Klee Complete

To finish up our Klee project with the First Grade classes, we did a color wash.

This is really simple to do...
I pop out some black watercolor ovals from the Prang sets, place them in a dish and pour some water over them.  I do this so there is NO temptation of mixing other colors into the black paint....saves me some clean up in the long run.

I only let 6 to 8 students paint at a time.  It helps keep a little control of the black paint.  As they finish covering their picture with the watercolor wash, I use a rag to wipe the puddles off and then into the drying rack.

Check out the awesome art!

Hot Days - Cool Klee

I love the beginning of the year with First Grade classes.  We get to look at the art of a very cool artist named Paul Klee (pronounced Klay.....do you get the reference now of Hot Days - Cool Klay?)

He used the greatest shapes and awesome colors in his art.

Learn more about Paul Klee here.

We started in class with an idea of Continuous Squares.  I forgot to snap a picture of this, so bear with me..... I made a little jpeg image.

Once the crayon starts moving.....

Keep it moving until the squares are complete.

We use a black crayon to start.

No mistakes - remember?  

......no erasing either.

I do remind the kids to fill the space of the paper.
We don't touch the edge or let the lines run off the edge.

Then the students start to add color.  We talk about color and color choices. Bright colors are a great choice for this project, but I don't want to give them too many clues about what is next.  I just try to steer them away from coloring with black crayon.  I use an excuse that I really LOVE to see the black line of the squares.  We also talk about trying to color some of the squares white....we just have to remember WHICH squares we choose for the white crayon.

And then we start to color

HARD, 

HARD, 

HARD!

The shinier the crayon on your paper....the better.

Housekeeping!

I spend too much time cleaning up after projects.
It is the worst part of art...the craftermath!

UGH!

I have tried to get kids excited about cleaning up, I have tried lists, I have tried bribing, music, more time, less time, stickers.......

.....and now this:

The list is still there, just in a different way.

1. Where do I put my art? Right now the choices are in your table folder or in the drying rack.
    The kids reminded me of other places I sometimes have them put their art to rest....
    I need a few more pictures.
2. What tools do I have to put away? A few samples I put up were scissors, glue, paint brushes
    and trays, and the other is if they need to wash their brushes (younger kids place theirs in a cup
    or bowl for me to wash.)
3. Sinks are assigned to two tables to wipe and dry. NO PUDDLES!
4. Tables are assigned to be sprayed and wiped by two tables. LESS FIGHTING!
5. Floors are assigned to two tables and are SPOTLESS!

There will be other odd jobs now and then, otherwise two tables get a vacation as jobs are rotated.  YEAH! We all love vacations.

Week Two had a little confusion with younger kids because they still want to do it ALL!
Overall it was so much better.....

....and did I mention my floor?

So clean.  Even little pieces of paper swept up in the new little dust pans I bought in the
TOY section at the grocery store!  The kids love them!

(I am realizing a picture inserted here would be incredible, however,
I am blogging at home and the dust pans are at school. Maybe when I get
them hung in their spot, I will snap that picture and post it!)

Hope you love this idea and I wish a clean art room for everyone!