"Nutcrackers" by Kindergarten

Well, these are just the best kindergarten nutcrackers ever! I'm so impressed with the final pictures. They did such a great job. I love how they are all unique, even though they all followed the same set of directions. I, also, love how some went for traditional red, while others used their favorite colors. Each one has its own little personality. When I first showed them my picture, they all yelled that they would never be able to draw a nutcracker like that! Well, they were very proud of themselves when they realized that they could draw one and draw it quite well. Great job, Kindergarten!

"Sunset Nativity" by Sixth Grade

We always seem to create a winter wonderland when creating our Christmas art. This is natural since we live in New England! But, my sixth grade art students have created BEAUTIFUL nativity silhouettes with not a snowflake in sight. First, they painted the backgrounds, then they drew pieces for the scene, cut them out, and glued them onto their sunsets. They are so pretty and capture the meaning of Christmas perfectly.
Here are some completed projects...

"Christmas Houses" by Fifth Grade

Here are some lovely houses the fifth grade decorated for Christmas. They all started with the same basic shape and were encouraged to add on to it. Then they added all kinds of Christmas decorations. I told them to think about their own houses or houses they have seen while driving around. After they finished adding all the decorations, they filled in any Christmas details with marker, while coloring in the rest with crayons. We talked about pressing lightly on the crayons to get a soft, even color. They did a nice job.

They are very sweet...

"The White House" (how cute!) 

"Santa Portraits" by First Grade

Here are some super cute Santa portraits draw by the first grade class. It is a simple drawing lesson that they then color in with crayons, but I love how they turn out every year. I love looking at how unique each one is...

"Merry Christmas, Blue Dog" by Eighth Grade

George Rodrigue, a Cajun artist, is the creator of the famous Blue Dog, who has captured the hearts and imaginations of people around the world. His website, http://www.georgerodrigue.com/, is great if you are interested in learning more about George and his art.
I shared the book, Why Is Blue Dog Blue, with my eighth grade class. Then, they completed a fun book- based project where they drew (all on their own, no guidance from me) and painted the famous Blue Dog, who by the way is sometimes NOT painted blue, in a color of their choice. Tis' the season, so they drew him wearing a Santa hat.
For this project, we discussed how to add a bit of black paint to their original color to create a tinted color for shading. The final step was outlining and filling in solid black areas. I think they are great! My kindergarten class saw them and asked if they could do a Blue Dog painting, too. Of course I let them, and they are also great. I'll post about them soon!

Here are some finished 8th graders' paintings (I'm still waiting on more to finish, so there are more pictures to come later)...

I'm so proud of all their efforts!