Fall Projects (a lot of pictures)

In Kindergarten, we looked at Indian Corn and did our best to draw it from observation using black pastel and adding color with color sticks.

 

The first graders made soft sculpture pumpkins. They cut and painted two pumpkin sides, learned how to sew the two sides together, and then stuff the pumpkins with newspaper so they were three-dimensional.

 Second graders learned about artist Joan Miro. We discussed how he started his paintings with doodles or scribbles and would then go from there. First students scribbled on their paper with pencil and then painted with watercolors what they saw in their scribbles.

 

Third graders looked at the painting, "House by the Railrod" by Edward Hopper. They had small group discussions about the mood of the painting. Students also looked at and discussed Victorian Architecture. They painted backgrounds in cool colors and then drew houses with characteristics of Victorian Architecture using white pastel on black paper. 

 

Fourth graders learned about color theory. They learned how to mix secondary and tertiary colors from primary colors. They picked a symbol to represent themselves and then divided it into 12 sections, one section for each color on the color wheel. Then they painted their symbol with the 12 colors using only the primary colors to get all 12 colors.

 

Fifth graders learned about Aboriginal Art and how the artwork would tell a dream or act as a way to communicate with the "dreamtime." Students picked a memory to tell using only symbols. If they could, they used Aborigianls symbols and then created their own symbols. Students filled their artwork using dots and patterns like traditional Aboriginal Art.

Sixth graders learned about shades, tints, monochromatic, and value. For their Night Silhouettes, they created value scales for the background, going from white to black using only one color. Their value scales were made to look like the moon shining at night. Once the background was painted, they added a silhouette.

In Progress Photos

Just wanted to share some photos of the work in progress.

Third Grade Haunted Houses

Fifth grade Aboriginal Art

Sixth Grade Night Silhouette

First Projects of the Year

I've updated the class expectations page to include the district wide "RAMS" rubric. All classes have started new projects. At East Meadow, fourth and sixth grade are working with color and fifth grade is creating art inspired by Aboriginal Art. At West Street, kindergarten is finishing up overlapping shapes and will be starting an observation drawing of Indian Corn, first grade is creating soft sculpture pumpkins, second grade is finishing their scribble drawings and getting ready to start their fall still lifes of pumpkins and gourds, and third grade is working on "haunted houses." We looked at and discussed Victorian architecture and are now drawing our own Victorian houses.

Here's some pictures of work the students were creating while I was on maternity leave.

Kindergarten learned about lines and created a line resist using oil pastels and watercolor paints.

Second graders created drawings out of shapes and patterns using markers and crayons. Each section should have a different pattern.

The sixth graders learned about abstract art and how sometimes it is about the process of making it and how some pieces have more meaning than they realize. First they drew their names in block/bubble letters, then they cut it up into 3"x3" squares, mixed them up and glued them onto a new piece of paper, and finally colored their drawings using only two colors.

Start of a New Year

Tomorrow is the first day of the 2015-1016 school year for me. I have been on maternity leave for the first three weeks of school. I'm excited to be getting back to my "kids" and meeting the new students. I have some new projects planned for this year since I have a little bit longer class periods. Another change for me this year, besides slightly longer class periods, is I will only be teaching K-6 art at West Street School and East Meadow School.

This blog will be updated at least once a month with pictures, lessons, events, etc. I have updated my class expectations to reflect the grades I'm teaching this year and I will be adding the school wide "RAMS" expectations to that page as well. I also have added an event page for art related events in and out of the classroom.

Even though I have been on maternity leave, the students have been working hard. Kindergartners created a resist out of different kinds of line. First Graders created Imaginary Insects using lines and shapes. Second Graders created drawing of overlapping shapes and filled in the spaces with different kinds of patterns. Third Graders created contour line leaf drawings. Fourth Graders created compositions using line, shape, and a three color scheme. Fifth Graders learned about artist Paul Klee and created a drawing using a multiplication problem. Sixth Graders created an abstract artwork out of their name and two colors plus black.