A few years ago, I thought about leaving this as a sub plan, but never got around to prepping the lesson. This year, I had to miss a few days and it was perfect! 

Step 1: Introduce yourself to the class. Read the following poem and discuss YOUR expectations, by having students list how they should behave in art when Mrs. Mitchell IS here. 

Take a ride with me,
On the art submarine.
It will dive down deep, under the sea
I wonder what we will see on the art submarine!?

You must be wondering about Mrs. Mitchell,
I can only tell you that she must be ill
But today is the day
that we will play
With the idea of an art submarine

Just close your eyes, I'm sure you can imagine
A place where anything can happen
The wonderous site that is
A submarine swimming swift
In a rainbow of colors
Full of your friends and others

"You am just a sub," they say,
"Only Mrs. Mitchell can show us the way!"
But class have no fear
the challenge is clear,
Today we must design
(by coloring and drawing with lines)

The most amazing art submarine
that Mrs. Mitchell has ever seen. 

Step 2
Ask students: If you were on an ART submarine, diving down under the sea, what might you see down there? (Ex: famous paintings, art supplies, a museum, ocean animals, ocean animals dressed as artists, buried treasure and sculptures, shipwrecks, Mrs. Mitchell scuba diving?) Draw in pencil first, then trace in sharpie. 

Step 3
Use the handout of submarine images to have students draw an art submarine on 12X18 paper.Students should also draw what they might encounter if it really is an ART submarine.
Students should draw their submarine with pencils, trace over it with sharpies, and then color it with crayons. (or their choice of markers, colored pencils or construction paper crayons). 

Supplies:
12X18 Baby Blue construction paper
Pencils +erasers
Sharpies
Construction paper crayons (or I let mine choose to use regular crayons, markers or colored pencils)

For visuals, I googled 'submarine clip art' and zoomed way out and took a screenshot of a whole bunch and then made enough copies for each table to keep 4. I left a few books about sea creatures to use as a reference, but most kids were creative enough to come up with all sorts of cute things! 

For the first time ever, I came back from Spring Break without a carefully crafted schedule of lessons to finish out the year for my kindergarten through 4th grade students. I'll admit I had vaguely written 'Ocean art' on my lesson plans...but that was about as far as I had gotten prior to my week off. When I walked in the building Tuesday morning, I went through everything in my ocean art visual packet, hoping to pull out the perfect lesson plan based on something that I've already taught.

When I wasn't impressed by any of my old lessons, I started to search Pinterest for something to help me figure out a plan for my K-4 classes. I would never condone planning an entire unit for 5 grade levels on such short notice, but between my master's classes, a spring break wedding, and getting caught up from snow days, prepping for art shows and other stuff going on at school, the lesson planning took a backseat. Fortunately, I was able to wave my creative wand and prep an amazing unit--I channeled the pressure to develop something great as my muse. I didn't over think the lessons, I just kept them very basic and it was a very successful unit. I narrowed down the topics and objectives that we have already covered this year, and I was able to hone in on the needs of individual grade levels. Planning for 5 grades requires a lot of prep, especially if every grade is using a different media. This can be a real headache if you are setting up special supplies for each group that comes through the door.

Basically, I selected a different subject matter for each grade, but the process was relatively the same for each. I added a little more emphasis on 'cool colors vs. warm colors' for some grades, while others were introduced to adding salt to the water, or focusing on texture or craftsmanship. The process involved a guided drawing lesson, followed by some painting, and then the following week, we colored and outlined with oil pastels and then used a little more watery paint for the water.

I hung everyone's artwork in the hall, because the entire unit was so successful. Working with 18X18 paper made for a very large colorful installation which makes the entire building look cheerful and happy.

You may have gotten a sneak peak at this unit on my instagram: @nelliemaeii

3rd grade--18X18 white paper, draw sea turtle in pencil, draw lots of texture on the shell. Outline in sharpie. Paint the body of the turtle with neon green tempera paint.

Week 2
Use oil pastels to color the shell. I encouraged mostly 'hot' colors, but some used browns and neutrals which looked nice too. I encouraged lots of patterns when coloring, also reminded them to press down hard. Outline the neon green paint with black oil pastel and draw texture on the 'skin' of the turtle. Paint the water with the same watered down turquoise, purple, blue and green, but add salt in the watery areas for a neat texture. I demonstrated this salt technique at each table.

2nd grade-- Use a pencil to draw the hermit crab step-by-step. (we did not have time to outline in sharpie because we watched a video of the book House for Hermit Crab. This worked well for me, having them watch a video of the book, but I could just as easily read it aloud to them. Honestly, the idea for this lesson came from this blog. Hers are much better than mine!! Paint the crab with florescent red paint.

Week 2
Find a yellow or orange oil pastel and add texture to the sand. Use oil pastels to color the details of the hermit crab's shell decorations: star fish, anemone, urchin, etc. Outline in black oil pastel (BE CAREFUL NOT TO SMEAR THE BLACK), make sure to trace the leg segments of the crab and the shell. I set up some watered down 'sand' neon paint for the sand at a painting center, and students could go over at any time and paint the sand. On each table, I put a container of watered down purple, blue, green and turquoise paint for them to paint the water and add a little color to the shell.

1st Grade-- Showed a video about seahorses being super killers. Turned our 18X18 white paper so that it looked more like a diamond or rhombus. Draw seahorse step-by-step: used a modified version of this. Draw a line 'behind' the seahorse for the sand, from corner to corner across the center of the paper, make sure it doesn't go 'through' the seahorse. Add starfish, seaweed, bubbles, etc. Trace over seahorse in sharpie. Paint seahorse with florescent yellow paint.

Week 2 Use oil pastels: add texture to the sand at the bottom with an orange or yellow oil pastel, trace around seahorse with black oil pastel: re-draw the mouth and eye and some texture if it isn't showing up after painting. Be careful NOT TO SMEAR the oil pastel. I set up some watered down 'sand' yellow/orange combo neon paint at a painting center, and students could go over at any time and paint the sand. On each table, I put a container of watered down purple, blue, green and turquoise paint for them to paint the water, I had to remind them to be careful not to let the 'water' drip onto the neon yellow of the seahorse.

Kindergarten-- I decided to go with 12X12 for this grade. The classes are very large and I didn't think it would be as successful to work at the 18X18 size. Also, 12X12 looked very small by comparison after working with the larger size for my other grades. The lesson came from this site.

Watch a YouTube Clip from finding Nemo. (In retrospect, this would've been a great clip to show the the 3rd grade!) I showed them a book cover with a clown fish and we discussed how clown fish live in an anemone. Draw the clown fish step-by-step. Add the anemone, and outline in sharpie. Use neon orange paint to paint the stripes on the fish: DON'T PAINT THE WHOLE FISH!

Week 2
Since we only had a little bit to do to finish the fish, I had them cut out some starfish from a tissue paper covered paper that we had created earlier this semester and add some sequins. Once that was done, we used oil pastels to color the anemone, then we outlined the fish with black oil pastel, thickening the edges of the fins a little, and re-drawing the eye and mouth if it was covered last week with paint. Finally, we painted using the turquoise, blue, green and purple that the other classes used.

One day, I was chatting with the coach and I started to notice how organized his desk was. Unlike my cluttered desk, his was clear of papers. He didn't have piles of notes from students, art catalogs from two years ago, or stacks of books.

 On the wall above his desk, there were 3 white hooks, and hanging from the hooks were clear page protectors, and in each page protector, was a sheet of paper. One sheet was his class schedule, with class rosters just behind that, and one was a set of instructions in case of an emergency, the third contained a lesson plan for the week. Above each hook was a little white rectangle, printed with black lettering, describing what was in each of the page protectors. In the event that he needs a sub on the fly, everything is in plain sigh

What a great idea, I thought to myself. In my experience, notebooks can get overlooked or bogged down with too much information. A hook above the desk, what a novel idea. 

So I decided to copy him. I hung some hooks behind my desk. I printed out my schedule, and typed up a note for a substitute. I even made a super cute sign to hang beside the hook so that the sub would surely see the instructions. 

After a while, I realized that my desk would never stay as pristinely clean as the coach's...and I also realized that it was really hard to keep a weekly printout of the lesson plans hanging from a hook behind my desk, because I teach 5 grade levels in two buildings...and often I have to put a book with a lesson plan, and the paper/supplies necessary, with everything sticky noted and handouts copied, etc.

So the ART SUB sign stayed up on the wall, but after a year or two, I stopped utilizing it, because it was ineffective for my methods. The poor sign, posted in big bold, black letters advertised nothing more than the fact that I had neglected a great idea....

One day, I overheard a couple of students whispering. They were pointing at the 'Art Sub' sign. "I wonder when we will get to go on the art sub?" "Yeah, I wonder why Mrs. Mitchell has never shown us the art sub?" "I bet its under the school."

Art Sub. 

To my imaginative first graders the words 'Art Sub' literally mean an ART SUB! As in ART SUBMARINE!

 HA! To them, the information hanging beside the 'art sub' sign had nothing to do with a substitute teacher, rather it was an invitation to take a ride in a submarine filled with art supplies....or into an underwater art gallery....

This year, I took down the sign...because I moved my desk to a new location...but I am going to reinvent its purpose with a lesson plan just for a substitute that embraces the idea of an art submarine!

Before designing a new lesson, I always look around to see if anyone had done it better. I do research in order to find the best approach, especially if I am leaving a lesson for someone else to execute. Here are a few things that might be helpful:

Youtube video with step-by-step instructions on how to draw a simple submarine!
How to draw a submarine video.
Printable submarine coloring page. 
Lesson plan with a couple of alternative ideas to drawing the entire submarine. 
Adorable submarine collage. 
A beautiful flickr image of the Beatles Yellow Submarine album art painting. 

Googling 'submarine clip art' will provide tons of easy-to-draw submarines...a handout of the printed results could be very helpful for a substitute to place on each table. Or a poster of the step-by-step video above. 

If you are looking to provide a 'teacher' sample, this iStockphoto image might be great to reference. 

I'm still tweaking the idea....and I haven't created any teacher samples, but if I were to leave this for a sub, here is the basic lesson plan I would follow. Also, I just made up the silly poem, but feel free to change the words and use it if it works for you. 

Step 1: Introduce yourself to the class. Read the following poem and discuss YOUR expectations, by having students list how they should behave in art when Mrs. Mitchell IS here. 

Take a ride with me,
On the art submarine.
It will dive down deep, under the sea
I wonder what we will see on the art submarine!?

You must be wondering about Mrs. Mitchell,
I can only tell you that she must be ill
But today is the day
that we will play
With the idea of an art submarine

Just close your eyes, I'm sure you can imagine
A place where anything can happen
The wonderous site that is
A submarine swimming swift
In a rainbow of colors
Full of your friends and others

"You am just a sub," they say,
"Only Mrs. Mitchell can show us the way!"
But class have no fear
the challenge is clear,
Today we must design
(by coloring and drawing with lines)

The most amazing art submarine
that Mrs. Mitchell has ever seen. 

Step 2
Ask students: If you were on an ART submarine, diving down under the sea, what might you see down there? (Ex: famous paintings, art supplies, a museum, ocean animals, ocean animals dressed as artists, buried treasure and sculptures, shipwrecks, Mrs. Mitchell scuba diving?)

Step 3
Use the step-by-step drawing guide (or a handout of submarine images) to have students draw an art submarine on 12X18 paper.Students should also draw what they might encounter if it really is an ART submarine.
Students should draw their submarine with pencils, trace over it with sharpies, and then color it with crayons.