Wild Animals in the 7th Grade!

7th graders just finished their animal collages. They could choose any animal and had to put them into a believable habitat. These turned out really nice!

The 7th graders learned about creating a room in correct 1 point perspective. I just loved the way this one turned out! She picked a theme and really stuck to it! Nice job Paige!

7th Graders Are Wild!!

I had such a creative class of 7th graders last trimester. They did some really cool things with their collaged animals--I just had to share these fun little guys!

Creative Color Wheels

Each trimester I challenge my 7th graders with coming up with a creative way of creating a color wheel. The tough part is that they can use ANYTHING! The entire first day we spent on the computers, looking up some ideas that others from around the world had created. The vastness of ideas was simply amazing! Here are some of the color wheel my students created for this assignment.

Crazy Collaged Animals!

This trimester, when we began the animal collage project I really tried to stress to the kids using all of their paper (and then some) and trying some interesting paper techniques. I think this is one of the most creative examples I've seen in a while. These kids did a great job!

Still-Life Drawings

Drawing: it's the ABC's of art. I would imagine that most of my students would say that they really don't enjoy drawing still-lifes. However, the many things I can teach through still-life drawings are priceless. We cover shape, value, space, gauging, highlights, color, blending, shadows, and craftsmanship. It's really amazing to see how far the kids come from their first drawing of the trimester to the last still-life they create. We only spend the first 3 1/2-5 weeks (of a 12 week grading period) on drawing, but to see how far they come in that time is awesome!

Gingerbread Houses

My first year teaching I remember thinking, "How will I ever get my kids to focus enough to work the day before Christmas break?" Then, my mother suggested that I create gingerbread houses with them. Well, 12 years later we are still making the houses. However, I never used gingerbread. Instead, we use graham crackers and royal icing. All the kids have to supply are the decorations for their homes. They each have a "property" (posterboard cut to 6"x6") that they build the house on and then can landscape around it. Once the houses are all built, they join "Gingerbread Village" on my countertop and the teachers all come in to judge them. I give extra credit to the winners and at the end of the day the kids take their houses home (if they make it that far before being devoured!). Here are some pictures of my 8th graders making their houses.

Color Wheels

The 7th graders are always given the challenge of creating a color wheel out of anything. For some, the task is monumental (where to begin). Others love the chance to share what they love. I've posted several that did a great job with their ideas!

Animal Collage

The 7th graders recently chose an animal and created a believable environment for them to be in. Then, we made the project out of different papers and such. I liked these so well that all of them are hanging in the building. Here are some pictures of some that I thought turned out very nice! Joey’s snake even moves! Great job kids!

One Point Perspective

In 7th grade we learn about one point perspective by creating a room and then “building” furniture to go in the room. The kids each have a theme for their room and have some basic requirements. These rooms turned out very nice!

Drawing Unit

The seventh graders just finished drawing the still-lifes that I had set up in the room. They first learned about value and how to make things look 3-D. Their next challenge was to sketch a still-life using colored pencils. I think the final results were very nice.

7th Graders are Like Wild Animals!!

These are just a few of the really cool animal collages that the 7th graders just finished. Before we began the project we looked at work by Henri Rousseau for our inspiration.

Still-Life Drawings

Here, I've posted some of the still-life drawings that the 7th and 8th graders just finished working on. All 3 grades begin still-lifes with a value sketch. The 7th graders then do a sketch in colored pencil. The 8th graders move on to reverse-value and scratch art. I have 3 girls taking 8th grade Art for the second time (they are more advanced). Those girls used charcoal and chalk. I find the results to be quite nice! Great job artists!