Friday Art Feature - I Am ...

14 September 2012
We had our first official art class of the year this week.  I decided to start off with an easy one so everyone could feel successful with their project.  And the final results couldn't be more beautiful in our classroom!
I think I may be a tad OCD - that empty space in the bottom is driving me crazy!!!  I have 23 students this year, so with room for 24 spots on our blackboard, I also plan on making an art project each time we do one.  Unfortunately, I am STILL waiting on one student to finish his ...

I plan on turning all our art and poetry projects into books for the students to take home at the end of the year.  You can read about the books we made last year HERE.  For this reason, most of our art projects will be completed on 8.5 x 11 size paper.  I also plan on having the students write a poem to match each of our art projects this year (I didn't do this last year).  For this piece, I decided to combine the art and poetry into one.  

We started out by discussing the art principles of line and color.  We talked about how curved smooth lines draw your eye across the page and give the illusion of movement.  We also discussed choice of colors - which I ultimately left up to them.  I really like the variation of color on all our art.  Using a pencil, students drew 8 - 12 curved lines across their page.  Then, they painted each section, often mixing the paints to achieve different color effects.  We use paper plates (from the dollar store) for our paint palettes.  We let the paint dry out after each use, and then we can reuse them many times.

When the paint had dried, students use sharpie markers to outline each section - being careful to still keep that smooth curved line.  I bought sharpie brush markers this summer, and they were perfect for this project! (I included the link below so you can take a peek at these).

I asked the students to fill the spaces with adjectives that describe them.  All students started with "I am ...".  We started this project on our fifth day of school, so an "all about me" project was perfect timing.  Plus, this will be a great first page for our art/poetry books.  I am so happy with how they turned out - BEAUTIFUL!!!


You can take a peek at my full lesson for this I Am art here.  The lesson includes a full PDF as well as PowerPoint lesson with pictures and detailed step-by-step instructions for students, as well as a rubric for assessment and student reflection sheet.
Hope you had a fabulous Friday, and are getting ready for a wonderful weekend!  Happy Friday!!!



61 comments

  1. Thanks for sharing! What a great idea! Have a great weekend!

    Krista
    stellar-students

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  2. These are beautiful! I loved reading about your books too. What a great idea!

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  3. I think I'm going to try this with my 8th grade Advisory class. Thanks!!

    http://schooloffisher.blogspot.com/

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  4. Jen, I am going to say this again....I always seem to be saying this when I come here...but....

    I LOVE THIS. Like, seriously LOVE. It is SUCH a great way to put a spin on the traditional get to know you activities. I am doing this next week.

    ~Steph
    Teaching in Room 6

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    1. Thanks, Steph! I love how they look in the classroom! (and we got a little language review in, too)

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  5. Jen, you ALWAYS amaze me with your art!!! LOVE IT!!!!

    I think I need a BIG one for our wall in the living room :)

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    1. Thanks, Jen! I think you're pretty amazing, yourself! :)

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  6. I love them! I love the way you combine art and the curriculum.

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  7. I'm totally doing this next week! Thanks!!

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  8. I love these! I love seeing your art features. I'm always so impressed.
    Elizabeth

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    1. Thanks, Elizabeth! I LOVE doing art with my class - probably my favourite part of the week!

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  9. I LOVE this!! I'll have to use this for back to school... Thanks!

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  10. THANKS!! My students will be making these for the parent back to school night!!
    Peggy!!!

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    1. Thanks, Peggy! They will look fabulous hanging up for the back to school night!

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  11. This is great I am in love with it. I definetly need my class to do this.

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  12. What kind of paint did you use

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    1. We used acrylic paint (the little bottles from the dollar store), but I think it would work well with any paint. I think a wash of water-colours would look really nice, too. It would give it a different look - not quite as vibrant, but calm and soothing.

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  13. How awesome is this! My school has an individual art class so it is not an area I need to focus on but would love to incorporate it in my classroom more! This would be a fabulous activity to work on descriptive writing. Thank you!

    Vanessa
    teachingtrainingandtots.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank-you so much, Vanessa! I teach almost all the curriculum areas. We do have a release teacher this year that a lot of the teachers use for art, but I wasn't willing to give it up. (She teaches my health instead).

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  14. Beautiful. I am naturally drawn to creative learning pieces. This fits the bill! What kind of paint did you use?

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    1. Thank-you so much. We just used acrylic paint (the little bottles from the dollar store). But I am sure it would work just as well with any kind of paint.

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  15. These are fabulous! I love the look of them and the meaning in them! Thanks for sharing these, I have been inspired!!
    Shawna
    The Picture Book Teacher's Edition

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  16. I love it! I also love that I can use it for my new third grade class! We made amazing personality spheres at the beginning of the year with my fourth graders, and now I am starting over with a whole new group 3 weeks into school. I wanted something special for them. Thank you for sharing.

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    1. Thank-you so much! Personality spheres sound awesome! I'd love to hear more about it! Good luck setting up (all over again) with a brand new class!

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  17. This week, my students created their first entry in their "Interactive Math Journals". The loved it! Next week, I'm going to have them do this Art activity. I'm so happy that I found your blog and started following you!

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    1. Thank-you so much, Lorraine! I am so glad you are finding ideas that you can use in your classroom!!

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  18. These are so VIVID!! I love them. We do the "I Am..." poem the first week of school, so it would be easy to add this into our plan. I'm sorry if I missed it, but what type of paint do you use?

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    1. Thanks, Karen! I was so happy with how they turned out! We just used acrylic paint (the kind I could get at the dollar store). But I'm sure they would work with any kind of paint.

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  19. Love this idea! They came out Awesome!

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  20. absolutely LOVE this lesson - such an important concept for kids, I remember having honors 8th grade students last year that had never mixed paints, did not know the primary colors, or the concept of mixing colors!

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    1. Thank-you so much! I think art is so important in the classroom - builds their creative side, and helps them problem-solve. Even if I didn't have it as a subject I had to teach, I think I'd try to sneak it in.

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  21. Those projects turned out beautiful! I can't wait to try this one in my own class. Thanks!

    Amanda
    The Teaching Thief

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  22. Love, love, love this project! How long did it take? I'm thinking about using your idea for our Friday Clubs. Thanks for sharing!I'm excited to be your newest follower!I'd love for you to come visit my new blog!
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

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  23. I just wanted to let you know that I shared your post on my Thumbs up Thumbs down Thursday - as a thumbs up of course :) - because I really thought it was great stuff!

    Shawna
    The Picture Book Teacher's Edition

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  24. Gorgeous! I would want to stare at these all year.

    Laurie
    Chickadee Jubilee

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  25. I just completed this art/poetry project with my students. They turned out beautiful! Thank you. I can't wait to hang them on my bulletin boards on Monday.

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  26. Hi Jen! We completed this art lesson in my class, with a little twist on coming up with the adjectives for the poems. I posted pics on my blog. You can check them out HERE
    Thank you for another great idea!

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  27. What a great idea! Love the art + writing combo- they turned out beautifully!

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  30. Did you apply any sort of gloss over the paint or does the acrylic just leave that shiny of a finish? Thanks :)

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  31. Did you apply any sort of gloss or does the acrylic paint just leave that shiny of a finish? Thanks :)

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  32. I love these!! I think I will try it with watercolor and oil pastels for the lines....Laura
    Read-Write-Create

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  33. Love it. I downloaded it too .. I will try this lesson- Prachee

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