2nd Grade Letters

 This little 2nd Grade project was all about patterns.  Students created one pattern piece of paper and then cut out a letter from the pattern.  Then students need to pair their letter with a background color and a new patter as a frame.

4th Grade Color Theory

These fun little paintings were done when 4th Grade finished their tinfoil scluptures.  Students attempted to recreate the pose from their sclupture as a painting and then paint using only one color family.  

Glowing Lights 1st Grade

This week of Thanksgiving is always we we would pull out the Christmas lights at our house.  In the spirit of untangling and testing strands of lights the first graders made glowing christmas lights in class.  We begain with drawing a curvey line and then added the lights using construction paper crayons.  (They are crayons made with extra bright pigments to work on dark colors of paper. ) Student only created the outline of the lights with these crayons. 

Then we swithched to chalk pastel.  Adding a samall amount of color in the center of each light and using our fingers to blend the color out of the light to create the glow.  When students were done then they could add other holiday decorations into their paper.  Such a fun way to start decorating for the upcomming season.

Kindergarten Mitttons

 This week with  fresh snow falling it seemed like a great time to read The Mitton.  Students always love this story.  All the animals cozy and snug in a white mitton on a cold snowy night till a sneeze returns the mitton to it's owner and send the animals flying through the air.  When we were don reading the story I asked students to trace aroun their hand to create mittons on their papers.

Then we discussed patterns (specifically repeating AB patterns.) Students could then decorate their mittons with thier own patterns and designs.  Those who got done early added snowy backgrounds adn the animals from the story to help decoate their work.

Mrs. Grant's Class

 On Thusdays I get the privlage of seeing Mrs. Grant's muili-grade-level CI class.  They have been studing cultures from around the world and while they were studing China,  I came in to teach art and had a Chinese brush lesson planned, a complete surpise but I love the cross-over between standard class and art.  

So I double check on what was next.  Now the are learning about Peru so we looked at some weaving from the mountians and students started their own weavings.   This class always surpised me with how hard they work and how much they can get done in our very short art class. 

Henri Matisse first grade goldfish paintings

 First Graders always love learning about Henri Matisse.  When Maatisse first showed his paintings at gallery he was called a "Fauve" which translates from French as Wild Beast.  Although most of us would consider this an insult, Matisse came to embrace this term.  He love wild bold colors and patterns, he is also known for his use of thick black lines.  So on our first day on this project we worked only in black painting our fish bowls, tables and lots of patterns.  Then we returned to these paintings and added all the bright bold colors.  I love tha just like a true Fauve painting our fish bowls almost get lost in a sea of pattern and color.

Kindergarten printmaking buildings

We began this lesson by reading the book "Perfect Square" by Michael Hall.  Then spent one day printmaking with cardboard to make their straight lines, just like in the book where the book is constantly recreated into something new.  Students needed to create something with their lines; it was their goal to create a new unique and orginal building.  Then the class spent one day painting like Paul Klee to create the rest of the picture.

5th Grade watercolor. mixed media

5th Graders have spent the last few weeks working on an open ended watercolor project.  The students were given a lot of freedom in what and how they worked but each day we worked in a new medium, (watercolor, ink, marker and graphite) adding layers into our projects.  I love how unique these are.

4 tinfoil movement sculptures

4th Grades created tinfoil scultptures focusing on createing a proportional person who show some movement.  We are currently working on paintings to go with our scluptures that show movement and color families.

3rd Grade Vases

We began this lesson by looking at vases from the Ming Dynsty in China and Delf Vases from Holland, Netherlands. Students discussed the vases from both cultures, why they were made, what they looked like, how they were created, and what the artists goals were.  Then students were asked to create their own vase painting using a cobalt blue stain.  We then cut out our vases and placed them on a background paper that we graded a color onto and added a table top.   (I love how much art history we were able to discuss durning this simple lesson.)

5th Grade Candy Project

5th Grade begain this project by looking at the works of Georgia Okeefe and Wayne Tiebolt.  Then with candy in hand we drew from life trying to focuse on the details that made the candy unique.  Then we used chalk pastel and marker to finish the project.  With the chalk students attempted to create a range of values so that their work would look 3D.

 

1st Grade VanGogh's Chair

We did this as a simple 1 day project.  We looked at VanGogh's bedroom and chair and I asked the students to tell me what they liked about the paintings.  Kids always like the perspective, the 3d as they said that makes it look 'real' or 'like a box'.  After talking for a while about Perspective the 1st graders then drew their own chair and on their chair they put something they loved (a stuffed animal).  I debated about spending another day working on these just to add more detail but the kids were really excited about the 3d look and excited to bring these home so I let them go.  So next week we can study someone new again.

Kindergarten Weaving

 Paperwaving is a tough skill for the kindergartens but they did a lovely job.  They did all the cutting which in itself can be tough for some kiddos and then to add in the complexity of waving it can seem impossible but they all got it done this week and I am very proud of them and the end result looks great.