JH Fall Landscapes

I did a project similar to this with my 2nd graders last year on a more basic level and was inspired to step it up a little bit by a post I saw on the A Faithful Attempt blog. 
My JH students did resist trees using painters tape or masking tape.  Then they used watercolor paint to create a fall outdoor environment.  After their paper was filled and dry, they peeled the tape off and added shadowing to create trees. 
I was impressed with the results even from my usually lower end students.  Although the results are good, here are a few things I would change:
-Use only painters tape...I used a combo of painters tape and masking tape to get different widths.  The masking tape tore the paper in some areas which added a little texture but was a bit of a headache
-Have my students practice some before going head on into the project with watercolor.  Some did not understand the use of water and creating some transparency through the color.  I stressed it and all of my students have done watercolor before so I don't know why they didn't quite "get it".  Some of the paintings look like they were done with acrylic, but they weren't.
-Perhaps use a different size of paper?  I'm not sure if I would change this or not.  I used 18X24 inch paper which for my JH students has been the largest project we have done.  I think they enjoyed it, but for me it took a little longer than I had planned on which was ok.

Here are some results :)