Chalk Pastel Dinosaurs

I haven't taught this lesson since about 2019 and boy, have things gone downhill! My Grade 4-6 class really struggled with both manipulating the chalk, drawing the dinosaur and creating a creative landscape background for their dinosaur. 

For context, our Grade 4 students go on a field trip each year to the famous Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller. Set in the rugged Alberta badlands, the museum displays one of the world's largest collections of dinosaurs. Nearby is also Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park is well-known for being one of the richest dinosaur fossil locales in the world. Fifty-eight dinosaur species have been discovered at the park and more than 500 specimens have been removed and exhibited in museums around the globe. There's also incredible hoodoos you can hike around nearby. 

Our students go for an overnight trip to the museum where they get to sleep in the museum under the dinosaurs! I've been on this field trip and it's incredible!

Drumheller is also a cute town to visit in the summer, as it has loads of cute dinosaur sculptures scattered throughout the downtown. 

Anyway, back to the project! Students first practised drawing a dinosaur and then drew their good copy on 12 x 18" black construction paper. They outlined everything with a black oil pastel. Then they coloured it using chalk pastels. This was the messiest I've ever seen the kids be, with the boys absolutely covering their shirts in pastel. I've never seen anything like it before and will have to re-think how I teach chalk in the future. Overall, he boys maturity has dramatically declined since 2019. 

When it came to the background, there was little imagination and I really had to coax the kids. Honestly, I think this is symptomatic of a generation being raised in front of screens. They want to do everything fast and have little patience for subjects requiring sustained lengths of work and patience, like art. 

I have been reading the book The Anxious Generation, by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and it has been really eye opening and confirms what I have been seeing as a teacher who has taught for over 25 years. 

You can see my kids art from 2019 in my previous post HERE. What do you think?

Some Grade 5,6 results: 

 

Tissue Paper Faux Stained Glass Art Project

                                          

This is a faux stained glass lesson I have taught a few times over the past 15 years. Sadly, I am now seeing a decline in the ability of my junior high students to use X-acto blades. This was the first time I was super nervous using them with the class and might have to re-think this lesson in the future. The overall fine motor skills seems to appear generally weaker. I last taught this 3 years ago and had no issues.

Nonetheless, if you're interested in trying this out, check out my previous post HERE which has all the steps. Make sure you use really sturdy, good quality black construction paper for this project to be successful.

I store my tissue paper chaotically in drawers, lol.

Students sketch out a stained glass design of their choice on sturdy black construction paper. 

Then they cut it out using X-acto knifes on cutting boards.

Trace and cut out tissue paper shapes to glue on the back. This project took about 3 weeks to complete, depending on the complexity of each students' design. I laminate these once finished to help make them sturdier and protected.

Some finished artworks: Grade 7-9

Colour Wheel Snowflakes

This was a super fast lesson that only really took about 40 minutes to complete.

I wanted to review the colour wheel with my class and have them do an art lesson where they had to really concentrate using their fine motor skills- I'm finding my students the past five years have really gone downhill in terms of fine motor skills, and I'm not blaming covid!

I found the project inspiration HERE but tweaked it a bit. 

I have these awesome snowflake stencils from the brand Roylco.

Students chose one and traced it onto a square of cardstock in pencil.

Then they coloured each 'branch' using a different colour from the colour wheel (we skipped indigo).

You need to outline it three times so you have a nice thick band of colour/pigment.

Then, using a brush and water, paint over each marker line to dissolve it and create a soft shaded watercolour effect. If the line is too thin, it won't bleed much.

 

Birch Trees Watercolour Paintings

This is a very popular and well-known art teacher project- you can see variations all over the internet. 

I think it's so popular because there is a high student success rate with this lesson, due to using masking tape. I've posted versions of this project many, many times in the past.

I now normally do this lesson with my Grade 7-9 class. 

On heavy white paper, draw a wavy horizon line for the snow. Then students use different sized widths of masking paper and tear/cut tree shapes and put it on the paper. Some choose to add branches for extra realism.

Trace around the bottom of the tree trunks with a pencil.

Paint the sky using watercolours. Let dry.

Some add salt for texture.

The next class, carefully remove the masking tape. Mix up a cool toned light grey/blue and use it to paint shadows down on side of each tree trunk. |Then, using the same paint, add cast shadows from the bottom of each tree. Make sure you go in the same diagonal direction for each tree.

Final step is to add the signature black markings using a thin brush and black paint.

I always love how these come out- it's a real crowd pleaser!!