Dojo Monster Door Art

Our class are big fans of Class Dojo! 

So for our door display this year we decided to create Dojo inspired monsters! 

Strand: Drawing

Strand Unit: Making Drawings

First we designed our monsters! 

I asked the children to create monsters which in someway represented themselves. 

Then we coloured them in using markers and cut them out.  

I then put backing paper on our door and displayed them. 

Simple, effective and very easy! 

Here is our final door display! 

Lego Self-Portrait Art

Heres something simple and different from the typical start of year self-portraits - 

Lego Self-Portraits! 
They are fun, bright and most importantly very easy to do!

Strand: Paint & Colour
Strand Unit: Painting

Here's how we did it.
Step 1: Draw your lego portrait.

Step 2: Use your choice of colour - markers, paints or crayons. 

Step 3: Create your background!

Step 4: Display! 

Self-Portrait Door Display

This is a door display which can be used all year round. 

It personalises your classroom and links with many themes including Self-Identity in SPHE and the Drawing strand in Art. 

We have all done self-portraits to death! 

However, this art lesson also incorporates digital photography and makes it a little more interesting and fun for the class. 

Simply print out a picture of each of the children and get them to cut it in half. 

(I recommended drawing a very light line in pencil first for a guide)

Then stick to a plain piece of white paper.

Draw and colour your other half! 

Cut any excess and back onto black card! 

If not for your door, I'm sure they will also make a lovely board display! 

Curricular Links

Art: Drawing & Paint/Colour

SPHE: Self-Identity

Confirmation Name Art - Digital Artwork on the iPad

Here is a great little project for confirmation classes that incorporates both ICT and art work.

Children investigated their chosen name.  I directed them with the following guidelines: 

1. Choose a name of a saint or a family member who is a good role model or important person in your life.
2. Write about the work of that saint, or why you admire the chosen individual.
3. Research the meaning of the name. 

4. Include any other interesting information you may have discovered in your research. 

We then used the 'Comic Life App'  on the iPad to create our posters. 

Children can be really creative here.  Import pictures, use speech bubbles and word art. 

There are also some preset themes which the children can avail of. 

Here are some of our works of art! 

It created a lovely bright colourful display which could be suitable for either display in school or the church. 

Reach for the Stars! - Door Display

Set the tone for the classroom right at the front door with this 

'Reaching for the Stars' art display! 

Here is one of the very first door art displays I did this year.  

We personalised the entrance to our classroom by creating kites and arms.  

The children created the kites using a selection of coloured cards, pritt stick and ribbon.  I purchased some pretty coloured ribbon for about a €1 a roll from Tiger! 

For the kites you are best choosing an A4 piece of base coloured card.  

1. Draw a diamond shape and cut it out. 

2.  Children may decide to draw and colour their own designs or cut out some additional shapes from other pieces of coloured card.  I left this option very open for the children to interpret themselves.

3. When finished designing cut out 4 strips which will become your 'criss cross' for the kite. 

4. Attach ribbon at back using sellotape. (Some children created bows using the card as an addition)

For the arms, the children traced around their own hands. 

They then personalised it with their own tattoos or henna designs. 

We then backed these onto coloured card. 

Both lessons could be used in two consecutive weeks 

or separately depending on which you prefer! 

This lesson falls both into the Drawing and Construction Strands of the Art Curriculum. 

It could also be linked with Shape & Space in Maths 

and Self - Identity in SPHE. 

Chinese New Year Art

The 28th of January marked Chinese New Year. 

To change things up from the standard Chinese Lantern we decided to create some animals based on the story of the Chinese Zodiac. 

We also looked at the story of Chinese New Year and which animal represented our birth year. 

We used a variety of materials including cardboard, egg cartons, ribbons, paint, glitter and coloured card to create our animals! You name it we used it! 

The presses were well and truly raided! 

Most of the children opted for the dragon! 

But we had a few roosters, rats and snakes! 

One group created a bigger dragon!

This lesson falls under the Construction Strand. 

Its a nice lesson which allows the children to get creative and imaginative.

Here are some pictures of the created pieces and the work process! 

They might inspire your art this week! 

Enjoy! 

Yvonne 

Top Picks for iPad - Kahoot!

Kahoot! is fast becoming one of my favourite educational tools in the classroom. 

Quite simply it is a highly engaging and interactive quiz perfect for use on the iPad with the whole class. 

Here's how it works:

• Choose a multiple choice quiz already created from one of the thousands online or alternatively create your own on any subject of choice. 

• Share the code with your class on the interactive whiteboard as in the example below. 

• Children input the code. Quiz questions appear on the IWB, with four possible options. 
• The four colours representing the four answers appear on the children's iPads. 
• The children must choose the correct answer as fast as they can. 
• A fantastic way to revise content in any subject with the children and a huge variety of quizzes already created online. 

It's a winner with every class and great fun! 

Be warned though! 

It can create some great excitement and competition in the class!

Enjoy!