Texture Scarecrows

These fun scarecrows were done by the 1st-3rd grade Montessori students. During the first class, we learned about different types of textures. Students learned words like bumpy, smooth, rough, and several others to help reinforce the concept. We used a sponge to dab the moon and give it texture, while we did crayon rubbings to create another type of texture on the arms and hat. After the straw and bird were added, if students had time they stamped some fall leaves onto the background. This is a great project to show students many different types of texture used in artworks!

Autumn Leaves

This autumn leaf painting was completed by the 4-6 Montessori classes. We began by observing and drawing a minimum of 5 different types of leaves. Students needed to draw them large, have leaves going off all four sides of the paper, and have some overlapping. We also drew four lines through the composition to break up the space. Students then painted the leaves using typical fall colors- red, orange, yellow and brown. Students were also able to mix to make some tertiary colors- such as red orange or yellow orange. During the final class, students created a Styrofoam leaf and printed more leaves on top. The color harmony and interesting view of space make these an awesome project for fall!

Aboriginal ClipCard

The January issue of SchoolArts magazine features an article I wrote about Aboriginal art. This was a lesson I taught to my 1-3 Montessori classes. You can access the online version of the magazine through this link:

http://www.davisart.com/portal/schoolarts/sadefault.aspx

Catching Leaves

Students in PreK and Kinder completed these wonderful watercolor paintings. We began by tracing our hands and coloring them with crayons. Students needed to use a color close to their own skin tone. We then did several leaf rubbings above the hands to look like we are catching the leaves while they fall! The final class we used blue watercolor paint to fill in the sky. This is a great project that captures one of our favorite fall activities!