Liberty houses 2 classrooms with Exceptional Needs students. This year, I am getting to spend some time in their classrooms as part of my schedule. It is a new experience for all of us! I am enjoying learning more about these incredible kids and challenging myself to provide quality art experiences for them!

So far this year, here are some examples of activities and artwork we have completed:

Model Magic and Leaf plates - We used the Model Magic to press onto raised leaf patterned plates.

Glue Pumpkins - The kids traced pumpkin lines using colored glue. The following week it was dry and we felt the texture of the glue. We then used chalk to fill in the orange. Tissue was used to blend the colors together.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear - We experimented with all different textures of paintbrushes and white, black and brown paint. Some of the brushes were sponges, yarn, plastic and fabric. We stamped all 3 colors on a large sheet of paper. We then read the story and added lots of details to create a bear or other animal from the story.

C stamping - When you cut a piece of celery, it looks like the letter C. We used stalks of celery and lots of shades of green paint to stamp in a big Letter C.

Monoprints - We inked up some plexiglass and let the students draw with the erasers on pencils. We then pressed a piece of paper on it and create a monoprint.

Cows - Tying in to the Farm curriculum, the students looked at alot of farm animals. We paintedand cut our cows out, giving them black spots. We also stamped out MOO to learn what a cow says. One of our cows got a few Boo-Boos so there are band-aids on him!

Indian Corn is a great example of Thanksgiving and Fall. We looked at and felt the texture of real dried indian corn. The kids then we used tissue paper in all different colors to create the leaves and kernels.

Mugs of Hot Chocolate - The focus of this project tied in with the students Winter theme curriculum. Skills used were cutting, gluing, pulling, finger printing, counting and spelling our names. The students also got to try hot chocolate!

Ice Cube Paintings

In keeping with our winter theme, I found a neat lesson on using ice cubes to paint. Ice cube trays were used to make "popsicles" with liquid water color and food coloring. The students used the sticks to rub the cubs all over watercolor paper. They did the majority of the movement on their own to create these abstract colorful artworks.

Happy Feet Penguins - Pictures coming soon!

Styrofoam Snowflakes - Pictures coming soon!

Symmetrical Heart Paintings - These paintings were created by using warm and cool colors. We painted half a heart on one side, then closed the paper and rubbed. It left a mirror image on the other side. We then added another outline and continued until we reached the edge of the paper.

Collage Hearts - Students were introduced to Matte Medium. It is like clear paint. We used squares of tissue paper to create an overlapping collage and then glitter to make them sparkly. The students then practiced their scissor skills by cutting.

Liberty Lion Masks

These special masks were created by using multiple levels of textured paper. The students used textured sponge rollers in lots of colors to create each level. We then cut out eye hols, added whiskers and raffia for the manes. The students masks will be used throughout the school to help highlight our new PBIS posters!