Value Pumpkins

Fall, Halloween, and El Dia de Los Muertos

Lots of fun projects happening the last couple of weeks! 

   
    
   
 Deep Space Sparkle always has amazing ideas. I adapted her 5th grade lesson for my first graders and they absolutely loved it!   

    
    
Kinders worked hard on their folk art kitties! Thanks to Art Projects for Kids for this great idea!    
    
    
   

Crayola Color Sticks

Holy Color Sticks, Batman! 5th graders made these!
I bought a (fairly) new product by Crayola earlier this year called Color Sticks. I thought this would be a good time to pull them out and let the kids try them. They are like color pencils except without that pesky wood around the color that you have to sharpen every two minutes. They look great on color construction paper which is how we used them.
The first class was spent drawing the pumpkins and then tracing our pencil lines with glue. We discussed the fact that they are in fifth grade now and should know how to manipulate the glue with ease. Amazingly, they all seemed to take that to heart and did a great job with drawing with glue.
The next class was spent coloring and they did a great job. The color sticks are bright and blend nicely. Check out where they are so far.

Paul Klee’s Pumpkin Patch

Second graders are learning about Paul Klee and his use of lines, shapes, and colors. They answered the prompt, “if Paul Klee painted a jack-o-lantern, what would it look like?” We also discussed value before painting so we would have multiple oranges instead of just one.

*update!*
These are finished and they look so good all together in “Paul’s Pumpkin Patch!”

Thanksgiving Bulletin Board

I love this quote about gratitude and think it is a great reminder for the holiday seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m really hoping to focus this year on giving and having more experiences rather than material gifts. My child does not need every toy she sees or wants and the same goes for me (shoes and home decor are my weaknesses.) Let’s be grateful for what we have and spend more time and money on living.
Oh and aren’t those pumpkins and cornucopia miniatures beautiful? 🙂

Watercolor Pumpkins

I saw these beautiful pumpkins at Angela Anderson’s blog and decided to recreate them with my fourth graders. They started by sketching the pumpkins with pencils and then tracing with sharpie. I gave them the option of drawing one large pumpkin or several overlapping pumpkins. Most of them chose to do just one big one. Then we filled them with zentangles but I reminded them before we started that step that we would be painting these. One of our goals is to show the highlights and shadows with the watercolor so they didn’t need to do super detailed tangles, just loose, open designs. The next step was to add the background. I just had them color green and blue – nothing detailed – so that the pumpkin would really pop. Next week we will paint them and I’ll update with pictures!

Starry Night in the Pumpkin Patch

I tried something new with second grade this year when we talked about Van Gogh and Starry Night. Instead of adding the little town, we added some pumpkins. We also discussed overlapping and space while drawing our pumpkins.