Coral Reef

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

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.