Fourth Grade Chinese Blossom Paper Lanterns

Our fourth graders are studying Ancient China. Did you know that the most famous cherry blossom parks exist in China are due to Japan's  brief occupation of China and later their gifting of cherry trees to them. We discussed this as a class and looked at images of Cherry Tree Parks.

Each student started with a 12x18 piece of white sulphite paper.

Our first step was to watercolor branches horizontally across our papers.

Next they dipped their brushes into magenta tempera paint and "splooshed" the paint randomly onto their tree branches. After that they dipped their brushes into white paint and "splooshed" the white paint on top of the magenta spots.

Day 2

The students folder their papers in half with the floral design on the inside. They then used their rulers as a guide to draw a line along the top edge of the long side of their papers. After that they used the ruler to draw vertical lines along the length of their papers. Finally they cut up the length of the vertical lines until the reached the horizontal line...no further

Now, they fold their papers back the other way with the design facing out. It's a little tricky with all of those slits in the paper.

Next, they wrapped their papers into a circle, overlapped the edges and stapled the top and bottom together. 

At this point I had them squish their lanterns down and create a nice crease at the middle folds in the paper. 

The students god a two inch wide piece of 18" long, white sulphite paper that had been painted with gold tempera. They cut their gold piece in half length wise with a wavy cut. They also got a 12x1.5" piece of brown construction paper for their handles. 

They stapled the handle to the top of the lantern.

Now they wrapped their gold pieces around the openings of the top and bottom making sure to cover the staples and securely glued them on. 

This was the finished lantern. We plan on hanging them from the ceiling in the elementary hallway. Can't wait to see them all displayed.

Grandma Moses Shape Lesson: First Grade

Shape
Observing shapes in an object can help us draw accurately. Look at a few objects, going from simple to more complex. What shapes do we see?

Bases on lesson by http://www.artteachersmile.com/winter-village-elementary-art-inspired-grandma-moses/

Grandma Moses
Week 1
Watch this video on Grandma Moses
Life of Grandma Moses




Give the children a piece of gray construction paper. Show them how to paint a snowy bank along the bottom. While this is drying on table...
Discuss the different shapes used in the paintings.
Have the children choose three squares or rectangles for their buildings. They can choose to use the rectangles horizontally or vertically. Have them pick three matching triangle roofs.
They will then glue the pieces onto their papers making sure that the buildings are in the snowy bank and not floating in the air.

Give each of the children a strip of black paper. They will snip this paper to create windows and doors.

Week 2
Finish with windows and doors if neededGive the children a construction paper crayon to create walkways, fences or other small details to their paintings. Have them paint their roofs white with "snow". Demonstrate to them how to load up a paintbrush with watered down white paint and tap it to create falling snow.

Joan Miro Kindergarten Lesson

Miro Slideshow
https://www.slideshare.net/ropergo/miro-and-his-painting?next_slideshow=2

Joan Miro was born April 20, 1893 in Barcelona, Spain. Like Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Salvador Dali, Miro is one of the great pioneers of twentieth-century art. Miro began drawing at a young age, and his choice of subjects -tufts of grass, insects, birds- revealed an early affinity for the organic. Though based on his observations of nature, his works were abstractions, and bridged the gap between realistic and abstract imagery.
 Woman in the Night

Present lesson on Joan Miro and show images located on thumb drive. Discuss abstract art and how lines and shapes represent things in real life. Most of his lines are curved. He shows the sun with stars.

Week 1
Using a thick sharpie have students draw a large figure that fills their paper. Then have them use the Miro idea sheet to add extra elements to their drawing.  You can choose to let them use an extra fine point sharpie to give a variation of line weights. (Possibly use gray or brown construction paper)

Week 2
Have students paint their works of art using tempera paints with #3 brushes for control. Limited color palette of white, turquoise and red. (I tried yellow on the brown paper and it did not look nice). 
Have students go back over lines that might have been painted over.

I think this is something our kindergarteners can pull off, can't wait to see the results. Will update.