I made this video for the Artsonia After School Art Club! It's basically everything you need to know for this lesson in under 10 minutes.
My third graders rocked the pastel chalk pumpkins this year. It is one of those classic lessons that isn't too difficult to get awesome results, but admittedly, sometimes they "get" it and sometimes they don't.
First, before I get into the actual lesson, I want to bring something to the attention of the art teachers out there. This first pumpkin was outlined with traditional Elmer's Liquid School Glue.
This pumpkin below was outlined with Jot, AKA Dollar Tree glue.
Under normal circumstances, I despise the Jot because of it's glossy, and honestly, not as adherent and liquidy quality, but in this instance it is amazeballs! I love the way that turned out.
I have Jot in one of the schools I teach in because the students bring in supplies to donate to the art room and about 2/3rds of the kids purchase the kits where I have dictated the brands etc...and the other 1/3rd bring in rando things. Sometimes rando things are okay. They'll bring in amazing artist quality pastels that I would've never asked for, or super nice sketchbooks for their cubby, but sometimes you end up with Jot glue.
Back to chalk pumpkins. I began this lesson with a slideshow where we discussed still life objects, and what makes up a still life. I am completely honest about stealing images off the internet for my slideshows for educational purposes.
The second part of the slide show discusses analogous colors, but I usually save that until after the drawing part of our project is done.
I have been using direction pages a lot this year. They have been great for when kids are not paying attention, kids who need a little extra help, and for the kids who are constantly asking what they are supposed to be doing. Sorry, this one isn't the best quality. It was before I learned I had to use a 5B pencil to write it out! Anyway, the directions page shows the kids how to draw the pumpkin. I draw with them too. Like I said, the direction page just help keeps them on track. It's not a substitute for my teaching.
As they drew the additional objects in their still life, I had little items for them to look at set out around the room. Some kids did just take ideas from their imaginations though, which I said was OK. I tried not dissuade them from anything Halloweeny though, simply because our art shows at both schools are in the Spring, and pumpkins will look okay, but jack-o-lanterns will look out of my place in my opinion.
Once we have our still life drawn, I have a video of me adding glue and color to my project. It is about 5 minutes and gives those visual learners a little extra nudge to see what it is exactly we are going to be doing.
This is the first video I made for this lesson way back in 2018- before my production skills were as refined as they are now. It's shorter than my Artsonia version, but doesn't really give you all the info. :)
The practice coloring sheet isn't really necessary. They could just practice on one of the pumpkins they practiced drawing. However; my kids usually practice in their sketchbooks, and it got kind of messy last year. So, this year they practiced on this pumpkin, but I printed the rubric/assessment page on the back...and well....when I went to grade projects it was also very messy.
Timing wise, this project may have it's issues. The gluing of the black paper has to be done the week prior to using the pastel - so if you end up with a weird time thing - I sometimes have them put a glue outline on their practice papers too.Besides the video, I did go step-by-step through their practice page on how to mix the colors. I walked around as they did the rest to see if there were any major issues.
As mentioned above, I had great success with this project this year! I hope you do to! Check out my school Artsonia galleries below.
Holy Trinity School Third Grade
Elm School Third Grade
Thanks, thanks, thanks!!! A very interesting lesson with so many helpful hints! Thanks again!
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