mrspicasso's art room

My students have been asked to decorate a 10' tree for the "Jolly Walk" being held at our school on December 4. Because this is a community event, I of course said yes! But, then the enthusiasm turned to panic when I realized the logistics of what I was to take on: Make over 550 large ornaments that will be visually stunning with little or no budget. No problem!! After scanning the internet and brainstorming, I finally came up with some decent ornaments- and none required the use of uncooked macaroni glued to something. Bonus! Over the next few days, I will be featuring the ornaments that we have created to adorn this tree.





BEADED STAR ORNAMENTS- GRADE ONE

MATERIALS: lots and lots of beads, pipe cleaners or chenille stems (5 per student, plus some smaller scraps to connect segments), thin ribbon for hanging, nametags

STEP 1: Have students thread the beads on to their pipe cleaners, leaving about an inch unbeaded on each end.


Students need to put beads on five pipe cleaners.


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This is a quick lesson I did with my pre-K students. I found the general idea on the Dick Blick website. Because I had some leftover Sculpey polymer clay and some Pearl-Ex powder pigments, I decided this was the perfect lesson to try with them.
MATERIALS: Sculpey polymer clay, Pearl-Ex powder pigments (you can get this at any craft store- although I have the large set, it is also sold in individual containers), 14 guage sculpture wire (I happened to have this lying around. Honestly, anything that you can use to make a hole in the center of the bead will work), something to string the beads on (we used stretchy cord), extra decorative beads
STEP ONE: Have the kiddos play with the clay to soften it up and then roll each chunk into a ball.
STEP TWO: "Spear" each ball on to the wire. I pre-cut 6" lengths of wire and had the kids push their clay balls on to the wire like a shishkabob. STEP THREE: Using Pearl-Ex powder pigments, the students dip their finger in and press down on …

Where have I been? I have actually been working on my own artwork. I recently took orders for custom artwork (a new venture for me) and was overwhelmed by the response! Below are some of the paintings I have done so far. I will be posting more student work very soon!

This project was done with my first graders over a period of 4 classes. It is a great way to introduce VERTICAL, HORIZONTAL, & DIAGONAL lines.

MATERIALS:
9" X 12" construction paper in variety of colors (for "crops"), tempera paint in various colors, large (stubby) brushes, 12" X 18" paper in a variety of "sky" colors, fun paper for moons, glue, scissors, wallpaper, yarn, burlap, glitter, popsicle sticks, fine line permanent marker, orange & pink markers, glue gun (for teacher use only)


ENCOUNTER:

Introduce directional lines- vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. I have the students use their arms in the air to show me the direction of each of these.

Offer a variety of 9" X 12" paper for the students to create their "crops" from. Each student will need three pieces (I have them choose 3 different colors.)




Offer a variety of colors for the students to use in painting their lines. I chose to use up these autumnal colors from a …