Mondrian Area and Perimeter Art Project Tutorial

I made a quick video tutorial to help you get started. When I did this activity, I began with an introduction to Piet Mondrian and a few key components of his art that we use in our project: the use of white, black lines, and custom primary colors. The Tate Kids website  is a helpful resource to introduce Mondrian and his work to students. I also use the online collection from MoMA to explore how those key components are present in much of his work. After introducing Mondrian and his abstract art, students create their own Mondrian inspired art  in Google Sheets! Watch my tutorial below to see how I prepped Sheets for my students, and which tech skills I taught through the project.

Throughout our measurement unit, I use my easy prep area and perimeter task cards to practice during whole group and small group lessons and to give my students independent practice. The bundle includes practice with each of the 3rd grade measurement standards around area and perimeter. From missing side lengths, to rectilinear figures, to word problems, this bundle covers our practice for weeks on end. I’ve also introduced area and perimeter in December using a themed unit. You can read more about my Elving Around with Area and Perimeter unit to take a closer look.

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What is Dot Day?

I’ll take my cue from Peter Reynolds when describing The Dot and Dot Day:

“The Dot is the story of a caring teacher who dares a doubting student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to “make her mark”. What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in confidence and courage, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing, which has gone on to inspire countless children and adults around the globe.”

Dot Day is an opportunity to focus on student individualism, perseverance, and courage. It allows you to carve out a chunk of time for student self-expression, and social-emotional learning. It celebrates the themes present in The Dot and gives voice to the important beliefs we all too often forget to remind ourselves of.

Dot Day starts with a sharing of the text- whether on that day or prior to. No reading of The Dot is complete without a discussion and exploration of the message behind the text. Dot Day continues with students making their own art piece incorporating their dot.

Participating in Dot Day

One of the best parts about participating in Dot Day is that you are able to make it work for you. Share the book with your students. Give them an opportunity to create. And, enjoy! Looking for ideas for you and your students? Sign up to receive the Educator’s Handbook that’s full of awesome ideas for classroom integration. There are several videos on The Dot Club and you can take a look at pictures in the Gallery. I also love the Dot Day Facebook page! Peter Reynolds shares tons of ideas from himself, and you get to see ideas from creators all over the world!

A few years ago, I used Google Drawings for our Dot Day project. My completed project is shown here. I wanted to introduce many digital tools to students and get them familiar with them. By using Drawings, my students were able to explore shape creation, color tools, groupings, and ordering. It allowed my students to build their skills with a tool they didn’t know well. It also allowed us to talk about digital artwork as a medium many weren’t already familiar with. While many students already have feelings about themselves as artists, creating art digitally made everyone a bit less confident in their art. Students could really connect with Vashti.

Once students finished, they shared the file with me so I could print them. We matted them on construction paper and displayed our Dot Day inspiration in the hallway. Using Drawings is a great idea in 2020 no matter your school setting. Of course, you can use traditional art mediums as well. I’ve seen some tremendous watercolor dot projects!

Do you celebrate Dot Day in your classroom? Have you heard incorporated the Creatrilogy from Peter Reynolds? Share your ideas in the comments below!

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DIY Marbled Cards

I love following The Artful Parent for art inspiration for my classroom.  I came across this post on making marbled paper with shaving cream, and it gave me the idea to do marbled paper cards as a Christmas gift for parents.  I bought a couple sets of cards and envelopes so I had enough for my students each to design 4 cards.  I then just used a baking dish from home, dollar store shaving cream (make sure it’s the cream or foam and not the gel), little popsicle sticks I had bought for a project, and liquid watercolors we keep stocked at school.

Items needed: cards and envelopes, shaving cream (1 can was enough for me), liquid watercolors, dish large enough to put the face of the card inside, popsicle stick or other stirring item, cardboard or other similar surface to clean card off with, lots of newspaper to contain the mess, ribbon to wrap the cards).

First, I spread shaving cream along the base of the dish.  Students chose a few colors to use and put 4-5 drops of each in the dish.  For a stronger marbled color, more would be needed.  But, given that I would be replacing the shaving cream every 4 cards, I didn’t want to waste.  Then, students used  a popsicle stick to swirl around the colored dots.

Students gently set a side of the card down into the shaving cream and pushed around the card to ensure cream touched as many spots as possible.  Then they gingerly lifted the card up for me to slide the shaving cream off.

This is where things got nice and messy, but it’s also where the students ‘oohed’ and ‘aahhed’ as they saw their paper turn colors.  Every card I’d take the remaining cream and slide it onto the side of the garbage can while students were pressing their next one in.  It’s important to get all of the shaving cream off the card so I sometimes would take a second swipe to get a little bit that was remaining.

After one student finished, I’d put a bit more shaving cream in the dish on top of the old one (in an effort to not waste too much and to speed things up).

Then the next student would add their colors on top and repeat.  I completely cleaned out the dish after every 3 or 4 students.  This helped keep things fresh for each student, and it kept previous colors from creeping up too much and browning or purpling everything after students mixed.

I laid the cards out on my table for a few minutes to dry a bit; though they don’t take too long to dry.  After several minutes, I’d move the cards to students’ desks to finish drying.

Because the cards had gotten wet with the shaving cream, they curled up a bit and didn’t close.  To help this, after the cards were mostly dry (drying doesn’t take too long) we stacked them all on top of each other upside down and laid a couple books on top to flatten them.  We were able to leave them for an hour or so and it was enough to help flatten them out.

Students used an Ultra Fine Point Sharpie to write their names on the back of the cards as the designer of the cards.

At the end of the day, students chose if they wanted to use red or green ribbon to wrap their cards.  They’d come up, I’d stack them on a set of 4 envelopes, and make a quick bow.

I talked with students about giving all 4 cards as a gift to someone they care about.  They didn’t quite understand why we were giving cards as a gift because in their minds cards are cards- not gifts.

The kids were excited to have the cards and I have a little suspicion that the ribbon was quickly tossed for the kids to give the cards to people for Christmas.  I’m just fine with that too.

While this was a certainly messy project, it was also certainly fun and relatively easy and inexpensive for parent gifts.  I think we’ll be making marbled paper for some other projects in the future.

Geometric Painted Canvases

I also decided to do a purely art parent gift- canvas ornaments!  I know a lot of people do the clear glass ornaments with either paint or pictures as Christmas gifts, but those have never turned out for me (I’m full of Pinterest-fail stories!).  I got the idea as I was browsing around Hobby Lobby.  I purchased the smallest and cheapest canvases I could find and only spent about $12 on them.  I then bought acrylic paint and used washi tape I already had and paint brushes we have at school so it wasn’t very expensive. I got mine from Hobby Lobby but these from Amazon are similar.

Ideas needed: small canvases, paint, paintbrush, washi tape or painters tape, paint pen, newspaper

To begin, I had students use washi tape to divide their painting into sections.  I modeled two sections so most students started there, but several others divided their paintings into 4 pieces.

Students had 6 colors to choose from and painted one section to start.  We talked about how we would need for it to dry before removing the tape, and being able to paint the other side.

We let the canvases dry while we worked on other projects.

Then students had the option to use more tape to further divide their canvas to create additional sections to paint if they wanted.

I tried to keep my directions pretty vague on this because I truly wanted the kids to design the canvas all on their own.  It allowed their creativity to really shine through!  Some students got inspired from others they saw, some had great ideas all on their own, and some even dabbled in mixing paints to get new colors.  It was a great opportunity for me to let go and really let each child’s personality and creatively shine through.

Some students decided to leave the white canvas come through after we removed the tape.  Others used white paint on that section rather than leaving the natural canvas.  Others added paint onto that taped section, albeit that paint wasn’t as neat and orderly as other sections were.

After drying, students used an Elmer’s Painters paint marker to add their initials and year to sign their canvas.  This was the black paint marker I already had on hand, but any paint pen or marker will do.

After drying completely, students chose red or green ribbon as their ornament hanger which I hot glued to the back.  I also made sure to ask students which direction was up before gluing.

I love how these little mini paintings turned out!  While they are larger than a typical tree ornament (I’d probably look for smaller canvases in the future), they also could be used on a door or on a hook.  I think the best part about student created ornaments is saving them over time and watching children grow.

We had a great time creating our parent gifts this year, and I love that they were very student focused instead of teacher focused.  These will both be redone in the future.

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We have back to school night the day before school starts.  I typed up each student’s name using KG Red Hands (it’s one of my favorite fonts, and it’s free for personal use) and printed them two per page onto 12″x18″ construction paper sheets.  During Back to School Night students grabbed their name plate and chose the seat where they wanted to start the year.

They’re pretty easy to create yourself, but I know teachers are always looking to save precious minutes when they can so I created a free template.  Because printing on 12″x18″ isn’t possible on regular printers, and was even a pain to do on our large copy machine, the template was created for regular paper.  It could easily be modified by changing the page size, enlarging the text box, and then enlarging the font.  The nice thing about these is that the text autoresizes to fit the page on longer names, and that will continue to work even if you enlarge the page size and font.  To download the free template, click on the cover below.

On the first day of school, students’ morning work was just to illustrate their name tags.  I love that students get to have a choice in where they sit, helping them feel welcome, and that our first day morning work is non-stressful, and calming.  I originally got this idea (I think) from Teaching with a Mountain View several years ago, but this is the first year I did it in my classroom and I love it!  

Students love that their name plates are something they were part of and love having it on their desk.  I just laminated them after school the first day and then used Velcro to stick them to the desks.

I also wanted to integrate students in a Back to School Bulletin Board.  I had the idea to do a “Sailing through Second” theme (I love alliteration!) and despite several hiccups along the way, I love the way this turned out.  First, I put a layer of yellow paper on top, a layer of blue paper on the bottom, and the cut the blue in waves.  I couldn’t find a border in my stock that I liked so I used white tissue paper and stapled it along the edges.  “Sailing through Second Grade” was just printed onto paper using fonts I have on my computer and cut out.  I need a Cameo or Cricut to do this cuteness for me, for sure.

To match the sailing theme, I told my students that they were the “captains” of their own learning.  I associated them to a fleet of ships, and told them while they’re in the same ocean as each other and need to work together to ensure they’re all on the right path, they truly are the captain; that their effort determined their course.  Each student made their own foldable paper hat using directions I found on the internet and a piece of white construction paper.  We wrote “Capt.” and their name along the side and I took a picture of each student in their hat saluting.  While I was photographing each student, the others were decorating the bases of their boats that would be hung on the bulletin board. (Before I get hate mail, I know ships and boats are not the same thing).  I had the great idea to use pipe cleaner to hold up the triangle sails my students cut.  Here’s a tip: pipe cleaners will not glue to paper.  So, boats were assembled as I hung them up on the bulletin board using staples.  I remade my template to include a sail on the paper due to that mishap.  Just like the name plates, the names on the boat auto-resize for long names.

To download my template Powerpoint click here.  Please note: it’s also set up using KG Red Hands and due to that and the resizing, it should not be used in Google Sheets but downloaded to be used in Powerpoint.  I printed each student’s picture as a 5×7 and printed two per page.  That gave us one as a back up if a student cut their arm (or other body part off), or as a nice, fun item to take home at the end of the day.

We also spent some time talking about growth mindset and the Power of “Yet”.  I used the amazing videos from Class Dojo to introduce key pieces and we had class discussions about what Mojo and Katie learned about their brains and learning.

Then, I used this lesson from Brown Bag Teacher to further our discussion about “yet” and learning to do things we don’t already know how to do.  Because I looped with most of my kids, it was easy for me to give my own personal touch: last year I told them that I can’t whistle, but a little whistle has actually started to come through and I was able to show them that I’ve improved.  We read Giraffes Can’t Dance as a mentor text for the idea of learning new things.

We began with students drawing the giraffe’s body in pencil.  I directed students to draw a circle, but an oval probably would have been more realistic.  Then students drew rectangles, or parallel lines for the legs and neck.  We finished with the head and then went back to add trapezoids for the hooves.  Students colored in their giraffes using yellow markers and then chose brown or black markers to add the giraffe’s dots, mane, and hoof colorings.  Most students emulated my example for how the legs on the giraffe were angled, though they did not have to.

The next day we worked on our backgrounds.  We used the paints my school had,  and they definitely didn’t work as well as I would have liked.  The paints had different textures and didn’t mix well.  We began by making a white circle for the moon, and then did an inch or two of yellow on the bottom.  Then we mixed the white with blue to start creating the space around the moon.  So many of my students used too much yellow so their paintbrushes were still full of yellow.  That combined with our less than desirable blue paint gave us a very yellow heavy night sky.

We continued adding onto our night sky and added some purple to help deepen the blue.  Then we added green over the yellow, and quickly used the back of the paintbrush to scratch through so the green would come out.  I also showed students how to take the paintbrush back and drag up a bit of paint to show blades of grass popping up.  While the paint was drying we very carefully cut out our giraffes from the day before.  After waiting a bit longer, we glued them down being careful to let the moon shine through, and not have our giraffes hanging off the page.  These turned out so adorable!

When I hung them in the hallway, I made a little sign that said “Giraffes CAN dance!”  This might have been my favorite back to school week yet!

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I began by introducing the work of M.C, Escher.  The North Carolina Museum of Art has a great Escher slideshow that I used to have students explore and discuss his work.  We spent a lot of time talking about the precision needed to create his art pieces and the symmetry that is used to create optical illusions.  I also did a Google image search on Escher and showed students some of his most well known op art (optical art) pieces.  While Escher is well known for tesselations, I thought this project would be a bit easier on my first graders, especially if completed in colors. I introduced students to the 6-inch ruler we’d be using to draw our shapes.  I started by drawing a 3 inch line and then explaining to students that we were going to use it to draw a square then asking what size lines we’d need to use to finish the square.  In order to create the optical illusion more clearly, I recommend not using vertical lines, but more slanted ones in order to create the intended visual effect. (Some of my pictures show vertical lines, but right as I started coloring, I realized my mistake, and we started over.)  I then continued with a 1″x4″ rectangle and then a 2 inch triangle.  Because students hadn’t ever used a ruler before (our standards in first grade do not include measuring with standard units) and had never used it to draw a shape with a specific length, this set of directions took longer and required more on the fly reteaching with students than I had initially anticipated.  If you’re doing this project with firsties too, I’d recommend going slower and more sequentially than you might think at first. Creating the circle was a challenge, but it was a shape we had been covering so I wanted to use it in our project.  So, we used our rulers to help.  First, we made dots at 0, 1, and 2 inches.  Then we made a perpendicular set of dots while keeping the 1 in the same location.  We then talked about fractions as we spun our ruler around each quadrant to draw more dots, all while keeping the center dot on the 1.  What resulted was a set of dots we could use to help us draw a circle. And then connect the dots! We used a square, circle, triangle, and rectangle as these were the focus of most of our shape discussions.  However, you can use any shape you’d like.  I even had a student recreate the project by tracing pattern blocks.  There’s no wrong way. Once the shapes were drawn lightly using pencils, we went over the lines using a black Sharpie Fine Point Marker.   I wanted my students to clearly see the defined line between the inside and outside of the shapes, but in the future, I’d use a black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Marker as I think that thinner black line would help the illusion stand out more. The next step was to place the paper landscape and then measure out every inch using a 12-inch ruler.  We placed very small and light dots towards the top of the page and then slid the ruler down to do it again near the bottom of the page.  The students’ dots were not always lined up as precisely as possible, but that’s part of working with and using a ruler and older students would probably be more precise.  Then, the page was turned portrait and students used the ruler to connect the dots and draw lines across the page.  The two sets of dots helped students ensure that they were not only drawing lines, but lines that were straight and perpendicular to the page rather than slanted. Once our piece was drawn, it was time to add color!  Even though M.C. Escher created most of his pieces just using black and white, color is needed to make this optical illusion (and makes it easier for students to complete). We discussed complementary colors and chose colors opposite each other on the color wheel.  I found a color wheel online and displayed it for my kids as they chose their color.  One of my kids did not understand this direction and used analogous colors, which resulted in a different feel in her piece.  I used red violet and lime Mr. Sketch Gel Crayons. This was my first time working with the Mr. Sketch Gel Crayons, though the markers are my absolute favorite!  I immediately fell in love!  While the scent is not as strong as I’m used to with the marker, the smoothness of the color was awesome.  They produce such a strong, rich color and glide across the paper.  The Mr. Sketch Gel Crayons gave the visual look of waxy crayons, but it did not leave the paper feeling waxy or with a residue like waxy crayons often do. They’re large and round so they’re not great for coloring precisely, which means they probably were not the best choice for this particular art project, but the bright, rich colors outweighed that for me.  With that said, the color didn’t match the tube as much as I would have liked, especially with the purple I chose.  But, knowing that, and often not needing a very specific color, it won’t be an issue very often. To help students complete the needed color effect, I directed students to only color outside of the shapes at first.  We again discussed precision and the need for working slowly and deliberately. Once the background pattern is complete, the shapes really stand out! In order to make sure students really understood what they needed to do to invert the colors, I met with each student individually and demonstrated on their paper to guide them.  I was really impressed with the focus and perseverance my students demonstrated as they colored. To display, I placed the final pieces onto black construction paper.  The black background really helps the image stand out, especially since they weren’t placed onto a bulletin board, but rather a wall.  I used a silver Sharpie Metallic Marker to write each student’s name on the back of the black construction paper.  These are the only thing I’ve found that really stand out on the black. Did you know that makes repositionable glue?  Well, they do!  The Elmer’s Re-Stick glue stick is respositionable for 5 minutes so it’s perfect when you’re trying to place something and will maybe need to adjust it. I did find that the paper didn’t stick as well as I’m used to, so I used extra glue.  I wouldn’t recommend this particular glue on a project where the students are going to be using it often (in an interactive notebook for example) but for something that is glued once and done it’s great to have as an option. The optical illusion really stands out when the page is looked at on the side. My students loved working on the project and really loved looking at their own and others’ finished projects!  The students who chose complementary colors and have rich, deliberate coloring had the best outcomes.

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