Weeks of 1/5/26 and 1/12/26 - 3rd rotation with UTK, kindergarten and 1st grade

 How is 2026 already!!?? Our youngest artists returned this week for their 3rd rotation!

UTK students painted their clay houses (that I fired in December) using acrylic paint. They also strung beads on a pipe cleaner so the houses could be hung. I absolutely love how these turned out!!!

Students also created artwork on canvases inspired by the work of artist Sheree Smith. We first looked at her works and had a class discussion about the colors we saw, the lines, what the artist may have used to make the art and how the works made us feel. We first wrote our name and room # on the back of the canvas with pencil. Students then placed their canvas landscape wise in front of them and created4 horizontal lines. They then divided each area using 2-3 vertical lines. Students colored each box with a different color paint stick, and then used acrylic paint to create lines inside each area to finish their work.

Kindergarten students looked at the sculpture of artist Ugo Rondinone and we had a class discussion about what we saw, why the artist created this work and how he could have created this. Several students were able to recognize this work as being in Las Vegas. We talked about the words "sculpture" and "stacking". 

Students then used a wooden dowel, cube and base and connected them using glue. They then stacked up pieces with openings and glued additional pieces to their work. The following week, once the pieces were dry, students used acrylic paint on their work to complete it.

1st graders returned to paint their clay owls that I fired in December. They too strung beads on a pipe cleaner so they could hang their work.

During the next class, students looked at the heart themed works of different artists, and we had a class discussion about how the works were similar and different. Students traced a heart on a 9"X12" watercolor paper, created 4 vertical and 3 horizontal lines with pencil. They then traced the heart and the lines inside using a black chisel tip Sharpie and filled the boxes with warm color twistable color pencils. Once done, they traced the lines outside the heart with the Sharpie and used cool color twistable color pencils to color the boxes in to complete their work.

Weeks of 12/8/25 and 12/15/25 - 3rd rotation with 4th and 5th graders

This week, 4th graders returned to create glue Batik bugs! I had implemented this lesson with 4th graders 2 years back and have been working on tweaking it so the final results would be better. 

Batik is a fabric embellishment involving a resist process that originated in Indonesia. Artists use hox wax to cover areas of white fabric, dip it in dye and then melt the wax so the areas covered with wax remain white while the other areas have color. This process is repeated with several colors until the desired effect is reached. 

In the past, I have had students use white glue instead of wax on cotton fabric and acrylic paint instead of fabric dye. The result was beautiful, but it was a lot of work scraping the white glue off the cotton handkerchiefs.

This year I had students used 12" white satin napkins with white glue and a brand of fabric dye called "Dye Na Flow" that my awesome colleague Ms.Kathi introduced me to. The resulting works had vibrant colors, and it was easy to wash off the glue simply by soaking the fabric in hot water for about 30 minutes.

Students created 3 sketches of bugs, selected one, traced it on a 12" white paper with chisel tip Sharpie, taped the fabric over it and traced it with white glue during the first class. 

During the 2nd class, once the glue had dried, they used a variety of colors with brush to paint over the glue and cover the entire fabric with paint. I soaked their works in hot water once the paint was dry and scraped the glue off by scrubbing the fabric and rinsing in clean water. The pieces dried QUICK in the drying rack!

5th graders returned to create teapot sculptures! I have been having our community donate yogurt containers since August and I finally had enough containers for all 5 5th grade classes to work on this lesson. 

During the first class, we looked at images of teapots and the different components - lid, handle and spout. Students stacked the yogurt containers in the order they wished to, taped them with masking tape and covered them with strips of tape. 

Next, they used cardboard strips with paper towels and covered them with tape and attached it to their teapot. They then rolled an index card, taped it so it looked like a cone and attached it to the teapot and also covered it with tape. They also added a bead/ glue stick lid to their teapot lid so it would resemble the part on an actual teapot that people lift to add water into the teapot.

Once done, students started painting their teapot using acrylic paint. Students will finish their work during the next rotation. They have worked so hard on this lesson, and I love seeing how the shape of the teapot, handle and placement, the spout and colors are all different.

Weeks of 11/10/25 and 12/1/25 - 3rd rotation with 2nd and 3rd grades

 This week 2nd and 3rd graders returned for their 3rd art rotation.

2nd graders worked on their printmaking lesson! Students cut self-adhesive foam into a variety of organic and geometric shapes, arranged them and stuck them on green circle lids I had received as a donation. They also painted inside boxes that I had pre-drawn on a 9" x 12" watercolor paper using a complementary color combination with watercolors. During the next class, students painted their foam shapes with black acrylic paint and pressed them into each box to create prints.

2nd graders also worked on an assemblage lesson inspired by the artist Loiuse Nevelson. During the first class, we had a class discussion while looking at her work. Each student received a 9"x12" cardboard and variety of small cardboard pieces, plastic lids, wooden pieces and popsicle sticks. I showed students how to peel one layer of the cardboard to reveal the bumps inside. They arranged and glued their objects using white school glue. During the next class, they painted their work using a monochromatic color to finish their work.

3rd graders worked on their weaving and motif making lesson! We looked at fabric using a magnifying glass and discussed how it is made from yarn by a weaving technique. We practiced drawing a variety of lines and shapes and combined at least two of each to design motifs. Each student designed four motifs and selected two to use in their final work.

During the next class, students cut lines on a folded 12"x18" construction paper on which I had drawn lines two inches apart. They used 6 2"x12" paper strips in a single color to go over and under and weave. Once done, they added their motifs. One motif on one color square and the other on the second color square. They also took a photo of their art and uploaded it on Google classroom.

Weeks of 10/27/25 and 11/3/25 - Second rotation with UTK, Kinders and 1st grade

 UTK, kinders and 1st graders returned for their 2nd 2-week rotation! It is always lovely to see the UTK students and some of the kinders getting more familiar with the classroom, asking me questions and engaging more readily by this time if they are new to Zamorano! It is also lovely to see kinder students and 1st grade students that have been in the school the previous year start taking more responsibility of the classroom and guiding the new students.

UTK students and 1st graders created art with clay. 

I read the story "The Big Orange Splot" by Daniel Manus Pinkwater to UTK students - this is one of my favorite books! I gave each student a clay slab and showed them how to slice the top corners off like a triangle using a plastic knife. Once done, they drew a horizontal line to create the roof and door. They used the slip and score technique to add the triangles they cut off to create windows and added a variety of textures to complete their work.

1st graders created owls after we read the story "Little Owl's night" by Divya Srinivasan. Each table received 2 owl templates, and each student received a clay slab. They used the template to cut an outline of an owl. They then used a wooden pencil tool to draw curved lines for wings, added textures and a slip and score technique to add large eyes and a nose to complete their work.

Kinder students created a printmaking artwork! Each student received a 9"X12 " watercolor paper. They used a variety of objects such as legos, forks and cups and that they dipped in black acrylic paint to create prints and then used glitter watercolors to paint the areas between the prints. 

The following week, all grades engaged in a color mixing lesson. I gave each student plastic shapes in primary colors that we held two at a time to see how they change into a secondary color! I love how excited students get when we do this :)

I read the story "Mouse paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh to UTK students after which I gave each student a 9" X 12" watercolor paper. We drew five curved lines, numbered the areas using a pencil and after which we started adding painting the 3 primary colors in. I then gave students additional primary colors they could mix to create secondary colors and add them into the remaining areas to finish their rainbows.

Kinder students created a variety of horizontal and vertical lines on their paper along with circles, outlined them with a black Sharpie marker and painted primary colors first. They followed the same steps as the UTK students mixing 2 primary colors to create secondary colors and painted them in the spaces on their paper.

I read the story "The Cat and the Bird - A children's book inspired by Paul Klee" by Geraldine Elschner to first grade students. I love this book for its sweet story and how shapes are stacked up to create the buildings. Once finished, students used the plastic shapes to stack them up, draw the outline with pencil and create buildings in three different sizes - tall, medium and short. Students traced the shapes using a black oil pastel and painted primary colors in some of the shapes. They then mixed them to create secondary colors and painted them in the remaining shapes to complete their work.

Weeks of 10/13/25 and 10/20/25 - Second rotation with 4th and 5th grades

 4th graders returned to create prints. Students used warm and cool color neon oil pastels on a 12" square white cardstock with cool and warm color neon oil pastels. during the first one hour 20-minute class incorporating symmetry.

During the next class, they created a design using self-adhesive form on cardboard and incorporated rotational symmetry for the print!

Fifth graders started designing their Chess piece on Tinkercad. I gave each student their class code and student code, we practiced how to log on to the website and used several tools together. Students created a sketch using up to four geometric shapes on their paper and created their piece using forms on Tinkercad. 

During the next class, we created buildings using one point perspective. Students first created a vanishing point on a 11" X 14" card stock and drew six shapes using a pencil. We then used a ruler to connect the corners to the vanishing point to make it appear three dimensional. Students used color pencils to color their buildings, add line patterns to the top and also add streets if they wished to.

5th grade students also created a marigold artwork for Zamorano's Dia De Los Muertos display at Old Town! Students used neon oil pastels for their works, and 40 student works have been on display for two weeks with a black light so they could "glow"!

Our school was featured in the Sunday newspaper as well :)

Here is the link - https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/10/25/san-diego-unified-student-artists-honor-the-dead-grandparents-pets-and-freddie-mercury/

Weeks of 9/29/25 and 10/6/25 - Second rotation with 2nd and 3rd grades

 2nd and 3rd graders returned for 2 weeks of rotation with me.

2nd graders worked on a tint-shade lesson inspired by the book Monochromatic Dan. I wanted students to use a ruler for this lesson. They first wrote their name and room # on a 11" X 14" posterboard using a pencil. They then used a ruler to create 6 lines. I showed them how the lines needed to go from one side of the paper to the other and how they needed to hold the paper so the ruler wouldn't move while they drew lines. 

Students then created an organic or geometric shape of their choice on the blank side of the paper and also created 6-7 lines using a pencil such that it divided their space into smaller shapes. Students traced all pencil lines using a black Sharpie.

Each student selected a cool color of their choice in tempera paint a few shapes inside their organic/ geometric shape. I gave them white paint to mix in to create their first tint, paint a few more shapes and then finally white paint once more to paint the remaining shapes.

Students returned next class and selected a warm color of their choice to paint the shapes outside. I gave them black paint two times to create two different shades to finish painting their shapes to complete their work. This lesson took two classes to complete.

Students also worked on a castle lesson. We looked at castles from around the world to see how they were similar/ different. Students practiced drawing and combining a variety of lines and shapes that they could use in their final work. 

During the next class, students cut, arranged and organize sparkly scrapbooking paper (that I received as donation) to create their castle inspired by the one they saw and chose from the previous week. They used metallic markers to add details and complete their work!

3rd graders returned to create postage stamps. Each student selected a country, currency and value for their stamp. They searched on Google for famous landmarks from the country of their choice and created 4 sketches on their planning sheet. They selected one sketch to use in their final artwork. They used color pencils to color their landmark and the colors of the flag of that country for the background using watercolors. This took us three one-hour classes to complete.

Students also painted their donuts that I fired! We used acrylic paint in a variety of colors in the style of the artist Jae Young Kim. I love how these turned out!!!