New Art for the Helen DeVos Children's hospital

My first and second graders are having so much fun making their large paintings, I had to share them with you. We are in the process of making 36 new paintings for the new Helen DeVos Children's hospital.


My students came up with ideas for paintings of things that make them happy. Then we used our document camera and projector to enlarge the 8.5x11 inch drawings on to large sheets of paper. Then they choose a team to help them paint their design. Each class was responsible for making 6 paintings.

My Matisse

My second graders looked at the art work of Henri Matisse and created these wonderful cut outs.

I am the biggest thing in the Ocean

There is always someone bigger and better, but that should not stop you from trying to do your best which is the moral of the story "I am the Biggest Thing in the Ocean" After my first graders heard the story we painted these giant squid.

Second Grade Coil Pots

My second graders learned how to create their coil pots. They enjoyed hearing about the coil pots that Juan Quezada built. We read the book "The Pot That Juan Built" prior to making our own beautiful coil pots.

It Is Clay Time!

Fresh out of the kiln.

3rd graders have been making these super cute trees. They start out as pointy pinch pots then they add the details. If you like these check out Mrs. Brouwer's cool trees! http://josettebrouwer.edublogs.org/2010/12/01/clay-projects-continue-2/

The Pot A Second Grader Built

My 2nd graders are making their own coil pots after I read them the book "The Pot that Juan Built". We also talked about the effect creating art can have on community and culture.

When a Bad Lesson Turns Good!

Last week I was trying to get my 3rd graders to make really complex color wheels. It was not going very well! I decided to abandon the wheels. But I still wanted them to play around with mixing colors and with Thanksgiving right around the corner. I decided to have them draw cartoon turkeys and make 6 feathers I only gave them yellow, red, blue black and white and asked them to make these rainbow turkeys. They had a blast and the turkeys turned out much better then the wheels. They mixed each color to create tints and shade then mixed all the colors to create the body.