This was a group project for the 3rd grade. They created an Abstract Sculpture like the work of Alexander Calder. Then they each got a chance to tag the sculpture with their own design. It's a fun bright mix of playful colors, shapes and designs. It just barely fits in the display case by the gym at school. You really have to see it in person to get the design and flow of the project.
Weaving is one of those skills that I have a love hate relationship with. When students get it weaving is peaceful and fun and it feels like a connection to our history... but somedays it just seems like knots and yarn on the floor too. This year to change things up a bit the 4th and 5th grade did basket or cup weaving instead of straight loom weaving a fun variation. Some of these projects will go home unfinished to be finished up over break when kiddos have lots of free time. Overall I am impressed with how hard students have been working on these.
I love group art. It is a chance for students to work together and make something bigger then we typically have time for. The 4th graders used their radial symmetry skills to make so beautiful snowflakes for me on Acetate and then we added a touch of glitter and hung theses as a group mobile. Pictures don't quite do it justice it's prettier in person.
With a short day of school today I wanted a fun short project for the 1st and 2nd Grade students that I saw. So we made these really cool snow-globes. We started with a blue circle of construction paper and used color pencil to add a shine (reflection of light) and a shadow (dark spot) onto our snow-globes. After that kiddos decorated with things that reminded them of winter or christmas. We finished these in little stand up bases, (I actually called over to all the gift wrap stations at the mall and had them save me the empty rolls which I spray painted black and silver. So students just need to cut slits into their piece and slide in their finished work). They were a really fun little project and great because early finishers got to decorate both sides of their snow-globe and kiddos who needed more time to think or work still got to take home a completed project today. 
This week in Kindergarten we worked on our painting skills. Learning to hold a brush and get the textures we want from paint take time. So this one day project was about working paint in layers, first base colors, then textures and then details. We chose to paint tall tall pine trees, because they have great texture in their needles. Some students added ornaments or lights, presents or snow, each one is different but I was very impressed with how well kiddos did with this one day painting lesson.
We read Giraffe's Cann't Dance and Down by the cool of the Pool both illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees we looked at how he made his animals come to life through their movement. Then the Kindergartens created their own giraffes and other animals and tried to make them look like they were singing, dancing or playing an instrument. Finally we looked a Vincent VanGogh's starry night and created a background to go our animals. I love this project. This is one I do every year with some minor modifications and every year they are one of my favorites. Students love the stories, they love the animals and the art work is always beautiful. If you come into school these are hung on the main board by the office. Hopefully they make all our school visitors smile the way they made the kids and I smile.
First Grades used chalk pastels to create a winter sky and then oil pastel and watercolor to create a forest of trees and finished this project with some tempra paint and a little glitter for snow. Overall it was a fun way to use a wide variety of media test some fun techniques.
After spending some time studying symmetry we took a different approach with this project and created an asymmetrical sun and moon. It was a great chance to work on our face drawing skills and play with warm and cool colors. I love the pattern and expression in these projects.
In class on Tuesday 2nd Graders added string to our clay symmetry project and if they wanted to the painted their ornaments too. At out house the christmas tree always gets set up this weekend, so I wanted 2nd graders to have their new ornaments for their trees this weekend if their house traditions are like ours. Merry Christmas I hope your trees look beautiful. 
It is that time of year, our coloring contest this year is to color an orniment and hang it to the tree by the library. The week befor christmas winners will be chosen for each grade level and and art stupplies awarded. I can not wait to see what studnets create.
Student love drawing cartoons so after our tricky color theory cubes a fun relaxing art project seemed a good fit next. So we looked at the colorful patterns of artist Romero Britto. Britto was the 2010 World Cup Artist, in 2014 he was the Ambassador to the FIFA World Cup and he was an honorary Torch Bearer for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, he also has worked with many popular brands like Coke, Audi and Disney. Students loved studying an artist who was still alive and so popular. I love his use of bold pattern and the fact that he is an artist who donates time to causes like St. Jude Children hospital. 
Students were able to either choose a cartoon the love or create their own. Then using mixed media including colored pencil, marker, oil pastel and watercolor they were asked to turn their cartoon into a modern pop art image like Britto. I think kids enjoyed the freedom of so many media options and being able to work on cartoons. Only a handful of students are done most will finish up next week but I couldn't wait to share this project.
2nd Grades have spent the last two weeks working on Symmetry we talked about how standard symmetry and how radial symmetry works and how artist use both in designs. We then took our Symmetrical designs and transfred them to clay orniments. 
Our ornimets were done using a process called Sgraffito where the base of our clay is one color but we top it with a slip in another colors so that when we carve into the slip we can clearly see the two colors and the design. I have never tried this with students before but this year I ordered brown clay instead of white beacuse it was cheaper and I had enought leftover white clay from last year to make the slip so we went for it. Overall I think it turned out rather well. 
We will be adding some paint to these after they are fired but right now I am still waiting for them to finishish drying. I can not wait to post again and show you when they are done. 
