When teachers differentiate for the abilities of different learners, inevitably, some students fall behind while others finish early. In my room, I mix up the "early finisher" projects to align with what we have learned or to provide variety. During our dinosaur unit, students who finished early worked as a group to put together my huge dinosaur bone skeleton puzzles. For our color unit, students were invited to trace their hands to paint a warm and color color lesson. Often, students will read from my book corner, free draw, or create crafts using our cart filled with an ever-changing array of extra materials. Sometimes, we'll pull out the K'nex construction pieces, or a student will dig into our recycled tubs to create something. Recycling is an important part of my program. It helps keep things like egg cartons, paper towel tubes or bottle caps in art projects thus keeping them OUT of the trash. Creativity is king in art!
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Brooks fourth grade teachers and I embarked on a special Mother's day project. Making sure to be sensitive to those without moms, we focused on giving these special love messages in a bottle to moms, grandmothers, dads or a special person in the student's life. First, in art we decoupaged a wine bottle with layers of tissue paper. Next, students brainstormed their own words honoring and describing their mother such as: hardworking, caring, loving, fishing fiend, beautiful, etc. Then students drew a portrait (or used a photo) that they glued onto the bottle, surrounded by their words. Next, I hot glued on their silk flowers and ribbons. Students took time to write a special letter to their loved one talking about special memories such as, "Grandmother, remember when you took me camping and we sat around the campfire telling stories? The fire was smoky and you kept moving to get away from it until we all laughed that it was chasing you. I can still taste the s'mores and hear the crackling fire. I loved that time with you." I guarantee there were some tearful moms on Sunday who now have a special gift they can cherish! This was one of my most successful and most difficult lessons. I had my students pick a famous artwork by a famous artist such as Starry Night by Van Gogh or Sorrow of the King by Henri Matisse. I gathered up 150 high heeled shoes and boots free from a thrift store and we gessoed them. Next students sketched their rendering of their painting on the shoe. Finally, over a few weeks, we carefully painted them with acrylic paint. The result was so memorable my students still come back to visit and say they still have the shoe they painted and they treasure it!
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March 2024
AuthorMy name is Mrs. Krupa and I'm an elementary art teacher at Oxbow Elementary. I'm a professional harpist turned art teacher of 20 years. I'll share art lessons and ideas on these pages, what works and doesn't. Enjoy! Categories
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