Name Art - End of Year Activity

While first, second, and third graders were busy working on their Summer in a Jar for the end of the year, fourth through sixth were busy creating these awesome works of art. Like the jars, this could also be a great project at the start of the year to help learn or refresh names and get a visual assessment of their skill levels.

I wanted something for them to do that they could work very independently on so I could get students that were missing work caught up and work on cleaning the room for the summer (and my eventual exit from the district). Before they started working I showed them some different examples of name art (see below) and told them my expectations. Challenge yourself, use the whole page, do your best work, and do something different. They could use any "dry" medium. And could use their full name, nickname, part of their name, or initials.

This is a favorite way to end the year for me because most of them really walk away feeling proud of their art no matter what style they did or materials they used!

Summer in a Jar- End of Year Activity

I used this as a one or two day project at the end of the year for students to think about visual symbols of things they were possibly going to do over the summer. As the beginning of this school year fast approaches, I can see this being used as a start of the year activity for them to show what they actually did. It would be good for getting a quick visual assessment of where their skill levels are at.

Day 1: Started with talking about why people collect things and the kinds of things people collect. Then, we had a discussion about how we also "collect" memories and how we were going to show those memories with symbols. To practice this process, I said a variety of different activities someone could do over the summer and had them tell me a symbol for it. Before they actually started drawing I gave them the worksheet below to guide them in the brainstorming process. On one side they list the activity and on the other they write/draw how they are going to show it. The minimum number of things was seven and they were encouraged to do many more!

First graders only took one class on these while Second and Third had a second work day.

Chalk & Mad Libs

School has officially been out for a week! No better time than now to show you a glimpse of the last day of art for some of my classes...

I mentioned in this post that I was going to do Mad-Libs with my 3-4 bunch the last day in art. It was totally a hit as expected. Here are just a few examples...

I also got outside my with K-2 kiddos after a couple of intense rounds of Art Bingo on a few beautiful spring days!

WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I just finished my grades for my almost 800 students--with four standards for each student!

 WITH 11 HOURS TO SPARE!

Here is a celebratory turtle to my accomplishment! 

He came up with a google image search of "celebrate" and at this hour is was the perfect remedy to my fried brain.

End of the Year Collaboration with Kindergarten through 2nd Grade

With school starting Tuesday it is only fitting that I finally caught up on blogging!

I found this pin on pinterest from Drip, Drip, Splatter Splash and basically did it the same way. I used it as a fun last day of art project for my Kindergarteners and 1st graders. The 2nd graders finished them up after our games. A few days ahead of time I laid out the sheets of tag board across all of my tables and used good acrylic paint and a big brush to create the lines. My twist for this project, different from the original, was that I made all the lines connect. It is really important to label the backs if you do this!

Before they got to work we talked about how the pages connected and how these weren't going to belong to any individual but the school. Some were not pleased with that idea but eventually when they saw the finished piece they were happy! My only rules were no scribbling and they needed to be colored and painted.

They were totally engaged and loved the freedom. It was so fun for me to sit back and relax and watch them create art so joyously and care-free!

In process pictures....

Finished sections close up..

TADA!

(They stayed up all summer!)

I love collaborative art!!!