Last year, I was searching for ideas on Artsonia, and became familiar with the contemporary American artist James Rizzi. After researching his artwork, I knew I wanted share his art with my students. I started with teaching one grade, but eventually had to do lessons with all my 1st-4th grade students. We eventually created an art exhibit in honor of James Rizzi. Check it out! In the next week or so I will try to give more detailed posts on the lessons I did with my students.
Today a colleague and I were talking, and she got me thinking about Kokeshi Dolls. I just love them! Aren’t they cute. Above are the dolls in my craft room. I made the two on the right out of paper just for fun. Below are some cute Kokeshi Dolls I found on ebay. I believe this is the same seller I got my dolls from. A good idea for my X-mas gift (hint, hint, Tim)
Last year I taught a Japanese art enrichment class. Here are a couple dolls my students made. We used toilet paper roll, foil, plaster wrap and acrylic paint. These were made by 4th graders.
I love surfing different art education blogs. Last week I came across this neat lesson at Use Your Colored Pencils. It was perfect for my 1st graders who had been learning about shape.
We discussed the different shapes that are in Paul Klee’s painting “Castle and the Sun.” The I handed out lots of 1in. squares. I posed the questions, “How can you turn a square into 2 triangles with just one line?” I was thrilled that one of my students told me I had to draw a diagonal line (Yay! He remembered the word diagonal!). Then students used the shapes to make their own castles. Neat project! Thanks Anne!
Some students added green leaves by printing with cardboard and tempera. This was a fun fall project that reinforced art elements learned last year. 
This year in 3rd grade my students are learning about the art of different cultures. Each student has a passport they fill out after they complete a project. For this lesson we learned about Mexico and the holiday El dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead). Students created their own sugar skulls and used color, glitter and sequence to jazz it up!
