3rd Grade Art Bulletin Board

I cannot believe it's 100th day and I'm just finally putting up a bulletin board....where does time go? Honestly, I know where my time has been consumed; in previous years, I've spent several long afternoons a week in my classroom hours past dismissal, but this year I finally had to get a 3rd job, which takes nearly every afternoon I have left. When the cost of living keeps going up, and teacher salaries stay the same, it's hard to make ends meet! So, I got another waitress job at a new restaurant in town. This Saturday, I'm working at both my restaurant jobs....breakfast and lunch at Cracker Barrel, and dinner at my new job!

This bulletin board displays one of my favorite 3rd grade projects; negative space face vases! I explained the lesson in a post a few years ago. I absolutely love watercolor resist, so there are a few close-up photos to highlight some especially nice results from the technique.

6th Grade Acrylic Landscapes on Canvas

I've really been enjoying teaching my current group of 6th grade students! They have been working on a landscape in acrylics on canvas for the past few weeks, and I've been really pleased with the results so far. Usually, I wait until all four classes in a grade are finished before posting pictures, but I only have one 6th grade class done so far (the other classes have had too many snow days!), and I was so excited about the finished paintings, I'm going to post them now anyway!

We began the lesson by looking at three famous landscapes; one by Van Gogh, one by Julian Dupré, and one by Claude Monet. The students learned how to paint in layers; all three paintings were completed with the sky first, then the land, and then all the details. Before beginning painting, the students spent some time on their iPads, looking up landscape paintings that they found inspiring. Then, they sketched out ideas.

The day that the students began paintings, they completed only the sky. They painted about halfway down the page. The second day, they began working on the land; the next several weeks were spent in adding details.