4th grade Tree of Life Project

With the 4th grade students I have much more time to emphasize the elements of art and articulate terms with students. What I love hearing and seeing from the students is the correct usage of terminology and application that demonstrates understanding. The element that was most emphasized with this project was texture. Students observed tree bark and recognized its texture and recreated the appearance onto their trees using vertical overlapping lines with their sharpies. They selected magazine clippings that contained visual texture for their leaves. These are the beginning stages of the trees. Completed Trees will be posted soon!

Tree of Life-1st grade

So I love Gustav Klimt and thought a tree project in the fall would be super fun for the first grade class my son is in. Right after I made my Tree of Life example I went to the movies and watched The Book Of Life. If you haven't seen it you have to go just for the visual stimulation- so amazingly colorful and vibrant! Anyway, my lesson direction quickly changed from Gustav Klimt to the Tree in the Book of Life Movie. I still titled it the Tree of a life, and the kids instantly identified with the example when I told them it was from the movie and were excited to begin!

Burlap Skull Embroidery-4th grade

I teach embroidery to my middle school students and wanted to teach it to my daughters class. My students, boys and girls alike, are always calmed and focused while hand stitching. The struggle I had was thinking of ways to embroidery easy for 4th grade students. The answer? BURLAP!!!

Get some burlap, plastic lacing needles and yarn (amazon) and you've got yourself endless embroidery opportunities. Check out 4th grade embroidered skulls.