face first, then a clown face.
Was just a little too much in one lesson.

I love the bright colors in this one.

Here are more penguins and also our Olympic figures.

We looked at many different sports and started with quick sketches of all the different events in the Olympics.

I used skiing to teach them figure proportions and how to draw bent legs.

This project again stretched their brains on how to draw a snowman and not have all of it on the paper. It felt incomplete to many of the students.
I really like the results and the kids did too.
We used oil pastels on blue paper.

Each one was unique!

My Little Nathan

Nathan & Nana

Let's play ball!

Daddy & Nathan

Papa & Nathan

Sleepy time

Nathan has discovered his fingers and thumb. Always keeps them handy!

Playtime extravaganza!

Who, me???

Cousin Eddie's boy!

If Nathan gets a hat, so does Papa!

Just a quick update on 3 and 4 month old pictures. Didn't realize it had been so long since I added pictures. Being a Nana keeps me busy!