Fall Leaves Art and Poem and a FREEBIE!

Here's a cute Art / Language Arts project for Fall that we did last week.

 

 

 

I need to apologize again for the terrible photos, please bear with me.

This is how we made the painting.

First we painted the background.  We used pucks of tempra paint.  I showed the children how to mix blue and black to make a stormy sky.

 

 

Next we painted black streaks on brown construction paper.  When the paint dried I gave the children a tracer to trace and cut out the tree shape.

 

Then we also painted with red, yellow and orange on watercolour paper.  When the paper was dry, we punched out the leaves with the Petal Punch from Stampin Up.  Any leaf punch will do.  The small maple leaves were a punch from the dollar bin at Michaels.  We also used some old scrapbook paper in fall colours that I had lying around.

Next we wrote the fall poems using a frame. (Scroll down for a free lesson prinable!!!)  The kids then typed them in the computer as best they could (with a little editing from me) and I printed them out.  I attached them to some purple construction paper and the kids cut them out using fancy scissors.

This was a very simple activity, but the kids got to experiment with colour mixing, watercolouring, composition, and paper collage.   Adding the language art component added the children's understanding of not only Language Arts and Fine Arts but also of Science.

 

Here's my latest FREEBIE over at Teacher's Pay Teachers.

We used this lesson to generate the poems and put a copy in their Songs and Poems books, then the typed version was added to this art project and hung up for display. This FREEBIE includes the blackline master, a coloured version if you want it for display purposes, a step-by-step guide to the lesson and a 'cheat sheet' to help explain the lesson form.

 

 

 

CLICK HERE

to download.

 

In Remembrance...

Friday, November 11, is Remembrance Day here in Canada.  Like Vetran's Day, in the United States, it is a day to remember those who have fought for their country.  Poppies are the symbol of remembrance for many countries.

 

In our class we made two art projects this week.

Both of these ideas came from Gail, at That Artist Woman.  She is a Canadian, and an Art Teacher in a primary school.  Her work is fabulous.  She's so creative.  Click here to hop on over and check out her blog.

During World War I, a Canadian Soldier, and Doctor, named John McRae, wrote a poem about the devestation he was witnessing.  His poem, In Flander's Fields, has become an essential part of teaching about |Remembrance Day.  Children all over Canada memorize and recite it on the days leading up to November 11, every year.

When I saw this idea on Gail's blog, I knew I wanted to whip out the watercolours, but I decided to simplify it for my Grade 2's.  First the children watercoloured the field with green paint, and the sky with blue.  The children made the smaller crosses by drawing them and cutting them out, but they were having so much difficulty with this, that I altered the activity.  I cut out thin strips of white paper and had the children snip them to a long and a small length, and then glue them together like a cross.  

As a Teacher in the public school system, I am always a bit leery of crosses or other religious symbols in my lessons.  BUT, seeing as the poem specifically talks about the white crosses on Flander's Fields, I knew it would be OK in this context.

The 'poppies' were made with a punch - I need a better poppy shape for next year - and the title was one I made in MS Word, and copied on to yellow paper.  The children cut them out and glued them on. 

Next we made these large poppies.  The background is a mixed media collage.  The children 'painted' on some white glue and attached ripped pieces of black paper and newspaper.  When the paper was covered, they then painted over the entire thing with white glue again.  When it dried it had a nice shiny texture with no loose ends.

The poppies themselves are about 7 inches across.  I made some tracers for them when I used to teach kindergarten, many, many years ago.  I decided that the Grade 2's could use a bit more of a challenge than simply tracing and cutting.  So first they sponged over a 8 x 8 piece of purple construction paper.  They used mostly red, with a bit of white.  I love how this gives texture to their work.

When it was all dried, the added the title in the same manner as the Flander's Fields activity.

When it was all done, I hung them out in the hallway. 

I'm so proud of them, they did a great job don't you think??

Spooktacular Song and Poems

Oh yeah, I've been a busy girl let me tell you. I'm proud to announce another new product that I have posted up on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Click here or on the photo to go and get your own copy.  This fabulous package is full of songs and poems with a Halloween Theme.  Of course these are great for Language Arts in the Early Primary or ESL classroom.  I have used these over the years with children from K to grade 2.  They LOVE chanting poems, changing up the words, and singing songs with familiar tunes and halloween words. 

My First Download - and it's FREE!!!!

Well I've gotten myself organized and I'm posting my first freebie download.  I'm using the Teachers Pay Teachers service.

 This first download is FREE - my favourite four letter word!!!!!!  Yup, it's FREE.  Click on the photo above or click here for the link

This little download has 4 mini books about falling leaves and signs of fall.  It's perfect for your 4 levels of guided reading in a grade 1 class.  The skills and objectives range from fine motor and tracing, to comprehension and higher level thinking skills.  I hope you enjoy this little "puppy".  Please, please, please leave me a comment and tell me what you think.  I've been busy working on a few other units which I hope to post up tomorrow.