Art with Mrs. O'Neill

Second graders have been working on 3 dimensional animals & their habitats. They have had a great time with this project. I gave them patterns to trace with a choice of 4 different animals. Explained how to fold the paper & cut to make a symmetrical animal. Then we used another lesson to create the animals habitat.

Every Tuesday morning we have a faculty meeting, and today's meeting was used for a storybook pumpkin decorating contest among the faculty at Rossview. Each grade level has to decorate a pumpkin to match a story book character. Then, we set them up in the front foyer of the school and the students vote on their favorite. What a fun and creative way to celebrate, compete, and just have fun! The winner will be announced soon! Can't wait to see who it is....

I found this adorable Pumpkin lesson on Ms.NelsonsClass.com. Our Kindergarten and First grade just went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. So, I've been looking for a good pumpkin art  lesson to do with them and I found this little gem.... I know a lot of art teachers stray away from doing the more "crafty" Holiday artworks. But I still have all of my daughters little holiday pics like this and we hang them up when the holiday rolls around. Plus, this lesson was great for teaching collage and helps the kids who need to work on fine motor skills.

Here are a few pics of my latest bulletin board display. It is a combination of student Landscapes and Kindergarten Paintings of Apple Trees. Recently, students at Rossview have been reviewing the parts of a Landscape. Then they painted with watercolor and wrote about their artwork. Kindergarten read The Giving Tree (One of my favorites...) we used this story as a basis for learning some new painting/printing techniques. The trees are done without a paintbrush. First we stamp the trunk and branches using pieces of cardboard, then use sponges on clothespins to stamp tree leaves, and then students use their finger tip to create the apples. You really have to remind them not to rub because it will only make apple sauce! :)

Kindergarten has been learning about patterns in their classrooms, so we are extending their learning into the art room. I have seen some great artwork based on the book A Bad Case of the   Stripes  by David Shannon. This is a great lesson to do with many grade levels! I had some classes paint their patterns on the portraits they drew and others just colored the patterns. Both ways had some great results.