"Mushroom in the Rain"

Mushroom in the Rain is a story about an ant that finds shelter from the rain under a very minuscule mushroom. The ant reluctantly allows a butterfly, mouse, sparrow, and rabbit under the mushroom. A downpour of rain raises a question to the ant - "I could barely fit under this mushroom, now there is a butterfly, mouse, sparrow and rabbit under the mushroom?" They soon discover what happens to a "Mushroom in the Rain. Students find it fascinating to learn about the growth of mushrooms!

I especially like this book for the colorful illustrations which show: depth, pattern, color, line, movement, composition, shape, overlapping,  and perspective.  

For this third grade art lesson, we look in detail at pages of the book showing large, overlapping mushrooms with vivid colors. We discuss overlapping, shape, pattern and color.  Students are encouraged to use a composition that shows several shapes, sizes and overlapping mushrooms
 -vs- mushrooms lined up as soldiers.  They create a preliminary drawing on the back of their black construction paper using white colored pencil.  As I check their work, I ask them," did you overlap the mushrooms, use pattern and shape?"  A final drawing is followed by soft pastels and a tortillion to blend the pastels.  Kneaded erasers work well to clean up fingerprints around the mushrooms.  A quick spray of hair spray and they are ready to hang!