I was so happy to see this lesson plan in Arts and Activities magazine! 

I was foolish to think I could explain messy cleanup procedures AND finish this in one day. BUT--it worked out pretty well in the end and I absolutely LOVE the results.

This did take us two class periods.

I had a couple of students completely BAFFLED by the explanation. When I asked if they had ever cut out a paper snowflake, they were like NO. So I realized that might be a problem for some of my 5th and 6th graders.

​But for the most part, we had a lot of success. Even if they cut their paper in half, or in 4 pieces accidentally cutting on the 'fold' most were able to make the stencil idea work. 

Since we had a parent night less than one month after open house, I was really glad to have one project done so that we had a few new art pieces on display. 

This clever girl saved her scraps and glued them to black paper. Reminds me of a wind catcher. 

I made a time lapse of my example and played it for students while I passed out papers. They enjoyed it. 

For our first endeavor at art making this year, we dived in with a collaborative project. 

One of my 6th graders said is 'that is so cheesy Mrs. Mitchell'. He said it was 'so cheesy' because when they were finishing their 4X4 squares, I might've reminded them that each student had a square, and even if several of use the same colors or have a similar idea, that they will all create something different and unique because they all have something special to bring to our school. ❄️❄️❄️ like snowflakes--no two are exactly alike. He totally called me on the cheese. Guilty as charged

Each table had to trace a circle onto a square piece of watercolor paper. Then they brought it to me, and I chopped it into squares. Then, they used Mr. Sketch unscented markers to color them. 

I warned them in advance that they probably would not be getting their squares back. I mounted them with white glue onto sheets of butcher paper. I pre-cut the paper into sections that will easily fit in the mini bulletin boards above the doors in our building. When I take down this mural, it will come apart in sections that I will transfer into the doorways above doors that are currently blank. I also wasn't super careful to pair them up with their table's matching circles....which makes it hard for them to find their own, but I just glued them down as they finished them....which gave the ones that needed one more day a little more time to finish and it allowed me to start making the mural right away since I wasn't waiting on a few from each class to finish. 

Thanks for the idea Michelle!

While searching for one final BIG unit to wrap up the year, I really wanted my 5th and 6th students to focus on texture and detail. The chameleon project was very successful for many of my students. 

I had hidden a bunch of chameleons around my room years ago for a substitute and one day my students pointed them out and asked what they were for. Well, they were just for fun. 

For this unit, I started by gathering books about chameleons from the library. I hung up several pictures of chameleons around the room and I created a packet of visuals with images of chameleons for students to use as reference while practicing in their sketchbooks. 

We started learning about chameleons by looking at this video. Then we practiced drawing chameleons in our sketchbooks. Once we had practiced, it was time to draw the chameleon on white paper. I encouraged students  to crop and enlarge the chameleon. 

After drawing the chameleon on white paper, we used skinny sharpies to draw LOTS of texture. Chameleons are covered in scales so students had to draw the texture. Also, if their chameleon needed to be grasping on to a branch, I encouraged them to draw the branch and outline it with the skinny sharpie. 

Once students had everything outlined, we used colored pencils to color the chameleons. Students could make their chameleons as realistic or wild colored as they wanted. I showed them a video of a time lapse of an iguana drawing as an example of how much time and layering it takes to color something hyper realistic with colored pencils. 

While students were coloring, I pulled them over to a painting station to paint a frame for the project. Students could choose between green, blue, or gray paper. At the painting station, they could use cool colors to make a design around the edges of the paper. 

Now, before getting out the chameleons in order to finish coloring, I explained that first, we were going to use oil pastels to create a background. I explained that if we were taking a photo of a chameleon, and we were using a special lens with our camera, most likely the camera would zoom in on the texture of the chameleon's scales, which would make them really in focus, leaving the background out of focus.

Today, students chose a background color of 8X10 construction paper and used oil pastels to draw and color the background. It could be a dessert, a leafy jungle, or something else, but the important thing is that they do not draw it with pencil first, as the pencil will make it too small to color with oil pastels....they can draw it with chalk first if they are afraid they will mess up. The chalk is erasable. Which makes it nice. 

If anyone did not paint the frame last time, today is the day to paint the frame.  

I saved the chameleons over the summer and used them to make a big back to school display in the cafeteria for open house. 

If students need to color the background with oil pastels, or paint a frame, they need to do that today. Also, if they need colored pencils to finish coloring the chameleon, they can use those to do that. Finally, if they are done with everything else, they are ready to cut out the chameleon and glue it to the background. I brought in my very small detail scrapbooking scissors for students to borrow if they needed them. Once they used a glue stick to glue the chameleon to the background, they used regular white glue to attach it to a matte, and then to the frame we painted a while back. I encouraged them to add details on top of the paint on the frame with oil pastels, but most of them did not do that. 

I love zentangles. My students love zentangles. My students love to zentangle so much they go home and zentangle more. The one above is from a boy who made 3 more mini zentangles at home! 

My students also love using India Ink and calligraphy pens to create a zentangle. This is seriously one of the first art supplies I have found that nearly all of my students are impressed by. I put the India Ink in a little glass jar and give them a calligraphy pen with a cover sheet on the table to help with clean up and they are in heaven, some of them even attribute the feeling to 'back in olden times' or 'what they used to sign the Declaration of Independence." They really feel special, and it elevates the project beyond just using sharpies. 

For the first day of this project, students practiced drawing an animal silhouette in their sketchbooks. A silhouette is harder for some students, because they have to get the contour line right, or else it doesn't look anything like the animal. I purposely made the silhouette handout have super tiny silhouettes so that they could not trace their design, this was about observational skills. 

After practicing the animal, they were to redraw it on white paper and outline with sharpie. For this project, we were not coloring the animal, we left it white, and created zentangles all the way around. 

To make a zentangle, you bascially just make lines or 'tangles' around the object, all the way to the edge of the paper to break it up into sections. You fill the sections with structured patterns. 

Now that they know about making a silhouette, it is time to learn about a zentangle. A zentangle is a design made up of structured patterns. I have another packet for students to look at today, comprised of mini optical illusions, patterns, and cool looking zentangles they can reference as they work. 

Zentangling can be addictive. Some of my students loved it so much that they went home and zentangled more. 

We used skinny and regular sharpies along with the black india ink and calligraphy pens. Some students did not like using the calligraphy pens because of the unpredictability. That was okay with me, as long as they tried it. Also, if they accidentally dripped the ink in the wrong spot, I told them to just leave it and turn it into a happy accident. 

While students worked, I pulled them over to an art center to paint a frame for their zentangle. Next time, we would attach the zentangle to the frame. 

List of zentangle reference books that I love:
Zentangle: The art of Inspiring and mindful drawing method
One Zentangle a Day
The Art of the Zentangle (I got the idea for this project on page 51)--I also show them those examples, in order to get some of the kids to go back and add a few BOLD designs for more CONTRAST. If they don't add contrast, the designs don't pop. 

The final step is to finish adding the zentangle designs and then go back and add shading. I showed my students my woodless graphite pencils and let them use them to add a little shading in some spots on their zentangles. Some used the gray shading to emphasize an optical illusion. Some used the shading to make patterns, some used it to add emphasize to certain areas of the design. I even let some of the kids that seemed really 'into' it try out my zig pens and told them where to find them at Hobby Lobby. Lots of kids wanted a calligraphy pen after this lesson! 

Once the shading was complete, students could pick a 'matte' and then attach the drawing to the matte, and attach that to their frame with white glue. 

If they finished early, I had copies of a different 'calligraphy' practice sheets printed so they could use the pens to practice lettering. 

Oh Dot Day. 

I love explaining to my students that we are celebrating a made up day. Just for the fun of it. 

For this made up day, I made up a contest. Students would design a dot, color with markers ON dot day, we would vote for a favorite design in each class. I hung up each of the dots and let them vote. 

No they could not vote for their down dot. Duh. And next time, I think instead of counting the votes, I will draw at random so that maybe the most popular kid won't win, but a dot that deserves it because of effort. I dunno, what do you think? 

I was actually trying to figure out how to incorporate a little technology into the year, and I wanted to do that by introducing a new app: Quiver. Quiver used to be a different company, so I was browsing to see what they have added now that they have expanded. Under the 'education' tab for teachers, the animal cell is AMAZING. Here is a link to the dot day page. I mirrored my iPad with my apple TV and demonstrated how to use the app, it is super easy. 

Basically students can color their dot, hover over the top of it and then boom, their dot comes alive. It is more than just a coloring sheet. It is a coloring sheet, a contest and augmented reality all rolled into one dot!! (Prizes were a little lame---a sketchbook, from my collection of extras I've hoarded in years past OR a 'golden pencil'. I seriously save all the tiny pencils that are too small for the sharpener and spray paint them gold. Easy cheap prize that kids feel happy to get). 

These boys realized they could take a picture of their face, and have it show up on the dot if they held the iPad just right. So clever and great collaboration!! 

When the school year started, I think everyone had Olympic fever. I know I did. I spent hours with the TV on and piles of files scattered across my living room floor, organizing and preparing for the new school year while watching the men's volleyball teams jump and dive.

We were back to school August 17th, the tail end of the Olympics. Assuming that the breathtaking scenes of the Amazon jungle from the Opening Ceremonies would be fresh on everyone's minds, it seemed only natural to start the year off with a unit that correlated in some way. Technically, by the time I actually finished going over procedures and doing a couple of 1st day of school type activities, we didn't actually start making our first big unit until August 29th. The Olymics were a distant memory by then, and no body was thinking about Olympic dreams anymore. 

Michael Linsin says the best thing you can do to set your students on fire with passion for a new topic is to forgo all of the fan fair and start simply with a story.

SO that is what I did.

I simply googled the term 'sloth story' and read through a few....and came across one that I could memorize pretty easily.

On the first day of the unit, I began each lesson exactly the same way, "Once upon a time, in the Amazon jungle, just outside of Brazil, there lived a sloth, in the deepest, darkest part of the jungle. This was no ordinary sloth, he was very clever. But he was actually very lazy." And the story goes on....as I conclude the story (to applause by some classes), I simply say how sad it is that the poor, slow and lowly sloth would probably never have a chance to earn a gold medal at anything, and how interesting it was that ALL of the fastest, strongest, best humans on earth were recently assembled in Rio a few weeks ago----and just outside the city, across South and Central America, those jungle sloths were hanging in trees and moving achingly slow. 

It pretty much worked. MOST of my students were jazzed to draw a sloth---especially after I showed them a preview of the project, which I did not keep on the board, I just showed them the steps explaining that they would spend the day drawing in their newly assembled sketchbooks, a tribute to the lowly sloth. Several kids admitted that sloths were their favorite animals. 

I had a couple copies of a visual packet for each table with drawings of sloths---some kids can draw by looking at 'coloring sheets' while others work best if they can look at photos from books. This idea came from an art teacher at a conference a few years ago. She had images of Statue of Liberty paintings her students had done and I was completely blown away. Since then, I've always tried to make my own visual packets with images for students to use as a reference. It helps provide a ton of variety in their work. 

I only found like 3 books about sloths in our library, but that seemed like enough. And I had a bunch of other rainforest or Amazon jungle books to use for other animals and plants. 

If someone REALLY did not want to focus on the sloth, I encouraged them to pick another animal like a toucan, parrot, tree frog or something and just put a sloth in the corner, or really small in the distance. In the visual packet, I also had a bunch of visuals of leaves and encouraged them to practice drawing those too. 

While they were drawing, I walked around the room with the stuffed sloth I found on amazon, and let them pet him. "What is his name?!" (when I let them name him, most suggested FLASH, like the sloth on Zootopia) "Where did he come from?" To which I replied, The Amazon.com. 

At the end of the day, just before lining up, I showed them a short video clip of the trailer for Zootopia. I cut it off right before the joke....because most of my students have seen the movie, they knew the joke anyway. 

I knew I didn't want to spend a ton of time listing facts about sloths, so today I had an emaze presentation playing while students entered the room, and after I gave instructions, I pushed play again so it would flash across the screen with more info about sloths. 

For today's lesson, I encouraged students to finish practicing their sloths. I focused on the fact that they were basically creating a THUMBNAIL sketch in their sketchbook. This is a small version or plan of a larger project. Using a thumbnail sketch to develop ideas, is one of our objectives, so it really fit nicely with the goals of the entire project today. 

Once they had finished their thumbnail sketch, they could get a 12X18 black construction paper and black crayon. I explained that they would not be drawing in pencil on the black paper, another reason it was important to practice in their sketchbooks first---the pencil would make their drawings WAY too small. Since we would be coloring with chalk pastels, they really needed everything to be BIG and the black crayon would help them do that.

If they finished early, I did not let them start coloring yet....I didn't even have coloring sheets for them. I just had a can of sketchbook prompts, that they could use to draw in their sketchbooks. I told them that they needed to develop some ideas in their sketchbooks, and that I wanted to give everyone plenty of time to finish their sketches and draw on the black paper before we started using the chalk. I'm glad I took the extra day to draw, most kids needed the entire class period. 

Black crayon on black paper doesn't show up great---but it is nice if you make mistakes. In the future, I would use black oil pastel, I just knew I didn't order enough black oil pastel to draw in oil pastel AND outline with black oil pastel, so I had to start with the waxy crayon. 

After clean up, I showed students this video by Patty Palmer, her lesson on Amazon Rainforest Animals greatly inspired my unit. It was a good preview of what we would be doing next time. 

Admittedly, most students were just using the chalk like a crayon. They were missing the potential. SO. I spent an hour on Friday night drawing out 13 versions of a sloth so that I could demonstrate how to BLEND and how to add TEXTURE. I know some art teachers don't condone showing students their finished product, but in this case, I really wanted one finished one and 12 'in progress' ones that I could use as my demos. 

Man was that a good investment!!! After seeing how to layer colors and blend with one finger, and how to add texture over the top, the quality of work improved 1000%.

Today was the day, I emphasized that they really needed to color the entire paper, with chalk fingerprints and smudges are SUPER hard to cover unless the entire paper is covered with chalk and you have the option to touch up.

Today was also the day they could finally outline with black oil pastel. I demonstrated how to keep a 'wiry' texture with a wiry outline, and how to mimic a smooth texture with a smooth outline, and how to add a black dot back into the middle of the eye of their sloth---and add a highlight of white to keep the lifelike look.

Some students still needed ONE more day to color, but LOTS finished. I'm really proud of the results from this unit and I can't wait to incorporate the blending and texture idea into the next project. 

After clean up, I read them the book "Slowly Slowly, Said the Sloth." By Eric Carle. 

P.S. I wrote a letter from FLASH....and had it in an envelope. I opened it and read it just like FLASH in Zootopia to introduce the next project. The kids LOVED it!! Even though it took me forever to read through it.