nature art prints

Afterschool Mexican folk-art-inspired paintings

Murch garden-inspired drawings turned into watercolor paintings

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3rd graders draw small wonders from the garden to then use in their watercolor paintings

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3rd graders begin painting large shapes in their Murch-inspired landscapes

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3rd graders sketch buildings and trees in our community

3rd graders got to go outdoors and draw the buildings (and trees) around the school using rulers to help them gauge the correct perspective.

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3rd graders stuff their designed pillows and sew it shut

Children in 3rd grade have been LOVING sewing. So much that I think we might extend the learning into a more in-depth project that takes what they learned in their pillow-making into a new level. I could say with certainty that it has been an amazing experience for them to actually create a pillow.....from beginning to end. I will post pictures of some of the finished pillows later.

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3rd graders sew their African-inspired designed pillows today

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3rd grade sewing their pillows

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Our African Inspired Designs on our Pillow cases

African-inspired designed pillow cases (George /3rd grade)

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3rd graders in Ms. George's class work to complete their limited-edition Art Trading Cards (ATCs)

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3rd graders prepare for their animal paintings by sketching images of real animals

Children in 3rd grade were given magizine/calendar images of animals to sketch out various animals in their sketchbooks. If your child has not yet bought in a composition book to be used as a sketchbook, please send them in this coming week. At the end of the year, having all their initial ideas and sketches for each project in one place will be a great item to take back home and continue in the summer. The secret to having a successful realistic drawing lesson is having lots and lots of images on the subject. Children will then be able to choose images that will make them feel most successful and it also helps with any arguments over some more desired animals for there are too many awesome ones to choose from.

Next, we will be talking about composition and color recipes. The final works will be paintings of their favorite animals using all the skills gained in the unit; from realistic sketching, to composition and color mixing.

3rd Graders paint their favorite foods. These mixed-media paintings will be exhibited by the lunch line next week.

3rd graders have been learning all about color recipes. The obsession began when they painted their sculptures from the last unit, when they discovered how fun it was to create new colors through mixing 2-3 colors. We then went on a scientific journey to find out ways to create 'color recipes' using varying percentages of pure colors. For this activity their assignment was to use what they learned about color recipes to create a painting of their favorite foods. Next, they have chosen a group topic on their own and will go through a more formal process to create a final piece. Check back later to see our progress in this vary intense painting unit.

How limitations spur creativity and discoveries

I gave each child 6 colors; black, white, red, blue, yellow and brown and they created so many new colors. Here are some sample swatches of their creations. In limiting their palettes children learn how to tweak the color recipes to create new colors. After gaining some experience in this, children can begin to purposely mix specific amounts to create a specific color.

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3rd graders begin sculpting unit by using recycled postcards to create 3d structures

While living in New York I was doing a lot of wedding photography. These are postcards with my NY-based business info on them now being repurposed into sculpting materials. The kids had a wonderful time creating various 3D sculptures.

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Our 3D trees are DONE!!!! Ta da!!

I promised I'd post the pictures of the kids finishing up their tree and here they are. Notice our trees look amazingly sturdy. We painted the brown. We then created leaf printing plates based on real leaf sketches of trees right here at Murch. We then printed, trimmed and glued on these trees....only took six 45 minutes lessons.....but what a journey it's been.

This is a different Murch tree, hence the different looking leaves. After break I will take the kids out to the school and see if we can find our matching tree in the yard. Very exciting stuff!!

We've been asked to help with the set of Little Red Riding Hood, and these trees will be used in the set for two days. I will then have the children vote on where they could be placed on display.

Backdrop for Little Red Riding Hood (3RD)

Since 3rd graders have been working on lesson plans related to the Murch garden or trees on our property, this one particular class studied varied ways to make the color green. Green generally is the mix of blue and yellow. Yet, artists learn that when you tweak that basic recipe and add more blue, you get another color. And when you add more yellow, you also get a new color.

For this activity, these children were given blue, yellow, white and black and told to create as many variations of green as they could.
These explorations will later be used for the backdrop for the play, Little Red Riding Hood happening in May at Murch with some of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes.

When the class ended, I told them that today they probably invented a new green. I don't think they will ever see any color in a singular way again.

Amazingly detailed bird sketches (3rd Grade/HSU)

This 3rd grade class made the most amazing birdhouse for the Murch garden out of popsicles sticks. To decorate the birdhouse we made detailed sketches of birds that will afterwords be decoupaged on the house. I connected adding 'details' to our drawings as similar to adding 'details' to our stories. I told a story with very little detail and then the same story with many more details, then asked the kids which story they preferred. Kids loved the more detailed story. I then told them that the 'viewer' too prefers more details, for the eyes have more to see. On that note, I gave them wonderful calendar images (donated by Murch parents) from which to sketch from. I LOVE how amazingly different these sketches are!!