Mrs. Miller's Makers!: April - June Art Update!

Hello all!

Thanks so much for stopping by "Mrs. Miller's Makers" one last time for the school year!

Hopefully the kids are enjoying the first couple of days of summer and haven't driven you too nuts... yet ;) I feel so privileged to be their art teacher and hope that every single one of them had at least one highlight in art class this year. I hope also, that families enjoyed looking at all of their art creations that came home. Each one was made with a great deal of thought, creativity, artistic skill, and heart. Please cherish it and let me know if you need any recommendations on framing or displaying. Hobby Lobby is my go to and has great sales on frames!

A highlight from May...

5th Grade Fine Arts Nights!

A highly anticipated event at the end of the school year is our 5th grade Fine Arts Night! I had the honor (and challenge) of being at all three school so my Fine Arts Nights were tripled! Triple the talent and triple the fun :) Each of the 5th grade students rocked it. It was so awesome to celebrate all of their years growing as young artists and musicians. We were so proud of them and hope everyone enjoyed the memorable event!

Please check out the photo albums below...

Westlawn's 5th Grade Fine Arts Night 2025

Thorson's 5th Grade Fine Art Night 2025

Parkview's 5th Grade Fine Arts Night 2025

Enjoy looking at what each grade level was up to during the last weeks of the school year!

Kindergarten artists enjoyed making:

*Robots (Low relief sculpture and rubbings)

*Kandinsky Circles (mixed media artwork inspired by Wassily Kandinsky)

Robot rubbings! The robots got a twin :) The students' eyes LIT UP when the image appeared (like an x-ray). Texture rubbings never get old! :)

For the start of our Kandinsky Inspired Circles project, the students took a ride around the art room on the "color train." There stops were each of the 12 colors on the color wheel - one color for each box in their grid. Some of the colors (like the tertiary colors) were unmixed so the kids could see in person how they mix to make a certain color. They LOVED that! We stamped each color using foam building blocks.

Later lessons included painting and drawing circles, and gluing objects down to make circles (involving some cutting), and also glitter! They students glued circles and selected which colors of glitter they wanted to stick to the glue :)

Finished Robots on display from all of the kinders!

To complete our Kandinsky Inspired Circles students sewed a frame! They learned two types of sewing... a whip (or edge) stitch and a running stitch. The also got to choose two complementary (opposite) colors on the color wheel for their yarn :)

Mrs. Fry's class!

Mrs. Sheppard's class :)

First grade artists enjoyed making:

*Asian Inspired Self Portraits (wearing Kimonos)

We made our Kimonos with coffee filters, markers, and spray bottles of water!

Student learned to draw some Japanese symbols! They chose two or three they had a personal connection two or represented their personality.

The students learned a how to make fake wood with crayon, colored pencil, and paint which acted like real stain! This portion of their project is the boardwalk for their person to stand on.

A favorite feature of their artwork... the fan! So fun to make a adorable to hold :)

Wow! This project is a challenging one with the MANY different pieces, but it really comes together in a beautiful way and is so special since it represents each student's unique personality.

We made "ornate" Asian inspired frame for our fancy artwork :) The raised glue lines mimics a relief of a carved frame.

We then painted a layer of black paint and a layer of metallic paint (student's choice of color) over the top, in order to create an expensive yet antique look.

Artists in Mrs. Staffaroni's class

Artists in Mrs. Carpenter's class

Artists in Mrs. Spaeth's class

Second grade artists enjoyed creating:

*Clay Coil Picture Frames

*Kente Cloth Inspired Paper Weavings

Students practiced with playdough before creating their final frame. We talked about any line that can be drawn can be made into a coil!

The tricky and essential last step before firing, was blending the back so the clay could be held together.

The students were SO excited to paint their frames and loved the assortment of metallic Acrylic paints (so did I :)

The added pictures completed the precious works of art that will hopefully be treasured for years to come. My Mom still has mine from elementary school! I showed the kids ;)

Paper Weaving! So fun and a great way to introduce kids to basic weaving.
The students selected their own color combination.

We used a really fun way to learn how to make designs inspired by real Kente Cloth... a roll a dice game! The students picked their favorite practice designs, circled them with the same colors to create a key, and then drew that design every time they were on that color paper to make patterns.

The students showed lots of dedication and perseverance while adding designs!

Mrs. Abrahamson's class

Mrs. Huber's class

Ms. Miller's class

Third grade artists enjoyed creating:

*Clay Canopic Jars

*Nature Inspired Wet & Dry Feltings (with added drawing)

Canopic Jars after they had been bisque fired.

The 3rd grade students enjoyed mixing colors to create the likeness of their chosen creature. They did an excellent job and did lots of growing and problem solving during the painting process.

Proud artists!

The students enjoyed doing a brief art critique in which they gave one classmate a compliment and then gave a different classmate a suggestion for improvement.

Canopic Jars on display!

The students added a title and their artist signature. Some of the titles were really creative!

Our last project introduced the process of wet felting to the kids! Their theme needed to be nature inspired.

Following the wet felting, the students learned how to dry felt by adding on details using yarn, scrap felt, and more wool roving. When the felting was finished we glued down our pieces to a white paper so the students could get creative with added drawing to expand their creation. Many of them loved this last step!

Ms. Ingham's class

Mrs. Tutas's class artwork

Fourth grade artists enjoyed creating:

*Clay Coil Bowls

*Chalk Pastel Self Portraits

*(Mrs. DeGarmo's Class): Paper Mache Pun & Idiom Sculptures

Clay Coil Bowls! The glazes are food safe, however should be hand washed.

Self Portraits! After finishing our rough drafts, the students were able to trace them using light tracing boards or windows as light boxes :) The students were given several resources to help them succeed in their self portrait unit such as: facial feature reference sheets, proportion guidelines, mirrors, printed school pictures, and corrections/suggestions from myself.

After tracing the rough draft to create a fresh and clean final draft, the students learned how to add chalk pastels and colored pencil to make their portraits come to life. They quickly learned that the chalk pastels have advantages but can be very messy! That and color matching were the greatest two challenges.

Mrs. Burke's class

Some proud Westlawn 4th grade artists.

The students enjoyed showing their very first attempt at a self portrait in their sketchbook compared to their final artwork. Fabulous!

Mrs. Ned's class

Mrs. Butzler's class

Mrs. Burke's class had enough time for a quick bonus project... Paper Mache Puns and Idioms. They did a tremendous job and had so much fun in a short amount of time!

Can you guess what some of them might be??

So much creativity and so much fun! Bravo!

Fifth grade artists enjoyed creating:

*Clay Cakes :)

*Linoleum Printed Frames (for Acrylic Paint Pour)

Aren't these beautiful even before being fired and painted? They seem to get better every year!

Students had multiple choices on which type of cake they wanted to make and used paper templates to cut out clay slab pieces (like a puzzle). I believe I am up to 7 different styles of cakes. After rolling, cutting, and adding designs and textures to the pieces, they assembled them together with the "4 S's." The topper was required to be the show stopper with a 3D element.

Clay fired = check. Painting in progress...

What's pretty cool is there was no painting demonstrating needed. The students use all of their prior knowledge and instincts. Not one student seemed lost or unmotivated when it came to the painting and embellishing. It really was like the cherry on top of the cake.