Choosing the Colors that Fit Your Personality

New Paints

Originally uploaded by teachergal

A few years ago I did a Color Palette Activity with my class to help them get ready for a trip to the Guggenheim Museum. It was essentially a way to get them thinking about colors/shades that go well together. (It was also a way of them coming up with colors that fit their personalities.)

After being in a paint store yesterday, and collecting a lot of paint chips with a friend who’s repainting nearly the entire downstairs of her home, I decided to gather a bunch of paint chips so I could embark on this little project again with my class. We might not be doing it in preparation for a visit to the Guggenheim this time, but I think that something like this can help me get a better understanding of where they are as artists early on in the school year so that I know what activities I should do and when based upon their knowledge of the color wheel and how pairings work.

Mini Course: Session 1

We had a great time today. Ms. Y. came and helped me out, which was so lovely of her! She prepared the snacks I bought while the kids worked so hard on their Mother’s Day Cards. It was a lovely way to spend an hour with six of my students, plus one third grader and one second grader. The time, however, went too fast!

The card making begins!, originally uploaded by teachergal.

Latest and Greatest Card Creations for Mini-Courses

THOUGHTS:
Week 1: Mother’s Day Cards or Teacher Cards
Week 2: Birthday Cards
Week 3: Friendship Cards

SAMPLES:

Triangle Poster

I found a great art project to go along with the Geometry Mini-Unit I’m teaching over at Crayola.com.

Exploring Triangles: Sample Poster

Originally uploaded by teachergal


I also found some great triangle templates online, which I’ll be using to accompany this lesson so my kids don’t have to try to make perfect triangles from scratch.

Click on each of these links for the templates:
Acute Triangle

Equilateral Triangle
Isosceles Triangle
Obtuse Triangle
Right Triangle
Scalene Triangle

Note: You might have to do some whiting-out of the variables, side descriptions, etc.

Sandy Perfume Bottles

About two months ago my students and I created colored sand bottles. I never did this as a kid, which is why I was excited to try it out with them. This is what I created: .

My students LOVED this activity and have asked to do it again… It’s a great activity to do the day before a school vacation. This makes me think I need to find some colored sand and small plastic “perfume” bottles for them before February Break.