Paul Klee Castles

I found a variety of these types of lessons on Pinterest, but most were crayon resist.   I do a enough of that with the younger grades, so I wanted to switch it up a bit to give students a chance to use oil pastels instead.  So for this activity we look at a power point that shows several examples of Paul Klee's work, and we discuss common themes.  We learn a little about his life with a very short bio, and then I end on this picture of his "Castle and Sun" painting.  We then discuss what shapes we see, and their likes and feelings towards his work.  Students are then given white crayon and brown construction paper.  they are instructed to make tall, short, wide and thin rectangles that start on one side of the page and continue to the other.  Then within each rectangle they can add other shapes and horizontal lines to cut their rectangles into smaller pieces.  They are encouraged to be creative and add details that make it their own.  Once this is completed they then work on adding oil pastels. We practice coloring inside the lines and filling in the whole shape being sure not to leave any spots without color!  My second graders love this project and I really love the way they come out!