Printmaking lesson by Ms. Josie Whitley

For this lesson we traced our hand on brown construction paper to make the trunk. We then mixed our colors we mixed orange and green colors.  Then we practiced stamping corks and apples. After practicing we moved onto to our tree. We used corks to make the leaves on the tree using warm colors. Then we moved on to making pumpkins with the apples. All of these we fall or warm colors. We added green tops to the pumpkins.
As extension activities you could incorporate taking about the color wheel. You could also look at tints and shades of the colors as well. Another idea is to talk about the different seasons and which colors leaves would have in the spring, summer and fall. You can also talk about trees and the changes they go through in the year. You could also talk about pumpkins and how they start from a seed, using this for a science lesson.

Origami lesson taught by Mitch Moes

In this lesson we printed, using a jelly plate and acrylic paint, our own paper. And while that was drying we learned how to make a crane out of origami. We learned the history of origami, Japan and about the origami crane.  The most difficult part of the lesson was waiting for the paper to dry. This lesson was difficult in that it was hard to follow along for college students, but it is very interesting art form.
Some extension activities that you could do are to talk about the other types of origami animals, items and things and if they have a special meaning or not. Use social studies as a way to incorporate Japan more. Talk more about Japan the geography, the culture and the history of the country. You could also go more in-depth with the print making side of things. Talk about the different types of print making the history of it and even typography and design. It just depends on how in depth you want to take this project. You could then lead into printmaking as well.

Kimonos  Lesson by Davonte Robertson

This was a fun lesson which talked about Japanese culture, kimonos and symmetry. We talked about how the kimono is made specifically for the person wearing it. We used two sheets of construction paper and folded them into our kimono. Once it was symmetrical then we began painting our designs which we had practiced before. We were also required to use two primary colors and a secondary colors.
As another angle to talking about Japan, you could talk about geography and where Japan is located. Other ideas on how to incorporate this into another activity you could also talk about their writing.

Haunted Houses taught by Heather Dearing

We practiced making our haunted houses first by talking about what shapes we see in a few pictures of haunted houses. Then we designed our own house using geometric shapes, such as, square, rectangle, oval, trapezoid and a triangle. Once we had our design we sketched it out on a larger sheet of paper. Then we took a black crayon and colored in our house. We colored the whole house so that it would resist the watercolor that we used to color the sky.
An extension activity that you could do is have them talk about where haunted houses came from. Or what makes a house haunted. Or even just talking about abandoned houses and why when you drive outside of Aberdeen to some of these rural areas why their are abandoned houses out there. Also could relate it to urban and rural areas within social studies.

Hidden Safari

Based off of Henri Rousseau's work we talked about animals that are on safari. Students then made ruby red glasses. Then we practiced upside down drawing of an animal. Talking about warm and cool colors and patterns we then drew and animal using the upside down technique with a blue, a cool color, colored pencil. After we had our animal drawn. We then covered the animal with patterns in warm colors to camouflage the animal. We started with our lightest colored warm color and made at least three patterns with three different colored pencils. This was also very fun project. First drawing upside down turned out a lot better then I thought my drawing would. It gave me a lot of confidence in my drawing ability. But then it was also fun to look through the ruby glasses to see what animal was hidden in the safari. My children loved looking at this when I brought this project home. Plus,  you get to make super vision glasses, what fun. Students also provide three clues to help the viewer identify the animal in the picture.
As an extension activity you could also hide other items with patterns it wouldn't have to be just animals. Fruit could be another example. You could have students hide fruit that they would find in the jungle. Then this could lead to a nutrition talk to help incorporate health. You could also bring science in again and talk about the animals and their habitat. Or social studies and talk about safaris and where they are located.

Vincent Van Gogh      
 Starry Night Collage

With this lesson we looked at Vincent Van Gogh and his Starry Night painting. We recreated our own version of this project with tissue paper and oil pastels. From this class this is probably one of my favorite pieces that we did. Like the Dot Day project it seemed like we were all able to create fun pieces of art that would look good displayed on any wall at school or at home. This collage created movement in the sky similar to Van Gogh's Starry Night. The first extension activity that I can think of is having students create their "Starry Night" collage and then have them write about the scene they created. Telling a story about their collage. Science could also be brought into the mix with talk about the Northern Lights and how, why, where and when they can be seen.

Dot Day

Dots were made using coffee filters, oil pastels and watercolor markers to name a few. The dots are made to keep things simple but also to show that something as simple as a dot can be art. All of our students are good at art, sometimes are is in the eye of the beholder. Students can just design a dot but they could also use the same exercise to make an animal, item or the could have the base shape of a dot. As a pre-assessment we were asked to think of as things as we could think of to draw in a circle or dot. So you could incorporate science by having the students draw animals. To take it one step further you can also have students write a report about the animal they made or designed. It is also possible to use the dot made while painting the original dot. I truly enjoyed working on the dot project. All dots were unique, colorful and interesting. The Dot Day story was also enjoyable as it shows students that they can all be good at art.