Briargrove Elementary Art Page

Primary Color Mixed-Media Exploration

2012-01-02T11:38:00.005-06:00

Back in September, the kinders and first graders were getting accustomed to their new "studio" space in the kinder pod area. I took advantage of the interesting new arrangement (3 tables, twelve stools and a large floor area for 30 kids) by doing some art activities that allow for the students to move around, experiment and create in an intuitive, student-lead, kinesthetic way.

Last semester, I spent a lot of time on color theory with first and kinder. We spent the first few weeks in our new studio learning about the primary colors. For this first unit, I just wanted the students to become familiar with (or review) the three colors that make up the primary color group, while experimenting with different materials and processes as well as choosing subject matter that interests them most. I purposefully chose materials whose properties generally do not allow (or do not work well) for color-mixing. I wanted the main focus to be on learning the primary colors, and exploring familiar or new materials in an open-ended way.

With my experience working in early childhood education, I know the importance of open-ended, process-based art exploration. I always keep this in mind when designing a new unit, and I have been especially pushing that goal this year with my younger grade levels. For this unit, that meant allowing my students to decide on their own subject matter, to explore variations of the colors within the primary color family, to chose abstract or realistic imagery, and to experiment with and combine materials as they see fit.

As they made these choices, I demonstrated and gave gentle guidance as to how to get the most use out of each material (marker caps need to be on whenever a marker is not in use so they stay fresh, push hard with your crayons to get the most color, use the "just a dot, not a lot" technique to get your paper to glue down securely, etc.) along with giving some encouragement for them to use their whole page.

I set up different materials at each table, as well as a station on the floor. One station had red, yellow and blue colored crayons; another had markers in the same colors. There was a table with a stack of construction paper scraps in the primary colors for ripping and gluing. The last station had two bins of 2-sided colored paper tiles. Some colors on the tiles were primary, some were not. Students had to sort out the primary colors before using the tiles since they were supposed to limit themselves to that color family. I also circled the work area with rolls of masking and duct tape, giving students small strips of any desired color, which they could then tape whole or rip to many pieces before adding to their artwork. That, especially, was a hit (and a behavior incentive, too!)

When I teach about primary colors, I like to include many variations of red, yellow and blue - darker and lighter shades, warmer and cooler tones - so that the students start to grasp the concept of how colors are related to one another. Later on, we will discover how a blue might become a shade lighter or why a red might look a little bit orange. I think exploring the primary colors in a broader spectrum like this now allows for more connections about color theory to be made later on.

It's such a joy to watch how students chose to use each material and see what they decided to create. Some students were so focused and methodical, following a grand blueprint in their head, while others were feverishly ripping, coloring and taping with free-spirited excitement, watching their art transform before their eyes. During different points in the process, we discussed the different properties of the materials - the students learned a lot! Everyone had fun, felt successful and made great art, while learning about one of the most important color families!

Hand Creatures - Individual Drawings

2011-11-09T09:04:00.006-06:00

I wanted to share some more examples of our monster drawings. These were done individually with with my students the second week of school. The kids liked the activity so much, I decided to repeat it, but let them work on their own monster the whole time. It was just as much fun, and the students were eager for the opportunity to design one all on their own.

This was a great activity for the week of the move. Easy set-up and clean-up, and directions they were already familiar with. The last day in my room, I was teaching this lesson with kids on the floor while furniture was being moved out! Pretty chaotic. But, ARTISTS make it work!

A few students and parents shared with me that many of them went home and drew more hand monsters! Fun stuff! That always makes an art teacher feel like it was a job well done...

All the enthusiasm for hand creatures led me to an idea for the big unit to follow for 2nd-5th grade. Working on that post... Stay posted for more hand-monster-madness!

First Lesson of the Year - Collaborative Creatures

2011-11-03T11:49:00.003-05:00

We began the year with a one day group activity that had everyone engaged in creative problem-solving, reviewing past concepts and skills, and working respectfully and successfully as a group. By the end of the class period, every student had contributed something to a whole class set of art! Everyone had a blast!

Here's what we did:
The Set-up:
Since we were moving out of the art room soon, I took advantage of that and arranged the tables specifically for this activity, creating what we like to call "MEGA table," which consisted of 7 of our large tables pushed together in the middle of the room, surrounded by 30 stools. Every individual table in the arrangement had a basket of twist-able crayons to share, and each individual seat had a post-it with a number on it.

Getting Started:
Students chose their seat and wrote their number on the back of their paper with a crayon. At the end of the activity, all artwork was returned to it's original creator, but putting a number instead of a name on the back kept it anonymous during the activity. I used two auditory signals for this activity - the first meant for the students to pass their paper to the person on their right, and the second meant for the student to put their hands up and their eyes on me. The signals were both played on the same instrument, so students really had to listen to determine which signal I was playing.

Students were instructed that they were going to collaboratively create a creature, but could only add to the creature something from the art vocabulary card that I held up during each turn. We decided we were going to assume that anything anyone added to the artwork was intended to make it more interesting or beautiful. Each student started their monster by tracing their hand and wrist in an interesting position to start the creature's body or head.
Then, the passing began!

Collaborating:
For every turn, I held up a card; cards included types of shapes, lines, compositional techniques (such as overlapping, cropping and repetition,) shading techniques, and color families. For some turns, students had to listen to directives about how to add the element on the card (such as "attach this element to the inside of the creature", or "choose a section of the creature and color it in using this shading technique with colors from the family on this card.") Towards the end, we began passing the art in a more rapid-fire succession; each student was supposed to quickly look at the creature and decide something they could add as a final detail to make the artwork stronger. This could be any element or technique that we had discussed before.

When the art had rotated around the entire circle, and each drawing was in the hands of the person sitting to the left of the original owner, the paper was flipped over so that only the number showed. Before the final pass, I gave students their final instructions. "When you get your number back, write your name on your paper, then flip it over. Remember to be respectful, since this art was worked on by everyone in the class. Take a look at your amazing creature! Finish your creature by adding some final distinctive details (including facial features) with a black Sharpie."

Closing:
We finished class with a gallery walk (walking to our right around mega-table, looking at every work of art.) Students delighted in the final results - even when the final work was completely the opposite of what they had expected. This was a truly fun and effective activity. I even participated!
*For first and kinder, we did this activity without the collaborative element, and with more simplified directives on the cards. This works great too!

P.S. Hopefully there will be a post coming soon updating everyone about my current teaching set-up. I don't have a "classroom" exactly, but I'm not a-la-cart either. This year has been a big challenge so far, but my students are making great art as always. I have had my hands pretty full since the move, and blogging is pretty hard to find time for these days. Hope to post again sometime soon... There are some great works of art I would really love to share here!

New School Year

2011-09-10T12:11:00.017-05:00

A couple weeks before school began, I got some news that greatly changed the planning and expectations I had for this school year. Due to a large enrollment number at our school, the art room was likely going to have to be given up to make room for another Kinder classroom. Heartbreak. But after the initial shock and disappointment, I reminded myself that my students and I are lucky to have an art program at all, and that great artists can make art anywhere! So while I was waiting to find out where and how this new arrangement was going to work, I focused my energy on thinking of a couple fun things to get my students' attention the first week of school... especially since I couldn't set up my classroom!

First, I made some artwork on the bulletin board in the main hallway - with scraps and recycled materials saved from last year! I highly recommend this activity. I used construction paper cuttings, notebook and graph paper, cereal boxes, bottle caps, egg cartons, paper rolls, post-its, phone book pages, and LOTS of staples (for functional and aesthetic reasons.)

It was incredibly fun to arrange everything into something energetic and colorful - yet abstract and ephemeral - to encourage my students (and myself) to start thinking about all the possibilities ahead of us this year! The board reads "Hey ARTISTS - What will we CREATE this year? BG GREEN ART 2012-2012." This year will be no exception: we will continue on our quest to incorporate GREEN materials and practices into every art unit this year.

I am considering a way to arrange for small groups of students who have earned extra special privileges this year the opportunity to do something similar at certain points in the semesterI'm really excited about the idea of seeing what they would create on a giant bulletin board with a bunch of leftovers from the art closet! A lesson in installation art! (I wish I could do this with every student - all 915 or so of them!)

And second, the day before school started, I went to the nail salon with a special mission:

RAINBOW NAILS! Warm tones on one side, cool on the other. It was so fun to watch my students discover the spectrum on my hands. I had a great time the first week saying "Oh, you like them? I did them for YOU!!!" AND our first week lessons involved some color theory, so it served as a fun little added visual representation!

Art is a wonderful, healthy, healing and joyful thing. In the nail salon that weekend, I sat next to a friendly woman getting her nails painted with a simple clear coat of polish. She was excited by my choice of colors, and commented that at her place of work, painting her nails like that would probably get her fired. I am so thankful to be an art teacher. No matter the obstacles, this is a really fun job. And an important one too.

More coming soon on THE MOVE and our first week activities. Change, challenge, creativity AND opportunity ahead...

Wishing you a spectacular school year,

Mrs. Gonzalez

Dreams, Dreams

2011-09-01T15:09:00.007-05:00

Hello BG art fans!

Well, it has been a great summer, and I'm looking forward to a new school year! Between a newborn baby and an exceptionally challenging enrichment schedule last year, I didn't get a chance to post many of our units from last school year, so I'll start sharing a few now!

This unit was rather involved and very engaging for my third and fifth grade students. Sometimes I like to try out a new unit with two different grade levels to see which one it ends up fitting better with. With this unit, both grade levels really did great. In general, 5th grade was a bit more meticulous and it took them a class period or two longer to finish. (I encourage you to click on individual images so you can see the details and materials more closely!)

First, students brainstormed different dream scenarios based on their interests, daily lives, hopes, fears, and other items of personal relevance. Then, we combined various elements together to create different story ideas, which had to include a person, setting, action and interesting detail. The student had to be in their dream, but could be represented by someone or something else if they wanted. (Most of this part of the process was done through writing and thumbnail sketches.)

First, students worked on creating their setting. We talked a lot about including enough details, texture, etc. that would really visually describe the setting. There was a lot of language integration during this unit. To practice describing a setting, I had the students help me brainstorm all the parts of the art room - right down to the tiny scraps of paper in piles along the walls (we were very messy that time of year, ha!) If a student was still having trouble thinking of things to include for their setting, then I had them work with a partner to brainstorm details of the setting on the back of their paper.

Then, students worked on adding the characters, action and an unexpected detail to their setting. We looked at the work of various surrealist artists such as Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, and Rene Magritte and talked about ways that the images seem more like a dream than a reality. Some students, just like some of the artists we looked at, only included subtle hints that would clue in the viewer that the image was not meant to be reality. Others constructed totally imaginary places, and stories within them.

For materials, we started out with 11"x17" construction paper as a base, and then built a complex mixed-media collage on top using fabric scraps, leftover paper, magazines and drawing materials such as oil pastel and pencil. We used Elmer's glue to get everything stuck down nice and secure. The students really enjoyed working with fabric; our only challenge was the use of super dull scissors to cut tough fabrics. We managed, though!

I love the story-telling and creative ideas that the students invented based on their own personal tastes and experiences. All of these dream stories were very unique. Some were wishful, some were adventurous, some were peaceful and serene. Others were surreal interpretations of real life - with elements that were just ever so slightly "off." Some students created dreams that were really rather more like nightmares. I am fascinated by the imagination of children.

This unit was a lot of work, and a big success!

Coral Reef

2011-05-31T15:17:00.002-05:00

2nd - 4th grade created the most beautiful mixed-media paintings of the coral reef during our last few weeks of school. This two-lesson unit followed a day of observation drawing from a Planet Earth video about the coral reef. We looked at and discussed various life forms in the coral reef, and the students drew what they saw as if they were scientists on a field study.

The next class, students covered a plain sheet of copier paper with textures that reminded them of the coral using warm colored crayons. Then, they painted over their textures and patterns using liquid watercolors in orange, green, purple and magenta as well as gold, bronze and copper. I showed the students how they could sprinkle a bit of salt over a freshly painted area to create a star-burst texture which would develop over time.

Students used fine and coarse salt, and were thrilled to see the effects when they came back next class period. We dusted off the salt, and then students worked on top of their paintings to define areas of coral, add a variety of sea life including plants, and even add wavy lines, algae or bubbles to the water. The results were just incredibly beautiful.

We used pencil and oil pastel to draw on top of the paintings. I loved the effect. We talked about the illusion of space, and how thin, light pencil lines would make something look like it was farther away, while thick, dark lines would make something pop forward.

I did not give the students blue watercolor because I really wanted them to push their thoughts on color. The coral reef is full of warm colors, and often water can have a green or purple tint to it. When we worked on top of the drawings, students had the option to then add blue - which looked really great too!

All in all, a super fun and satisfying unit with lots of room for variation, personal vision, and experimentation!

The Hand of the Artist

2011-05-18T15:23:00.003-05:00

The end of the school year is approaching rapidly! This week many classes are having their second to last trip to the art room for the year. This project has been a PERFECT fit for a one day lesson to finish up the school year before we assemble and take home portfolios.

We approached this as an expressive self portrait of the artist, using one of our most important art-making tools for inspiration - our hands. Students were asked to create a composition by tracing their hands, and building the design from there. I told them they could not add other elements like stars, hearts, people, etc. The students and I reviewed various color families that we learned about this year - primary, secondary, complementary, analogous, warm, cool, neutral, etc. Students could choose any colors they wanted, but I encouraged them to think about the different color groups to help them limit their color palette a bit. It can be tempting to just use all the colors in a project like this (not that there's anything wrong with that - that, of course, was a choice too!) I wanted to make sure that students were being really conscious of their color choices.

This project is really easy and simple and incredibly effective. It can be done in 30 minutes if necessary - though a slightly longer class period is preferable for more detailed designs. I have three trays set up in the middle of the room: one for washable markers, one for permanent markers, and one for crayons. For this project I got twistable crayons, and they have been AWESOME. They come in a great variety of colors, have lasted through many, many classes and allow the students more control when drawing.

I gave each student one coffee filter - this was their ticket to choose one material from each tray to start their design with. (Before drawing, students wrote their name and class info on the outer edge of their filter in pencil.) Students could trade out colors anytime, but could only have one item from each tray in their hand at any given time. With one package of Crayola Washable Super Tip Markers (50 pack) combined with one package of assorted Crayola wide-tip washable markers (12 pack) in one tray, one set of BIC Mark It Permanent Markers (36 pack) in another tray, and two packages of Crayola Mini Twistables Crayons (24 packs) in the third tray, the students could easily share and have their choice of many, many different shades of colors. I think the variety of color choice and materials really made the final products very rich. These materials in large quantities could be quite expensive, but I found that for this project, if I encouraged the students to use the materials responsibly, one set of each material could be shared between the whole class and last through many, many different uses. (24 classes, with 24-28 students each, have done this project so far, and only the very most popular marker colors are starting to dry out a bit.)

Before beginning, students and I discussed the properties of the three materials and predicted what would happen when each gets wet. I instructed students to put the washable materials near the non-washable materials. When sprayed, the washable marker will bleed, the crayon will resist the running ink, and the permanent marker will stay the same. The effect is really cool.

At the end of class, each filter was placed on a couple sheets torn out of the phone book and sprayed lightly with a spray bottle. Less is more here - too much water will wash away too much of the washable marker. A light spritzing is plenty. The phone book pages help absorb the extra water and keep the filters flat while on the drying rack.

I am seriously so in love with this simple lesson. I wish I could have put every single one on my blog.

Art Around the School

2011-05-09T15:01:00.003-05:00

We have been SO busy around these parts! End of the year programs, testing, and busy schedules rule our days. I am working hard to document and edit our incredible art units to show you (including the fourth grade dream collages!) This week, however, is TAKS week, and I have been administering tests. Testing in different parts of the building has really given me an opportunity to look around the walls of our school and see what my students have been up to in their classrooms. And I am proud to say, Briargrove teachers and students are integrating lots of art skills into their core subjects! I was so impressed by what I saw that I decided to walk around the entire school with my camera and share with you some of what I found:

The first group of work that really struck my eye was hanging in the third grade hallway, outside Ms. Ladd's classroom. These collages are AMAZING - they could have been made in our very own art room! These students recycled cardboard cereal boxes (our favorite thing to make art on in the art room) and created these mixed media collages using magazines, newspapers, oil pastels, and pencils. (By the way, "Uncle Romie" is Romare Bearden! I can't believe I have never seen this book - can't wait to read it myself!) Here's what they did:

I like the way the students combined different materials and used their whole composition to tell a story. We've been working on a collage story-telling unit in my classroom with similar materials and a different theme. It's SO COOL to see the concepts and skills we are working on in the art room being incorporated into curriculum in the classroom! What a great way to show the students that our subjects really are linked together, and that sophisticated, authentic
art-making doesn't just happen in art class!

Next on my walk, I noticed these awesome posters depicting different types of habitats. I think this was also hanging in the third grade pod. Again, another awesome mixed-media composition that relates to things we have worked on in our art assignments. It looks like the students combined magazine images with crayons or colored pencil. I love the full use of the page, the bright coloring, and especially the fact that there is a horizon line in each composition! This is a BIG visual concept we work on when doing landscapes - showing that the sky touches the ground. So great!

Here are some sweet spring-inspired acrostics decorated with beautiful, elaborate drawings. I love the way that these first graders colored their whole page (something I am CONSTANTLY drilling into their heads with every assignment.) I really feel like the students and teachers have paid attention to ways that we can really make something more visually interesting and balanced, and are working to apply those strategies to more than just the art they make in my
classroom. Yay!

These first grade ice cream sundae recipes are a really fun twist on fractions. This assignment is a fun way to incorporate some simple but pleasing art-making into a math lesson that the kids can really see and understand. I love the colors, and the attention to detail for the different flavors of ice cream. Yum!

Mrs. Robledo's first grade class applied a similar concept with this drawing assignment using fractions. Students combined different animals to make a new creature and wrote about what fraction of each animal is part of the new creature. We do something similar to this sometimes in the art room, and I love that fractions are involved here! Something to add to my made up creature units in the future!

Also outside Mrs. Robledo's room is this beautiful shape quilt. I love the different patterns, colors and shapes representing each child in the class.

Mrs. Stowe's class also did some cool designs with geometric shapes. Love the tessellations made on the computer! And I love the way they combined art and geometry to use simple shapes to construct a more complex structure - like a lighthouse or a cat!

Down in the library, the windows and walls are lined right now with homemade recycled material robots. These were made by first graders! It's so fun to see how students used different materials that they found at home to make these happy, diverse robots. All the small details and the expressions on the robots' faces are so much fun to look at!

Here are some awesome homemade bugs that I just had to track down in Mrs. Shavlan's kindergarten classroom. I saw a proud student arrive with his grasshopper at morning carpool duty and was very impressed with his use of recycled materials. I am sure that there was some adult assistance with the robots and bugs, and I love the idea of families working with their children to make something so creative and challenging. These types of scultpures would be impossible for me to teach with this age group given my current class sizes and time constraints, so it's very exciting to me to see students being given an opportunity to expore this at home.

The next project I saw combines nature and art in a really creative way. Mrs. Plaia, the science teacher, taught a unit on bugs to the second graders, which culminated in a fun art project using their knowledge of bugs to create a new species! The brainstorming worksheet of this project was really cool, and reminded me a lot of what we do for brainstorming in the art room. Mrs. Plaia had students draw different body parts from bugs in each box of the sheet, then comine all the parts in their final drawing to make a new bug! So cool!

In the fifth grade hallway, I noticed an awesome display of detailed drawings depicting figures from Greek mythology. I love the way that students show what they know about the characters and settings of the myths through detailed drawing and careful compositions. We are working on visual storytelling in the art room right now in fifth grade, but with a different theme and materials. I love it when units complement learning going on in different classrooms.

Down in the kinder hallway, I saw another example of students using drawing to share their knowledge of a subject. I love these illustrations depicting different types of transportation made by Ms. Cook's class. There's so much detail. The students used their full page and really used drawing to show what they know. Don't these drawings make travel look like so much fun? Makes me want to go on a trip somewhere - summer break, anyone?!

I also loved these kinder illustrations, made by Ms. Levy's class, depicting different ways to be more Earth-friendly! Taking care of our environment is something you know I care very deeply about!

There were lots of other writing and research projects around the school that were full of artistic detail, illustration, and decoration. I'm so glad to see my students beautifying and enriching their work with detailed drawing and bright colors that pop! In my opinion, art just makes good work even better!

One last thing I noticed on my walk: this awesome colored door! Window markers! This gives me a fun idea for next year... ;) I'm thinking some sort of behavior reward for a few star students each month. Could be fun! And pretty!

There's even more I could include, but you get the idea. We've got beautiful art-incorporated work hanging all over the place here at Briargrove. I encourage all my art teacher colleages out there to take a walk around your school and really look to see what skills from your classroom are being incorporated into your students' classrooms. If any of you feel compelled to make a similar post about art found around your school, please let me know. I'd love to see it!

Way to go Briargrove!

4th grade Art Gala 2011

2011-04-11T16:10:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday was our annual Fourth Grade Art Gala! Every year, Mr. Nave, the music teacher, and I work hard with fourth grade for months to prepare for this fine arts event. We put up a big art show for fourth grade that includes artwork from every single student in the grade level. The students also preform amazing musical selections with lots of instruments and personal input from students.

I usually feature two of the main units from the school year - so that means that there are about 300 mounted, labeled, finished works of art on display for the show! (If you click on the fourth grade unit tab, you can see artwork made for the gala in past years. One year, I even created this site to display their work after the gala! Wish I could do that every year!) It's a lot of work, and I definitely could not pull it off without the help of my wonderful enrichment team and PTO helpers!

This year, we displayed the fourth grader's complementary nature resist paintings, and their dream collages. You can find out more about the nature paintings here. I CAN'T WAIT to do a separate post about the collage unit. It was OUTSTANDING! Students imagined dream-like scenarios based on their own interests, created a collage entirely made from magazine pages and finished it by adding an action pose of themselves and friends acting out their part in the dream.

The night was a great success. We had an incredible turn out. As you can see, the hallways were packed and full of engaged art discussions and sharing. And lots of photo-taking! I am so proud of my fourth grade artists! (I think everyone was!)

Nature Observations: Grades 1 and 2

2011-03-04T15:26:00.007-06:00

Last semester, first and second grade students worked on observation drawings of objects from nature. (You can find out the main ideas/steps behind this unit here.)

For these two younger grade levels, I modified the unit slightly by limiting the subject matter (shells only) and changing the color theory (grades 3-5 worked with complementary colors.)

Students followed the same directions and steps, but for color they could either choose warm or cool colors to use for the oil pastel portion of the unit, and then paint with the opposite color group when we got to watercolors. Here are some examples from first and second grade!

I think that both grade levels did a FANTASTIC job drawing all the unique and challenging shells that I gave them to draw. It was a tough problem to solve, but such a great work out!

Will be back when I can with the last modification of this unit - KINDER!

2011 Design Unit, Part 1

2011-02-22T14:07:00.000-06:00

For the first class of the New Year, I had students 2nd-5th grade warm up with this design challenge. In my room, we do not spend a lot of time drawing with pencils. I find that there is too much attention on sharpening and erasing, too many teeny tiny drawings on large paper, and, more often than not, the drawings just don't "pop." Pencil is a great drawing tool when used to it's full capacity, but often it becomes a crutch in the art room. I designed this quick unit to help students warm up after the break, to reinforce their drawing challenges from the last semester (but in a different way) AND to help them learn to use their pencils more effectively!

Students were given a 6"x12" sheet of white paper and a pencil - with NO eraser. They were challenged to use the numbers from the current (new) year - 2, 0 and 1 - and use them to create an interesting design. They were not supposed to put anything else in their design. We discussed ways that the numbers could be arranged to make the composition interesting. I asked them to incorporate the past drawing challenges from this unit, (cropping, repetition, and enlargement) and added another challenge - overlapping.

Before beginning the drawing, the students and I also discussed how to create contrast, depth and value in a pencil drawing. I demonstrated the various shades that could be made using different pressure with the pencil, and we talked about how to juxtapose them to create contrast (similarly to when we put complementary colors next to one another for contrast.) We also discussed the way that pencil lines can have varying thicknesses.

I gave students one class period (40 minutes) to complete their drawing challenge. The results were AMAZING - such variety. We did a gallery walk at the end of each period so that the students could see each other's work. I think they were pretty proud of themselves.

One last point I want to mention again - we did NOT use erasers to erase mistakes. We DID however use erasers as a drawing tool. If a students wanted to selectively erase from a shaded area, they were allowed to borrow an eraser from me. (There is an example of this in the second work of art on this post.) For mistakes, just as we do with other materials, the students were challenged and encouraged to find a way to incorporate them into their design.

All in all, this was a very successful activity! Stay tuned for Part Two, coming soon!

Nature Observations: Complementary Color Resist Paintings

2011-02-10T14:46:00.000-06:00

For the month and a half that I was back at work last semester, I made it a priority to catch up with my students by combining many concepts and skills into one assignment, while also giving them the opportunity to work with some materials that they would be excited about.

I was thrilled with how well this unit worked for all grade levels!!! Unique artwork, many different challenges and skills, lots of concepts and bright colors!

First, students were given an assortment of objects from nature to observe and draw using Sharpie. K-2nd grade were given shells only, while 3rd-5th grade were given shells, cacti, succulents, aloe and airplane plants, gourds and artificial (but realistic) flowers, plus a rather large cactus pinata! With each grade level, we discussed observation drawing and described that drawing process in the following ways:
Observation drawing is...
- Drawing what you see (not what you remember or imagine.)
- Drawing from life.
- Drawing something that's in front of you, and constantly looking at the object as you draw it.
- Drawing all parts of the object - shape, form, details, texture, etc.

Students drew with Sharpie so that they would have to challenge themselves to turn their mistakes into part of their composition. Nature is a particularly good subject for this assignment because of all the imperfections and variations found in nature.
Everyone was given a 12"x12" sheet of white sulphite construction paper. Though we were drawing the objects as realistically as possible, the composition did not have to be realistic. I gave the students the following drawing challenges and asked that they tried to do all three as part of their composition:
- Draw at least 1-2 objects larger than life
- Draw at least 1 object cropped (going off the page)
- Draw at least 1 object repeated*
*For the repetition challenge, students were instructed that they could not simply copy one of their drawings. To repeat the object, it had to be drawn from observation again.
To sum it up, the drawing portion of this assignment included drawing from observation, drawing without the ability to erase, cropping, repetition and enlargement. I keep a checklist of all the drawing challenges on the board for the students to check their work as they get close to being finished. We discuss how each challenge helps to exercise different important drawing skills, as well as contributing to an interesting composition.

Once the Sharpie drawings were complete, we were ready to add color! To make the drawings more interesting, and to tie in another important concept, I had different grade levels work with different color schemes that were appropriate for their grade. The examples in this whole post are from 3rd-5th grade, who used the complementary color groups:

-purple and yellow

-red and green

-blue and orange

Students chose a complementary color pair, and then used variations of one of those colors to add details and texture with oil pastels. For example, if a student chose blue and orange, then they would be able to use all of the shades of blue OR all the shades of orange to color with using oil pastels. When using oil pastels, students were encouraged to shade some areas solid, to shade lightly in some areas, to add patterns, details and textures to some areas, and to add a design to the background area. They had to leave some areas white, though in order for the watercolor to have a place to stick!

Then, once details with oil pastels were complete, students painted over their drawings with watercolor tempera paint using the complement of the color they used for oil pastels. So, for example, if the student chose orange for oil pastels, then they would be painting with variations of blue. I taught the students how to make variations of their color by mixing in small amounts of the colors adjacent to their main color on the color wheel. For example, if a student was painting with blue, then they could mix in small amounts of purple, green or white to create new shades of blue. This was such a fun mixing lesson! The process is called a resist - the oil in the pastels resists the watercolor and does not allow it to stick to the paper in those spots. Science and art working together!

Again, these examples are from grades 3-5. I will do a separate post about grades 1-2, and kindergarten, who worked with different color schemes.

Can't wait to show off more of this incredible unit!

Mrs. Gonzalez is BACK!!!

2010-12-17T09:09:00.004-06:00

Well, I returned to work from maternity leave right before Thanksgiving, and now it's already time for a break! Wow - that was the fastest semester ever! :)

When I came back to school, I was determined to do something with my students that not only combined many, many skills and concepts but also would be really fun and hold their interest. I CAN'T WAIT to post the beautiful work that came out of that unit - I tweaked it for every grade level and they all did an amazing job. Will tell you more about the unit soon...

While I work on that post, I just wanted to share a couple pictures of some quick but quite lovely little one day lessons I have been doing the past week with the kiddos who finished their big unit early.

3rd, 4th and 5th graders made these recycled magazine ornaments, inspired by Ms. Taylor's Lesson over at the School at St. George Place. They were so fun to make, and very GREEN! Find out more about what we did on the Briargrove Green Effort Page.

Kinder, 1st and 2nd grade made these lovely symmetrical snowflakes. I reinforced their color lesson from the big unit by having them use certain color schemes on their snowflakes. 1st and 2nd grade have been studying warm and cool colors, and kinder has been learning about primary colors.

To make these, the students drew a large plus sign with one color, and an X with another color. Then, they added the same details to each line of the plus and did the same with a different design to each line of the X. It was super simple and effective.

Hope to show you what else we have been working on soon! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

3rd Grade Machines - Cardboard Collograph Plates

2010-11-02T13:04:00.000-05:00

Last year, third great had a fun time brainstorming ideas for machines that would help solve some of the environmental issues currently threatening our planet. The students each chose an issue that they felt passionate about, such as air pollution or animal endangerment, designed a helpful, eco-friendly machine, and then built that machine using cardboard and other found materials on a sheet of thick, stiff cardboard.

A collograph printing plate is like a collage of found materials that works similarly to a stamp. All materials should be raised to about the same height for the best results. We used cardboard boxes cut into squares as the base of the plate, and more cardboard, scraps of yarn, soda tabs, netting and bubble wrap for our plates. The final plates were coated with a thick layer of gloss medium. Not only does this help keep pesky items stuck down, it also creates a protective seal that allows for the plate to be printed multiple times. (To print again with a different color, simply wipe ink away with a wet sponge and pat dry.)

When students were ready to print, I set up tables with different colors of water-based printing inks. Students chose colored construction paper to print on, wrote their names on the back in pencil, and then spritzed their papers with a little water to make them more absorbent and flexible. The students quickly painted the entire surface of the plate with ink, then placed it on their plate. Plate and paper were then flipped together so that the paper is on top (this is crucial.) Then, students used a scrap piece of construction paper as a cover and began to push and rub all over the surface. We also used the handles of the scissors to rub with. This causes the ink to transfer onto the paper. Students were reminded not to spend too much time rubbing, or the paper might rip when pulled off the plate.

Some students used plain construction paper to print on, while others created collages that corresponded with their plates to print on. After printing, many students decided to paint their final plates and save them as works of art. We liked that so much, I may just change this to a relief sculpture unit! Here are some of the beautiful prints:

Birds of the Tropical Rain Forest

2010-10-13T16:35:00.006-05:00

Well, it's been a while but I really want to spotlight some more of the incredible birds my students made last year. Ms. Borowski's 4th grade class studied the birds of the Tropical Rain Forest. The tropical rain forest is a warm, humid, lush and colorful environment year round. The birds there couldn't be more diverse! The students found endless varieties of interesting species that had special adaptations to help them survive in the different levels of the rain forest. Every student chose a special bird to study and built their sculptures entirely of recycled materials, hot glue, and acrylic paint. Here are a few examples from this class:

Two Toucans!

A Bird of Paradise, an Umbrella Bird and a Double Wattled Cassowary (this sculpture is over 2ft tall!)

Another Bird of Paradise and an Asian Pied Hornbill!

A Harpy Eagle and a Kingfisher!

A Red-Bellied Kingfisher, Tropical Rain Forest Bird, and a Peacock!

A Blue and Gold Macaw and another species of Toucan!

Briargrove GREEN Effort

2010-09-29T13:43:00.004-05:00

Last year, I created a blog dedicated to our efforts at becoming a more eco-friendly art room here at Briargrove. We spent the year focusing on reusing materials that would have otherwise been thrown in the trash or, maybe if we're lucky, sent to the recycling center. With every single unit K-5, we incorporated recycled materials, whether as tools for creating or as part of the end product. The effort was incredibly successful, and I really feel like Briargrove made a HUGE impact on our environment last year! Be sure to check out a selection of those units here on the Student Art Page!

This year, we will continue with the same goal in mind - to incorporate environmentally-friendly practices and materials into every art unit! I've got a lot more ideas, and can't wait to get started working with my students again! We will share more of our efforts later this fall, because at the current moment I am not at Briargrove... I'm on maternity leave! My husband and I were blessed with our first child two days after school started this year!

So, while I am away from the classroom, I have decided to dedicate some time (when it's available) to updating the Green Effort blog with recurring features such as Artist Inspiration and Tips for a Greener Classroom. My goal is to provide a variety of ideas and resources regarding eco-friendly art studios and art-making. I revamped the blog this morning, and I think it looks pretty great, if I do say so myself! I hope you all check it out and be sure to leave your ideas and resources in the comments!!!

Wishing you all a great start to the school year! See you later this fall!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gonzalez

Birds of the Grasslands

2010-06-16T09:51:00.004-05:00

Mrs. Howard's 4th grade class studied the birds of the Grasslands. These birds often live in large fields of grass, possibly near the edge of a forest. They have to be quick on the ground and have good camouflage when there aren't a lot of trees to hide in. Most of the birds these students studied had feathers in the earth-tone family - lots of browns, golds, and tans. All the sculptures are made entirely of recycled materials, plus acrylic paint. Here are a few examples from this class:

A Turkey and a Bobolink!

A Falcon and a Prairie Chicken!

A Turkey Vulture, a baby Barn Owl and an Ostrich!

A Prairie Chicken and a Pheasant!

The Wetlands! A Collaborative Recycled Mural

2010-06-16T09:01:00.006-05:00

For the end of the year, our plans for a large collaborative mural between grade levels from each day of the rotation (6 days total) finally came together with a bang! These murals will be on permanant display at Briargrove, and everyone is IN LOVE with them.

This is the second - the Wetlands. All materials were collected and recycled into artwork by the students at Briargrove. The large cardboard boxes that serve as a "canvas" for the murals were saved from the beginning of the year when we received our new amazing blue flat file drawers.

For the large painting, students used acrylic paint. The final mural was assembled using a combination of gloss medium for lightweight items and hot glue for heavier materials. Then, we coated the whole mural with gloss medium to unify the elements and give it a nice shine.

The following parts of the murals were made by the following homerooms/ grade levels:

Painting on Cardboard by Ms. Ficke’s 1st Grade Class
Scrap Paper Plant Collages by Mrs. Henley’s 3rd Grade Class

Cardboard Animals by Ms. Sutton’s 5th Grade Class

Eco-Friendly Machines

2010-06-02T19:45:00.015-05:00

5th Grade spent the last couple months of school conceptualizing, designing, building and embellishing these incredible inventions. These one-of-a-kind machines are especially earth-friendly - not only are they made entirely out of recycled materials, but they also serve a very important purpose. Each machine has been designed to help solve a particular environmental issue!

To begin this unit, we started by talking about current and future environmental concerns and threats. Students discussed what they knew about various types of pollution, energy and natural resource conservation, endangered species, animal displacement, global warming, and many other issues.

Our discussion also included talk of inventions, the process of developing new technology, and the interwoven relationship between artists and scientists. We reviewed simple machines, and discussed real-life applications of these machines. This helped the students with the next step - creating a preliminary design.

Each student individually chose an environmental issue that they feel passionate about, and brainstormed different ways that they could work to aide in solving that issue. Then, they sketched out an idea for their machine, incorporating at least four simple machines in their design.

Of course, the students did not limit their imaginations to totally "realistic" designs. Without a creative mind, nothing would ever change, right? So many of these machines do quite impossible things - like take trash and turn it into new trees. Some, however, do things like take trash and turn it into furniture, or artificial habitats, or building supplies.

To make these designs, students used a variety of collected materials - plastic and tin containers, bottle caps, soda tabs, cardboard, egg cartons, beads, and all sorts of odd pieces of plastic, etc. They used hot glue to join their designs together securely. On a safety note - students were WELL educated as to the proper (and safe) way to use a hot glue gun, and WELL warned about the consequences of any misbehavior while hot glue guns were being used in the room!

To finalize their sculpture, the students used acrylic paint. I had the students first paint a base coat to fully cover their materials (unless they wanted to leave it unfinished.) Then, students added design elements, patterns and details on top. It was very important to make sure to wait in between coats of paint so that the colors didn't mix or get muddy.

It was interesting to see the way that each set of students solved the problem. Many students, as you may have noticed in the images above, created vehicles that serve an environmental purpose. The work in water, on land, in the air, underground, even within a hot volcano! Of course, there were some awesome robots, too. The last one in the pictures above eats used paper and spits out new recycled sheets from the back! I love the sense of humor mixed in with creative problem solving.

A few students in one of my classes created some different tank designs, but they're not for military use! First of all, they run on eco-friendly energy - like solar power or trash converted into fuel.

The canon-looking attachments on these tanks expel things like purified water or food for animals or clean air! I wish I had recorded the students explaining their final products - their creativity was astounding, and their explanations were very detailed and thoughtful!

Some students work to collect waste or recyclable materials, some work to relocate animals, some work to rebuild habitats. The middle one above takes solar energy and uses it to power a video camera that projects films about recycling. The students considered every detail they could - including the colors of their machines. Many chose to camouflage their creation with the type of environment in which it would work.

I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed watching the students use all those items that would otherwise be trash and transform them into these sculptures. I really hope that they share their ideas with others - these children are the future, and our key to taking care of our very important planet in the years to come!

Birds of the Desert

2010-05-28T11:14:00.007-05:00

Ms. Abraham's fourth grade students studied the birds of the desert. These birds live in hot, dry climates and need to blend in with the tones of the earth, since there aren't many plants or trees to hide in. We found out that many birds here depend on cacti for hydration and food, and even shelter. I really enjoyed the way that many students in this class created a setting for their birds as well as the bird itself. I am a cactus lover, so the bottle cap and pringle cup cacti were especially exciting to me! All the sculptures are made entirely of recycled materials, plus acrylic paint. The popsicle sticks used by this class were collected from actual popsicles, not a prepackaged set of craft sticks. Here are a few examples from this class:

A Gamble's Quail and a Vulture!

A Turkey Vulture and a Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl!

A Roadrunner, a Gila Woodpecker, and a Pinyon Jay!

A Turkey Vulture and a Gamble's Quail!

A Barn Owl and a Pinyon Jay!

The Deciduous Forest! a Collaborative Recycled Habitat

2010-05-27T09:30:00.026-05:00

For the end of the year, our plans for a large collaborative mural between grade levels from each day of the rotation (6 days total) finally came together with a bang! These murals will be on permanant display at Briargrove, and everyone is IN LOVE with them.

(This is my not quite successful attempt at trying to zoom in and show you the entire mural a little closer up.)

Here is the first - the Deciduous Forest! All materials were collected and recycled into artwork by the students at Briargrove.

The large cardboard boxes that serve as a "canvas" for the murals were saved from the beginning of the year when we received our new amazing blue flat file drawers.

For the large painting, students used acrylic paint. The final mural was assembled using a combination of gloss medium for lightweight items and hot glue for heavier materials. Then, we coated the whole mural with gloss medium to unify the elements and give it a nice shine.

The following parts of the murals were made by the following homerooms/ grade levels:
Painting on Cardboard by Ms. Charpiot’s 1st Grade Class
Birds Printed from Styrofoam Egg Carton Lids by Mrs. Brown’s 2nd Grade Class
Scrap Paper Plant Collages by Ms. Melville’s 3rd Grade Class
Cardboard Animals by Mrs. Klusener’s 5th Grade Class

4th Grade Deciduous Forest Mural

2010-05-26T15:58:00.007-05:00

Collaborative painting and relief sculpture made by Ms. Azar's fourth grade class. The painting was made first using tempera paint; students then added details using acrylic paint.

The moose is made from bottle caps and a big sheet of cardboard saved from some new equiptment I bought for the art room this year. The students first painted the moose, then used hot glue to attach the caps. So proud!

Birds of the Arctic and Antarctic Tundras

2010-05-26T12:02:00.010-05:00

Ms. McConn's fourth grade class studied the birds of the arctic and antarctic tundras. While we researched many birds, the snowy owl, penguin and snow goose were particularly popular with this group! One interesting fact the students learned about many of these birds - their feathers change colors with the season. When it's winter - most of the year - they have white feathers to blend in with the snow. When it's summer - a very short amount of time compared to here in Houston - the birds molt and replace their white feathers with different shades of brown to blend in with the rocky terrain. These sculptures are all built using recycled materials, with acrylic paint as a final touch on some. Here are a few examples from this class:

A Snowy Owl and a Snow Goose!

An Emperor Penguin, a Snowy Owl and a Penguin!

A Snowy Owl and a Gyrfalcon!

A Puffin, a Tundra Swan, and an Emperor Penguin!

A Snowy Owl and a Tundra Swan!

4th Grade Tropical Rainforest Mural

2010-05-25T16:46:00.009-05:00

Collaborative painting and relief sculpture by Ms. Borowski's fourth grade class. Students first painted the mural using tempera paint, then added details on top using acrylic paint.

The Bird of Paradise sculpture was made using bottle and marker caps, old wooden rulers and one large sheet of cardboard saved from a new piece of equipment bought for the art room this year. The students first painted the bird, then attached the other items using hot glue. Beautiful!

Birds of the Deciduous Forest

2010-05-24T14:25:00.008-05:00

Mrs. Azar's fourth grade class studied the birds of the deciduous forest. This forest goes through all four seasons each year, unlike a tropical rain forest. The birds need to blend in with the lots and lots of trees and branches. We researched and found many types of small birds that live in this habitat. There were a great deal of species we are already familiar with; we see them all the time living in Houston! All the sculptures are made entirely of recycled materials, plus acrylic paint. Here are a few examples of the birds created by this class:

A red-tailed hawk and a blue jay!

A turkey, a ruby-throated hummingbird, and a pileated woodpecker!

Another blue jay and a cardinal!

A tawny owl, a chickadee and a snowy owl!

Fourth Grade Bird Sculptures!

2010-05-24T12:10:00.007-05:00

I am so excited to finally present these birds here on the blog! A couple months ago, fourth grade had their annual Art Gala, and wow, it was a fantastic display. In the art room, every homeroom studied a different habitat and researched the birds that live there. We learned about special traits, habits and colors each bird has that helps it survive in it's environment. Then, each student chose their favorite species and created a life-life sculpture of that bird made entirely out of recylced materials.

The students became masters of the hot glue gun, using it to join all of their parts together. Then, to finish it off, we added colors and patterns modeling the real bird using acrylic paint. This unit took a couple months to complete. It was a hard assignment, but the students were totally up for the challenge! There was a lot of genuine problem-solving, collaboration, and innovation. Since every bird is different, each student had to find materials that worked well with the unique sizes and shapes of their own bird.

I am always blown away by my students' creativity, but this was an especially impressive display of artistic creation at it's best. In the next couple days, I will post samples of birds from each of the habitats we studied. Can't wait to show you more - I think you will be mighty impressed with our fourth graders here at Briargrove!

Kindergarten GREEN Trees

2010-04-27T11:17:00.001-05:00

Kindergarten has spent the last month working on some amazing trees, made completely out of recycled materials (not counting the glue and the paint!) We began our unit by using paper scraps left over from other art projects and pages from the phone book. We thought it would be a great idea to reuse paper, which is made from trees, to create new trees!

To start, we used a phone book - which is FULL of many, many sheets of paper and often discarded each year when a new edition comes out - and ripped out pages to make our collages on. We looked for pages that were mostly covered in plain phone number listings, so that the words would become a sort of background pattern. Then, we glued the two sheets together, attaching them where the papers had been ripped from the book.

The students then used scraps of various shades of brown, yellow and orange construction paper to create a tree trunk and branches. We discussed types of bark, shapes and placement of branches and how those two characteristics differ from tree to tree. Kindergartners worked on strengthening the muscles of their fingers by ripping the paper, instead of using scissors. We liked this effect - more organic and natural looking. Students used the "just a dot, not a lot" rule to make sure that their pieces were glued effectively. (Put small dots around the perimeter of the shape, instead of one big dot in the middle.)

Once the trunks, branches, and even some roots were complete, we set to work on preparations for leaf-making. We looked at, felt, described and discussed leaves in detail, especially paying attention to the overall shape and pattern of the veins of each leaf. (We looked at a variety of fake leaves cut from artificial flower stems - they looked really real, and they held up well with lots of handling!) Then, each student drew a unique leaf from observation with Sharpie onto a small square of Styrofoam from an egg carton lid. If the drawing was too small, they could try again on the back.

Making the stamps was a three step process for the students, and one step process for me. First, the students drew their leaf using Sharpie. Then, they used a dull pencil to push on their Sharpie lines to create grooves in the Styrofoam. Last, they used scissors to cut out their leaf. Students wrote their initials on the back so I would know who they belonged to! (We spent about 5 minutes talking about initials and how to figure out what yours are. This was a great point in the year to use initials with kindergarten!)

Then, I used a hot glue gun to attach the leaves to the bottle caps (Elmer's would probably work, too.) I also had to transfer their initials to the inside of the bottle cap. The bigger bottle caps (like the ones on a Gatorade bottle) work better; the stamp prints best when almost the whole leaf is backed by the bottle cap. It really takes no time at all to glue the stamps once the students are done making them!

Next class, we got to print with our stamps! We tried a few different methods the first day, but then we found one technique we really liked. We used tempera paint, a piece of plexi-glass and some small, flat paintbrushes. (I would have preferred acrylic, though, for the richness of colors. My original plan involved acrylic, but we ran out during another unit!) I put a small amount of paint on the plexi at a time, then the students spread it thin with their brushes and painted the leaves with the tempera. Then you simply start stamping, pressing down on the bottle cap each time! Worked like a charm! The students loved it! At the end of printing, I let them wash and dry their stamps so that they could take them home to try out with stamp pads or other paints.

We loved this unit!

A Cluster of Clouds

2010-02-26T10:24:00.013-06:00

The weather is cloudy at Briargrove - in the hallways, that is! The walls are covered in clouds, carefully constructed from recycled materials by our talented kindergartners. We began this unit studying clouds a while back - to see more, check out this blog post.

After drawing and cutting out their own clouds from thin cardboard boxes, kindergartners selected round or curved recycled materials such as bottle caps, soda tabs, yarn scraps (which can be positioned into curvy, wavy, or spiral lines), and leftover bubble wrap and attached them to their clouds using Elmer's glue.

After their clouds had dried, it was time to add some color! Since clouds often appear white (but are usually not JUST white) I thought it would be appropriate to introduce the idea of tints. We discussed how a tint is any color mixed with white. Every student got to choose one or two colors we see in clouds besides white (like yellow, orange, pink, purple, and blue at sunset, grey on an overcast day, black for storm clouds, etc.) On their own pallet, I gave them a small drop of that color paint and about a quarter-sized squirt of white paint. We used washable tempera based paint. (Ideally acrylic would work better, as it is less likely to chip or flake off the plastic surfaces. Still, I think this paint looked pretty great!)

Then comes the fun and surprisingly not too messy part - painting! I left the color-mixing for the students to do themselves. We talked about how clouds have lighter and darker parts, and I showed them how they could mix lots of different tints as they worked instead of mixing everything together at once. And it was especially fun to try mixing on the cloud instead of in the palette. The resulting clouds were full of beautiful colors and interesting textures.

Last week I put up a huge installation in our hallways using all 175 or so kinder clouds. To prep them for hanging, I had to do some work myself! On the back of each cloud, I attached a small loop of fishing line using tape and then a drop of hot glue for reinforcement. I also hot glued one bottle cap on the back of each cloud so that they would hang slightly raised from the wall. Then I hung them to the wall using one staple on the fishing line. This method really paid off - the clouds appear to be suspended on the wall as if they are just floating there!

Everyone in the school has loved this installation, and can't believe its kindergarten!

Resist Paintings on Newspaper

2010-02-23T13:12:00.015-06:00

For the past few weeks students in 1st-5th grade have been experimenting with different ways to use common recycled materials for drawing and painting. We specifically looked for paper products that were abundant and inexpensive to begin with; these would be items that most students would be able to find at home.

For this unit, we used newspaper. Students looked for quarters of the paper that were mainly comprised of text. The sports and business sections were the best for plain text. (We chose not to use the obituaries out of respect.) This allowed the text to become a sort of background pattern to create on top of.

The students used black and white crayon to create an observation drawing of flowers. This summer I bought a variety of synthetic flowers on sale at Michael's. The students chose from the selection and drew the flowers with as much detail as they could. They made sure to especially use the white crayon to add detail and pattern to the background. The students had to push pretty hard with their crayons in order to build up a good layer of wax for the resist.

To add color to the drawings, the students used metallic watercolor paint. They discovered how the wax in the crayon resists the water in the paint, allowing the crayon to show through even when painted over. It's hard to get the full effect in the pictures, but the paint, especially when applied in thicker layers, dries with a glossy, sparkly sheen. So pretty!!! Also, as Mrs. Taylor reminded me, the water is really fun to look at as it gets filled with metallic, swirly color. The students LOVED this paint, and I did too.

On another cool side note, we discovered that the resist process could be repeated in layers. Some students who did not put enough wax on the first layer ended up with a very plain background. After the paint had dried the students drew on top of the surface with white crayons again - this time making sure to push very hard. Then, they added a second layer of paint. This created a really beautiful effect, as the paint in the first layer showed through under the white crayon.

This method can be applied with a number of different mediums, and the best part is you can make a ton with just one newspaper issue!

Toilet Paper Roll Garden

2010-01-14T15:48:00.005-06:00

Second grade students worked hard to create these relief sculptures out of toilet paper rolls. We looked at different kinds of bugs and thought about what kinds we would see in a garden. The students cut the paper rolls into segments that were about 1 inch tall. Then, students used small pieces of tape to join them together to make different kinds of bugs. Some students also made plants, flowers and birds. After joining them together, the students used acrylic paint to color them. Cant wait to make a garden installation on the walls in the hallway!

Cardboard Animal Creations

2010-01-06T09:12:00.009-06:00

Fifth grade has completed their unit on animals, with each class studying and creating those that live in a particular habitat. We looked at the rain forest, wetlands, grasslands, deciduous forest, desert, and arctic tundra. Each student chose and researched a particular animal from that habitat and created a realistic collage using thin cardboard collected from various packages (like cereal and cracker boxes.) These collages are free-formed and not attached to any backing paper. The students used scissors and Elmer's glue to construct their animals.

Mostly, we looked at mammals, reptiles, amphibians and also some insects. Fourth grade is studying the birds of each habitat, so we left them out of this assignment.

To help the students get ready for their collages, they first had to sketch their animals and try to map out the large shapes in the animals. This was helpful once they began to cut out the shapes from cardboard. Students were encouraged not to draw to draw anything on the cardboard, but to practice their skills of "drawing with their scissors." Students were also challenged to create even the smallest of details with cut and glued shapes. Most of them did, but some used Sharpie instead.

Some students spent a couple weeks on one very detailed animal. Others worked equally hard to produce a family or multiple types of animals.

It was fun to watch the students select which cardboard boxes they would use to make their animals. We collected hundreds of boxes. As the collections came in, we began sorting them into clear storage containers by color. It's a lot of work to maintain kind of that organization, but it's worth it! For example, instead of spending lots of time trying to find a brown box, the students instead got to put their energy into choosing the brown box with the texture, print, pattern, or shade of brown that they wanted.

Though these pieces are quite delicate when wet, they are pretty sturdy when dry. The students had to use a gentle touch when transporting them to the drying table.

Students also used some collected yarn scraps and beads to add more texture and detail to their animals. Some students even pulled apart the yarn to create some fluffy fuzz for furry creatures. A couple students even used thin, clear plastic lids to create parts of bugs (like the wings of a dragonfly) that needed to be transparent.

In the upcoming month, multiple grade levels will work on putting together a collaborative installation to create each of the 6 habitats we have studied. The fifth graders will contribute their animals to the habitat installations. Can't wait to see it all come together!

Cloud Constructions

2010-01-03T15:11:00.000-06:00

For the past month, Kindergarten has been learning all about clouds. In both science and art, we have been exploring what clouds are made of, what different types of clouds look like, what types of weather cause different clouds, etc. In art, we have been focusing on what different types of clouds look like, and the colors that a person can see in clouds (besides just plain old white!)

The first week, the students and I read a couple different books on clouds and talked about the lines and shapes we saw in different kinds of clouds. Then, the students drew clouds using white crayon on white paper. This was their first experience this year in art using a resist technique. We called it our "special artist trick" and made the drawings appear by painting over the clouds with watercolor tempera paint. The students painted using different shades of colors that you would see in clouds at different times of day or during different types of weather. Some students choose reds and pinks for sunset, some chose black for storm clouds, and some chose blue for a sunny day.

The next week, the students began their cloud collage. They took their resist paintings and drew large clouds on them using black Sharpie, then cut out their clouds. They each chose a color for their sky (11" x 14" construction paper) and began composing it using their cut out clouds. Cutting out the clouds they had drawn was a little hard, but good practice for those developing fine motor skills! Near the end of the first semester was a good time to do this. They also got to practice the glue rule "just a dot, not a lot." Students put tiny dots of glue all around the edge (aka the perimeter) of the back of their shape (but not the middle) and then the paper glues down without mess or flaps sticking up later!

During the third lesson, some students were still finishing up cutting out their clouds. Once each student was finished glueing, they then finished the picture by using white and colored construction paper crayons to add other types of clouds and weather to their sky. Some students made their clouds rain, others had snow, and others put a sun or moon poking through the clouds. I encouraged the students to mix the colors in their clouds, as we had earlier talked about and looked at the way that you can always see more than one color in a cloud. Wonderful work!

We have now moved on to a relief sculpture unit. The students are using recycled materials to construct their clouds; we have collected things that are round such as bottle caps, tape spools, soda tabs, beads, string, buttons, toilet paper rolls, and even bubble wrap! First, they began by drawing a large cloud on the unprinted side of a cardboard box - such as the kind that cereal or waffles are packaged in. Then they worked very, very hard to cut out their clouds. This is a hard task, but I think it's important to let the kids own the process. We don't worry about our clouds looking perfect, because every cloud is different. We explore lots of possible ways to cut the clouds out, and almost every student can do it successfully. For the ones who can't, I provide some guidance and we make it a team effort! The students labeled the colored side of the cloud with their name in Sharpie (this will be the back - though in another unit, this would give the clouds some fun color!).

Next, the studenchedts attached the round reclaimed and recycled materials to their clouds. We squirted out lots of Elmer's glue! (The just a dot rule gets thrown out the window here!) To finish them off, students will paint their clouds - will post that as soon as we have some done!

Art Caravan of Learning

2009-12-13T20:36:00.006-06:00

Last Tuesday, I got to be part of the "Art Caravan of Learning", which was a day-long professional development experience that involved traveling to five different schools in HISD to observe art teachers during their class time. I was asked to be one of the hosting teachers, and taught a lesson to a fourth students who were working on their recycled birds and in the process of adding details such as feathers and color. The day was an amazing opportunity we art teachers hardly ever have - to see our fellow art teacher comrades IN ACTION! There were about 12 of us who traveled to the schools, and all of us felt that our time spent on the "Caravan" was one of the most valuable professional development days we'd ever had. Another bonus to the day was eating lunch as a group. There were so many amazing ideas being shared between professionals, collaborative brainstorming, and plans for further connecting and networking. I had not met most of the teachers on the tour, and I am so glad I now know them. I HIGHLY encourage teachers everywhere to talk to their administrators about organizing something similar. The day takes some flexibility, careful planning, mobility, and a little bit of schedule juggling, but it was SO worth it! Just wanted to share with you a bit of what we saw on the tour:

We started by observing Mr. Michael Bourquin at Sylvan Rodriguez Elementary School. He is one of the best art teachers I know - my mentor, collaborator, and an extremely passionate, imaginative, visionary educator. He recently started his own blog, so be sure to check it out! He was in the middle of a watercolor unit, and taught a lesson on wet and dry painting techniques with a group of all male fifth graders. (At Rodriguez they split the fifth graders up by gender, and apparently it works wonders!) Mr. Bourquin concentrates every year on a different major theme. Last year was "portrait," this year is "landscape." Based on the amazing exploration on the theme of portrait last year, I KNOW that the students are having all kinds of cool experiences learning about and creating landscapes in a variety of ways. There are some amazing plans in the works including a field trip that will allow students to photograph around Houston so that they can create original landscapes of their own city! Mr. Bourquin's room is chock full of inspiring books, materials and work stations. I also really loved the watercolor cups that hold brushes and water (see above.)

After Mr. Bourquin, the teachers and I traveled to BRIARGROVE, where I taught a lesson to fourth grade on adding feathers and other details to their recycled material birds. Here are a few images of the "birds in progress" from Tuesday:

The students used paint, fabric, cardboard, Styrofoam and all sorts of other recycled materials to add details that will make their birds more similar to the real ones they are studying. I was so proud of the way my students worked independently (and safely - we are using hot glue, after all!)

Next, we traveled to Lovett Elementary and observed Mrs. Beatrice Graham teach a lesson on building human figures out of aluminum foil. Mrs. Graham puts a strong emphasis on art history, and boy do her students know their Greek mythology! The conversation she had with her students at the beginning of the class was so engaging and incisive. Mrs. Graham had a great relationship with her students and such a sweet demeanor. The students discussed the David and Michelangelo's inspiration and techniques for creating his famous sculpture.

Then, the students created their own sculptures using aluminum foil. Mrs. Graham discussed the use of natural resources as art materials. Michelangelo used marble; the students used aluminum, which, though it is processed, comes from metal found in nature. The students really liked these connections! She taught her students a simple technique for creating figures out of the foil. Once the figures were made, they could form them into any pose they wanted. In a future lesson, they will be applying these sculptures to a scene that tells a story. Mrs. Graham's hallways were lined with beautiful works of art, it was so fun to take a look around!

We finished our elementary school observations by visiting Mrs. Penny Howell at Horn Elementary School. Mrs. Howell was teaching a lesson to first grade on color-mixing. The students used watercolor pencils to create an ice cream cone. They combined each set of primary colors on a different ice cream scoop, then mixed all three colors together on the cone. After creating the drawings, the students then used a brush and some water to mix each color together. It was fun watching the students see the color-mixing-magic happening right before their eyes!

Mrs. Howell had a great energy with her students! It seemed like a fun environment for the student to create in. There were lots of colorful works of art hung up around the room. I loved the ones hanging by the window! Mrs. Howell's room was arranged with large tables stretched out into long rows. Each student has a great amount of work space!

We ended the day by visiting Bellaire High School. The teachers at Bellaire were happy to show us around their classrooms and tell us about their program. It was really different being around high school students, but we found that our goals and experiences with our students are very similar. We all care deeply about our students having meaningful experiences in the art room. We want to give our students the skills and confidence they need, and facilitate worthwhile opportunities for original art-making and exploration.

So many interesting, creative, skillful works of art! So fun to visit a high school art class!

What a wonderful day. Thanks to everyone who invited us into their classrooms! Thank you so much to Ann Sledge who organized and coordinated the day, and to all of the administrators who encouraged and allowed us to participate! I hope we get to do this again soon!

A Painting Finished!

2009-12-11T13:56:00.002-06:00

just wanted to share an image of my most recently finished painting. not the best documentation, but you get the picture! (i think if you click on it, you can at least see it larger!) it is 4 feet by 6 feet, and consists of doilies, napkins and tissue paper along with acrylic paint. can't wait to start on the next one! christmas break sounds like a great time to start something new!!!

I am THANKFUL...

2009-11-24T13:38:00.011-06:00

...for hundreds and HUNDREDS of beautiful, unique, inspiring, amazing, original works of art made every day in this bright, messy, lively classroom.

...for a super large drying rack that holds more than a days worth of amazing masterpieces...

...for works of art so detailed and delicate, that sometimes they need to dry on tables...

...for students who don't mind working on the floor when the tables are covered in drying artwork...

... for students who are so pleased with their work they surround you from all angles just to show it to you...

...for REUSED and RECYCLED materials, and students who are thrilled and inspired to help their environment by gathering them and putting them to use...

...for stacks of egg cartons and boxes of toilet paper rolls waiting to turn into hand-crafted bugs, buildings, birds and more...

...for an assortment of amazingly diverse bottlecaps, diligently collected by student, teacher, parent, relative, friend, and community member alike...

...for brightly colored cardboard boxes broken down and ready for creating...

...for the beautiful spectrum of creative thinking, problem-solving, and art making that I am blessed to be able to witness in my classroom five days a week.

I am THANKFUL I am an ART TEACHER!!!

Recycled Material Birds - a work in progress!

2009-11-13T10:42:00.006-06:00

We are working on a BIG collaborative unit between grade levels in the art room at Briargrove. Each day of the rotation is studying a different habitat - the desert, arctc tundra, tropical rainforest, deciduous forest, grasslands and wetlands. Every grade level is working to represent a different part of the habitiat. Fourth grade is working on creating the birds for their habitat out of found and recycled materials. Here a few sneak peeks at the works in progress!

Each sculpture is based on a unique, real bird; each is being made by one student. Once the structures are complete, the students will begin working on adding "feathers". More to come...

Earth Art Drawings

2009-10-30T16:11:00.000-05:00

As part of our effort to GO GREEN we are concentrating on nature appreciation as the focus of our art units. First grade students learned about the art of Andy Goldsworthy, who works with natural elements such as rocks, sticks, leaves and even snow! Goldsworthy works with these natural elements in their original environment and rearranges them into art forms, called earth art.

For this two-lesson unit, students imagined they were out in nature and pictured what they would find on the ground - rocks, pine cones, flowers, leaves, etc. Then, they created a drawing as if they were Andy Goldsworthy out in nature rearranging these these items. During the previous week, the students had been learning about organic shapes, which are shapes usually found in nature. This was a good tie-in with the concepts of their previous unit. Students also concentrated on making patterns and designs, and using repetition in their artwork.

The steps for this unit are pretty simple, and open-ended. Step 1: Students use Sharpie to create their earth art design. (Part of going green includes not wasting paper to start over just because you "messed up." This is always a challenge for students. During this unit I encouraged them to remember that there are a lot of inconsistencies in nature, and any "mess-up" would just make their drawing more realistic. That helped the students feel confident to embrace the imperfections in their shapes. Step 2: Color in the design using colored pencils. Usually I encourage my students to choose their colors freely. For this unit, however, I asked they try to replicate the colors they would see in nature.

In Ms. Abair's science class, the students are learning about gravel, pebbles, sand and silt, and lots of types of dirt. They are also learning about decomposition - when natural elements fall to the ground and break down and turn into dirt. This worked out great as a reinforcement of the concepts they were exploring in science!

WOW!

2009-10-28T09:42:00.007-05:00

Have you checked out the focus for this year's art units? We are GOING GREEN and loving it! I hope you stop by the Briargrove Art Room Green Effort blog to see what we're doing and commend the students for their hard work trying to be environmentally friendly artists! Working with recycled materials has been fun but it sure does make every day even more busy and sometimes chaotic! I have a lot of great student work to share from the past few weeks, but have yet to find time to post it. I will settle down one afternoon soon and get cracking on the blog.

Now, more than ever in my entire life, I really and truly appreciate the phrase "One man's trash is another man's treasure." We sure are collecting some exciting "trash" to use to make our fantastic recycled-material art. If you're a BG student, teacher, or parent - keep the donations coming! You can find out what we're looking for on the Green Art Room blog. Remember there are about 900 students who can't wait to collage, sculpt and create with these unconventional art supplies! Can't wait to show you what we've been working on!

Abstract Composition

2009-10-01T09:17:00.001-05:00

Every grade has been working on this short unit on abstract composition the past two weeks. I don't usually do the same unit across the grade levels, but this one is quick and every grade has LOVED it and been very successful. This is our first art unit this year using recycled materials; for this unit we incorporated them as tools for art-making!

There are two simple steps:

1. Arrange a composition by tracing the bottle caps using markers. Students are encouraged to make choices about what size caps they will use, whether the circles will be separate, touching, overlapping, inside or outside, or even going off the page. They can also choose whether or not they will make their composition symmetrical or asymmetrical, or even draw just a partial circle.

2. Add more color, detail, design and pattern to the composition by coloring with construction paper crayons. Students could color inside, outside, around, and on top of the circles, add other lines, shapes and patterns, etc. It's important to encourage the children to push hard with the crayons so that the colors are more vivid.

The only rule is that students did not make anything "recognizable" like a person, place, animal, car, etc. since they were doing an entirely abstract composition.

This unit is great for a number of reasons. One, it ties in with our Eco-friendly art theme for the year, and two, it allows for a LOT of creative self-expression and individual problem-solving. I can't even begin to describe the beautiful variety of the work! The students felt such a sense of ownership over their assignment!

The artwork I'm showing here was created by students K-5th grade! Every grade was super successful!

I modified the unit for grades 3-5 (and some 2nd grade classes) so that the assignment is a little more challenging. We reviewed cool colors (greens, blues and purples) and warm colors (reds, oranges, and yellows.) Then, we discussed how they are opposites of one another and when placed against each other, they have a lot of contrast. In other words, these colors placed next to each other really "POP"! Students were directed to choose the color paper they wanted, and then figure out which color family (warm or cool) that it belongs to. Then, students had to use only colors from the opposite color family. For example, if a student used a blue paper (part of the cool family) then they could only use warm colors on their paper.

We are working on artistic concentration (which means staying on task and working quietly) so that we can get more work done in a short amount of time. The past two weeks, we listened to music during work time (to help us focus on the creative vibe), and practiced silent communication skills. Students were nodding their heads to the beat, and really focused well and used their time wisely! This also challenged the students working with warm or cool colors to figure out whether or not each color on their table was warm or cool without help from me or one another. When the students realized they could solve the problem on their own (by looking up the colors on the color wheel) they felt good about it! Totally engaging, fun and creative! What a wonderful week!

With a Little Extra Time...

2009-09-21T11:14:00.010-05:00

... And some pattern tiles, students can create some of the most incredible designs and structures!

Our classroom inherited a big bin of pattern tiles, so now there's enough for many students to grab a handful and build at their table if they finish their work early. What cool creations... all done in under 10 minutes!!!

What A Fine Line!

2009-09-17T17:51:00.001-05:00

Kinder and first grade are examining, inspecting and experimenting with the world of lines this week in a variety of exploration stations. Students are allowed to move freely from station to station throughout the entire class period. As long as they are working on lines, they can spend as much time at whatever table they like!

Drawing Lines:

Students practiced drawing all sorts of different lines.

Straight, curvy, wavy, zig zag, dotted, jagged... and many students' personal favorite, the spiral!

Overlapping lines makes for a very interesting composition! One student cut a wavy line out of the top of her drawing and turned it into a crown!!

Building lines:

Students used their spatial skills to arrange and build lines out of colored tiles.

A long line turned into a caterpillar! Stacking horizontal lines on top of each other created a pyramid! Stacking individual tiles made vertical lines that looked like towers!

Here is a cool 3-D zig-zag line! A curvy line can be used to make a rainbow! Layering tiles to make a line and sorting colors were fun learning activities too!

Cutting Lines:

Students practice using scissors to "draw" lines. When a line is cut from one edge of the paper to the other, a new shape is made!

Cutting a spiral line makes a really cool pop-out shape. Cutting paper with lots of straight lines makes shapes like squares and rectangles.

Many of the shapes we created reminded us of things we see in nature - like mountains, birds, flowers and ocean waves!

Arranging Lines:

Students used yarn to arrange different kinds of lines on the table.

They also practiced cutting to make the lines different lengths. Students realized that they could connect the lines to make letters, too! The lines were also linked together to make shapes and pictures!

One student made a self-portrait. Another student made an alien! And look at this turtle!

Collaboration:

Students worked together to make a large piece of mixed-media art.

Ripping and sticking tape to the paper created cool thick lines, and helped students strengthen their control of their fingers. Layering tape, crayon and sharpie lines was a fun way to collaborate!

Welcome to a Fantastic New Year!

2009-08-27T17:50:00.007-05:00

I love the look of a classroom at the beginning of the year - fresh and full of possibilities! I try to keep everything very minimal so that the students and I can build the room up with relevant material as the year goes on. Plus, it helps those students who might be a little over-sensory feel calm and comfy.
Classes have started and we are having a blast! Images coming soon... In the meantime, here is my favorite of the new additions to my classroom - flat file drawers! One drawer for each of my 36 classes! Organization! I love it.

Another exciting thing on the horizon - this year I have decided the Art Room is officially Going Green!!! What could be more exciting, or more relevant, for our students this day and age? Can't wait to share all the great ideas I got this summer. In fact, I have created a special blog for that purpose! Click here for
the Art Room at Briargrove - GREEN EFFORT!
The students and I have already begun brainstorming ways we can practice the 3 R's - reducing, reusing, and recycling - and the whole school's started collecting materials. Ms. Abair, our fantastic new science teacher, is helping the whole school go green by working with community members to bring a recycling program to Briargrove. It's going to be an exciting year!

Art-Room-Friendly Books

2009-07-01T15:40:00.005-05:00

First I just want to say thank you to those of you who responded to my last question! I really appreciate your input, and I hope to get even more! I also wanted to let everyone know I have been researching and gathering more ideas and tips on keeping the art room green. I will post these sometime before our school year starts back up in August.

My next question is a fun one - one I bet teachers, parents, and students alike will have no trouble answering:

What are your favorite books for the art room? Whether they're good stories with beautiful illustrations, fictional, fun tales about kid artists or imaginary events, historical accounts of artists and art movements, books on art elements and concepts, or even just great messages about how our students should treat one another - I'd love to know what books are a must-have for you! And for that matter, what are your favorite movies for the art room?

I'll go ahead right now and tell you my all-time favorite: Ish by Peter Reynolds.

It's sweet, authentic, and has a great message about inspiration, encouragement, confidence and self-acceptance. I read it every year to every grade on the first or second day of class. Everyone loves it. I think we've all had experiences at some point in our lives that help us relate to every character in the book. "Ish" has become a regular part of our classroom vocabulary.

Looking forward to your comments (I'm sure we'll have some common favorites!)

Keeping the Art Room Green

2009-06-03T13:11:00.003-05:00

What steps can I take to make the art room more "green"? Seems no matter how hard I try to stop the wasting of paper in my room, there is inevitably a LOT of paper waste, among other things. More and more these days I have become increasingly proactive in my personal life about living in a more environmentally friendly way. My husband and I eat organic at home, we often carpool, we use organic soil and fertilizer in our garden, etc, etc, etc.
In my classroom, we have rules in place for hand-washing to limit paper towel and water usage. We have a recycling bin for leftover scraps. I hardly ever let my students start over on a new sheet of paper (which is really a great lesson in creativity and flexibility as well). We incorporate things into our art-making such as newspaper and used cardboard. But it just doesn't quite seem like enough. Please leave some comments - tell us about your ideas for keeping the art room green (you get bonus points if it also help us save money!)

Plans for the Summer, Plans for Next Year

2009-06-03T12:28:00.010-05:00

Well the school year is officially over. There were many successes, and there were many challenges. What a busy and joyful year. The art room is all packed up and ready for deep summer cleaning. I can't help but get excited for next year's fresh start, but I am glad to have a break. This summer I can't wait to work on some plans for the upcoming school year, along with opening a new chapter in my painting career. We teachers are so lucky - what other job gives you time to reflect, rest, and prepare for the new term?! I am planning on using my time wisely...
This summer I will use this blog to share my ideas, concerns, questions, reflections, and plans for the upcoming school year in our beloved art room. Briargrove received a grant that allowed us to buy a things like a printing press, a clay slab roller and extruder, a large paper and mat cutter, digital cameras, and, my personal favorite (I"m SO excited!!!) large steel flat files - enough for every class to have their own drawer!!! Can't wait to get working on ideas for using these new additions to my classroom!
Also, next year (which will be my fourth year as an official art teacher) I will be taking on two student teachers. They will each take a half of the fall semester. I'm excited about the opportunity to mentor, and also a little nervous to relinquish some control of my classroom and students. But all in all, I think it's going to be a great experience, and I'm looking forward to it.
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I would also like to ask for your ideas about a few things this summer. Starting with the question posed in my next post (see above!) Looking forward to your input... Hope everyone has LOVELY summer!

End of the Year thoughts

2009-05-27T15:52:00.006-05:00

Three students I have worked with closely for the past three years are finishing their last day of fifth grade tomorrow, so I decided to make them a graduation present. These are the first collage/paintings I've done in a quite a few months. I especially love making art when it's going to be a present! Each one is on an 8"x8" canvas, and made with napkins, tissue paper, food wrappers and acrylic paint. (These pictures are kind of dull - the colors are actually much brighter.) We looked up the armadillo today and found out that it is symbolic of self-protection and self-preservation. How appropriate. As they approach the tough world of middle school, I hope all of my graduates will protect and preserve the things about themselves that make them truly good natured, talented, unique individuals. I'm going to miss you fifth graders!!!

On to the summer we go...

Creature Inspirations

2009-05-15T12:41:00.011-05:00

I wanted to share the BIG IDEA behind the fourth and fifth grade creature unit. The students started by choosing 3 animals that they relate to in some way - personality, behavior or appearance. They also chose a type of habitat they would want to live in, and listed some physical traits that they would need to live there. Then, they combined their three animals into one new creature, and also incorporated something to help them survive in their chosen habitat. Below, I have featured some of the creatures with the students' writing from their brainstorming worksheets.
You can see all of the creatures created by fourth grade by visiting the special
Fourth Grade Art Gala blog.

I am like a chipmunk because I am really smart for my age.
I am like an eagle because I love to be above everything.
I am like a cardinal because I have very colorful feelings.

I am like a gecko because I am sneaky.
I am like a mustang because I am a fast reader.
I am like a chimpanzee because I am very active and I like hanging.

I am like a mustang because I’m a fast runner.
I am like a lion because I am fierce.
I am like a buffalo because I am strong.

I am like a bass because I like to swim.
I am like a whitetail deer because I’m quick and sneaky.
I am like an eagle because I’m strong and I love to fly on airplanes.

I am like a baby leopard because I am playful.
I am like a parrot because I’m colorful like a bright photograph.
I am like a howler monkey because I can climb incredibly fast.