Since Llamas and Alpacas are all the rage this year, I knew I wanted to feature them in an animal art unit. Our library did not have very many books about Llamas, so if you want to make a buck, you might consider illustrating something for ages 10-13. 

To introduce the difference between Llamas and Alpacas, we watched youtube video by an alpaca farmer. The video has a curse word at the end, she says that llamas sometimes spit for the 'hell of it'.  It was one of the few resources I could find with great images so I just muted it when she said that and asked a few questions of my students like: have you ever petted an alpaca or a llama? etc. If you did not want to use the video, you could show this site which has tons of facts and photos of Llamas. 

For the actual art making, we did a few practice sketches in our sketchbook after decided if we wanted to draw an alpaca or a llama. Most kids agreed that alpacas are cuter than llamas. We lightly sketched our design on 18X6 watercolor paper and traced in sharpie. I always have my students color small details with crayons before we use watercolor paints. We used liquid watercolor for this project AND regular watercolor if they wanted it for the black and brown. I also showed them how to make tan and grey, using the lid of the watercolor set as a mixing tray. 

Several of my students drew their llamas with buck-teeth. After doing a little research, we learned that they don't have front teeth on the top, it is the bottom teeth that jut forward. Just FYI. 

Supplies:
18X6 Watercolor paper
8 pan prang watercolor sets
Paint brushes- a variety of sizes
Liquid Watercolors
Sargent 6 Ct. Paint storage tray
Water
Pencils
Sharpies
120 crayon sets

A few months ago, Paper Scissor Cake posted on their instagram a few pictures of a hand lettered sign workshop they were working on. Immediately I realized how important it is to incorporate hand lettering into my curriculum to help support cursive writing. 

For this project, we used tag board, which I was not entirely impressed with....I wish we would've used real watercolor paper. We also used watercolor---both the regular sets and liquid neon watercolor. I had to explain that students had to be very careful not to let the neon colors mix in the container. Since half of my students started this lesson when I took my personal day in March, I typed up a very extensive sub plan to help them get started with the lesson. I also had tons of visuals posted around the room for ideas, lettering guides and font alphabets. They could choose any uplifting quote (we had recently lost a staff member), and should keep in mind that these would be posted around the building in time for MAP testing 

Here is what I left for my sub:
​Step 1: Choosing A Quote to Illustrate
 

1. Today students will be selecting a quote to illustrate.  
2. Students may use a quote posted on the board, or they may use one of their own quotes as long as it is school appropriate.
3. Later we will be incorporating the quote and the writing into a watercolor illustration, today is all about practicing the lettering and selecting something that they might want to use for the project.
4. This project is about selecting something that is personal, uplifting, encouraging and meaningful to them. Spelling is important!!
5. As they think about which quote to use, they should consider what colors and imagery might correspond to help illustrate their idea. How they write it is just as important as what they write.

 
 
Step 2: Hand lettering Practice (and drawing symbols)

1. As most students have never learned cursive writing, this might be challenging for them, but when I get back next week, I will teach them a few techniques and we will use some special pens, which will help with the writing.
2. Today, we are using mechanical pencils for the first time. This might help them draw lightly.
3. Today, students should use the grid paper to help them practice the letters and phrases. I have posted a plethora or really cool lettering they can use. They can practice as much as they want, practice makes perfect!
4.  They can pick any kind of writing that they want to go with their quote.
5. I don’t mind if they use more than one paper, but they should not throw away the paper until most of it is covered with ideas (sometimes kids make one mark and then toss it, which is wasteful). I put out TWO types of grid paper, one has smaller boxes, they can use either one.
6. Students should roughly sketch out their phrase or quote in pencil on the grid paper a 3-4 of times. (see my example)
7. They should look at how it is placed and think about what words should be emphasized.
8. They should then use markers (the chisel tip markers work great) to draw over the top of their quote, the pencil should be done lightly so that the marker will cover it. The grid paper should help them to place the words and space out the letters.
9. Students should also think about images and symbols that could be used to illustrate their quote. They may want to add a frame or a design around the quote. This should be practiced today.
10. Names should be on the practice papers.

 
Step 3: DRAWING BIG

1. If students finish their practice paper, they can VERY LIGHTLY section off the 12X18 manilla paper into a grid using 3 lines. One line should be at the 4”, 8” and 12” mark on the page (see my example).
2. Students may need help using the ruler to measure and make the marks on the manila paper. The longest rulers work best as they are 18” long.
3. These guidelines will help them draw the lettering much bigger.
4. Once they have the guidelines, they should write their lettering and draw their symbols in pencil very lightly on the paper.
5. They can also trace over the lettering with marker. IF they majorly mess up, they can always flip it to the back and try again.
6. Names should be on the paper, if they do not finish with this step today, it is okay! We will save for next week.
7. Early finishers can look at books, free draw, do a coloring sheet or work on the Notan Mural on the south end of the room.

 
 
At the end of each class, pass out the wooden clothes pin for each table, and have students clip their papers into the clip to keep them organized for next time.  
At the end of the day, please have the last class put the chairs up. 

 Once students had practiced on the manila paper, they were to show their 'sloppy copy' to me, and then I would give them the white tagboard. This was a great chance for me to notice misspelled words or give them advice on placement before the real thing. It is a little harder to erase on the white tagboard. If a student was absent on the first day, this was a good day for them to catch up. 

They were supposed to draw/write it in pencil and then trace in black marker.

The very last day, we painted the tagboard. I showed this (kind of long) video that I made to each class before painting. 

I always show how students should color small details very hard with a crayon (and how they can draw with white) and it will show up even if they paint over it. 

For this project, I was looking for a way to infuse more art history into my curriculum and also a chance to use liquid watercolor.

I already had a parody of the Mona Lisa 'dabbing' above the regular poster of the real painting and my students were pretty much obsessed with it. 

When I found a few reference posts on pinterest, I decided to tackle a Mona Lisa parody project with my students. 

I printed off this head and hands template from Art Projects for Kids. 

Throughout the unit I shared facts from this list.

And since everyone loves a good whodunnit, I started the whole unit off with the mysterious story of the stolen Mona Lisa. Prior to the first class, I took down my Mona Lisa poster and left a small white sign that declared the missing/stolen Mona Lisa.

I did not hang up any pictures or images for inspiration, I started with a story of the missing painting. If you are looking for a good version, I read the one page story for the first  few classes, but after that, I basically had it memorized. Here is another one you could copy and have your students read. 
 
After learning how the painting was stolen and then recovered, I explained that it elevated the painting to THE most famous painting in the world. As a result, other artists started to make funny versions of the painting called parodies. I showed them a bunch of examples of parodies of the Mona Lisa. 

Parody--​an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.

After explaining what a parody is, I realized that there are many instances that arise in cartoons or movies in which references are made to famous songs, works of art, etc.

​Many times, students don't have the background knowledge to 'get' the joke. So I decided to enlighten them with a little game called: Parody or Real Thing. Some students recognized these images immediately because they had seen them in a previous class or I had showed them last year.

Other images, they had never seen before, so I quickly gave them a mini art history lesson about the painting, artist or time period. It was a way to get the info in really quickly. I used a slide show for my initial introduction of the game, and then had them say out loud, what they thought---Parody or Real Thing. 

I showed them the Parody or Real Thing slide show after the initial introduction of the project. That same day, I introduced my Mona Lisa inspiration wall. I painted a big 6ft tall sloth in the Mona Lisa pose, with a Starry Night background---this gave students a lot of ideas on how they could incorporate other famous paintings as a background or they could reference other works of art in their parody to make it more interesting. 

Later, I made a kahoot quiz to make the game more interactive with all new images.

I LOVE Kahoot---I had a few issues the two days I tried to implement the quiz. First of all, the internet was almost non-functioning. I wasted several class periods just trying to get everyone logged onto devices.

Second of all, it is SUPER interactive, when the game was functioning, most kids were so amped up from the excitement, it was hard to get  a word in edgewise, which was why I was attempting to play this on our early-out day on Halloween. It perfectly aligned with our unit and the kids really enjoyed it. 

For the actual design, we used 12X18 watercolor paper. Students could choose to use the actual photo copy of her face and hands, or they could attempt to draw her on their own. They could use just the face, or just the hands, but if they decided to do another character, then it either had to be in the famous 'Mona Lisa' pose or it had to have the same background, or else it wouldn't be a parody, it would just be a painting of Batman.

I really liked it when they realized they could customize her hair or they could cut out scraps of paper to make a partial mask or sunglasses. I told them to use the white paper around the photo copy for 'props' or practice sketches.

We used a glue stick to glue the cut-outs down, and we drew everything in pencil and outlined in sharpie first. 

Supplies:
12X18 Watercolor paper
Pencil and eraser
sharpie
liquid watercolor
crayons
regular watercolor

Obviously the election and scary clowns were on everyone's mind in September. Also featured frequently, pokemon go, snapchat filters, and superheroes. 

Some were confused by the fact that the copy I gave them was completely bald--they had to at least add hair. And maybe arms and a shirt. I only gave them the head/neck and hands. Some added the hair perfectly. 

How clever is this boy to do a #nailedit meme as his Mona Lisa parody. I just love it! He wrote 'When I Created The Mona Lisa #nailedit' in the background. 

The liquid watercolor containers that were left in my classroom by a previous teacher worked out wonderfully for this project. They did not have brown or black so I opted for little plastic containers of brown and black, and I also provided regular watercolor sets for a jet black as the liquid watercolor was good for a dark sky, it wasn't good for Batman's suit---it just wasn't a dark dark black, it was sort of blueish. 

I encouraged my students to draw the background, outline everything in sharpie and erase old pencil lines. Also, I TRIED to stress that they should color SMALL details, like the yellow windows on this building with CRAYON before painting---to make it a wax resist. Some did not listen and had the headache of painting all the tiny windows and then trying to paint around them once the yellow dried. 

The first day of painting, I showed them a video I had made, where I demonstrate the wet-on-wet technique AND I explain how wax resist works. It was nice to have the demo recorded so I could show it to all 12 classes. 

Playing tetherball. I just love this one so much!!

Throughout the project, I had a drawing center set up for students to study statues that I have of the leaning tower of Pisa and the Eiffel tower. For this drawing station, I encourage them to blind contour as much as they can and use only felt tip drawing pens so they can't erase.  If they made something they were proud of, they could color it and glue it to a frame--names and class codes on the front---and I selected a bunch of them to hang up. Some made cute parodies of the Leaning Tower after I told them a little about it.