Saturday, July 30, 2011

Owls

Second graders learned about the different hand building techniques in their day 0 clay project.  They used the slab method of building to create these colorful owls.  We also discussed texture in art.  They used a variety of materials such as, forks, rubber texture plates, shells, rocks, and marker caps to create the wing & body textures.  After the owls were fired, they used colorful tempera paints to add a design and color.  Check out their ceramic owls below!









Thursday, July 28, 2011

Art Books

The pre-kindergarten program at my school attends each of the resource classes (art, music, PE and library) on a rotating schedule, just like the other grade levels.  For art, I have developed a year long project of a "Pre-School Art Book".  I originally got the idea for this book from KinderArt.com  Each student completed their own art book throughout the school year.  Since pre-school only meets for 20 minuets at a time, some of the pages took multiple class sessions to complete.  In May, I had the pages bound and each student received their own book of artwork.  The students loved seeing all their artwork together, and parents loved to see the progress students made throughout the year!


Cover page:

Student's learned the Primary Colors:


Students learned to mix the secondary colors: Here's Orange!


And Green...


...And purple.


We talked about transportation & how students get to school.  Some road the bus, some walked and some were car riders. 



Students learned about landscapes & shapes:


Students learned about different types of lines:


Students learned to make a pattern (If I did this project again, I would limit it to 2 colors- an A/B pattern)



Student's learned about their senses and texture in art:


Let's count! 1, 2, 3...


Can you sing the alphabet? A, B, C...?


Self portraits....


Kente Cloth

5th graders learned about the African art of Kente Cloth.  This lesson joined both Social Studies SOL's and Math SOL's into a printmaking art project.  Students used a reduction print technique to create a repeated pattern design.  Check out their amazing results!






Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Royal Dogs

I found the idea for this lesson on the Deep Space Sparkle site.  I did this project with 3rd graders over three different art days.

Day 1 was drawing day.  I had pictures and line drawings of three different types of dogs.  Students chose 1 dog to draw, as I demonstrated on the white board.  They started with pencil first, and then traced their work with black oil pastel.

On art day 2, third graders got the opportunity to mix paints to create colors to add to their dog.  I gave each table a pallet of neutral colors for the dogs fur.  They were allowed to mix the paints to create their own tints and shades for their dogs fur.  I also gave them silver and gold for the crown.

Day 3 was the finishing day & collage day!  First, students retraced the black outlines from their drawing.  The black oil pastel outline gave their drawing that special extra "pop".  Next, students used crayons and texture plates on a separate piece of paper to create the background.  After they were done with their rubbings, students used water color paints to add a color wash.  For the sake of time, I limited students to one color of paint, their choice.  The final step was to cut out the dog drawing and glue it to the background paper!







Spring Birds

For this lesson, kindergartners focused on using the basic shapes in their drawings. I demonstrated two different bird drawings, and students had the choice of which one they wanted to follow.  This lesson also used skills from science and math!  We talked about the seasons, and students brainstormed words about spring.  Rain and flowers were a common topic! We also talked about shapes and how we could use them to draw our illustrations. How many shapes can you find in their pictures?

After the drawings were complete, students traced the lines with a sharpie marker.  They used crayons to add color to the flowers, birds, branches and umbrellas.  The last step was a watercolor wash!





Finger Painted Peacocks

I got the idea for this lesson from a fellow CCPS art teacher over at A. G. Richardson Elementary school.  Kindergarteners loved this lesson, because they got to get messy;  both hands and finger paint everywhere! I used the story, "Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear?" by Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle as inspiration. We read the whole story, but paid extra attention to the peacock at the end.


Day 1: Finger paint day!

Read Eric Carle's story, "Polar Bear Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" The kindergartners loved to act out the sounds in the story!  At the end of the book, I paid extra close attention to the peacock illustration.  After introducing the lesson, I did a demonstration of the procedures. We used the sides of both of our hands to create the blue green pattern for the feathers.  I told the students, one hand was blue, one had was for green paint.  Then they did a "karate chop" in the shape of an arc, alternating hands.  I demonstrated this, and drew an example on the board. After the feathers were done, students raised their hands which cued me to come over and stamp the black body.  (I just used my hand print, since the body should be bigger then then feathers!)  Next, students used their fingers to make yellow spots under the body and around the feathers. The most challenging part of this day was clean up! 20 little kindergartens with messy hands, all needing to use the sink! Yikes!


Day 2: Collage Day

Each student received 3 pieces of scrap paper.  A larger yellow piece with 6 large circles drawn on it.  A medium green or purple piece with 6 medium circles drawn on it.  And a smaller red piece of paper, with no circles drawn on it.  Rather then drawing all those circles myself, I had some 5th graders help me out if they finished their work early.    Kindergartners were instructed to cut out all of the large and medium circles.  They used a glue stick to attach the circles of the feathers to make "eye feathers"  During this part of the lesson, they had to sort and stack circles from big to small...another Kindergarten Math SOL!  For the smallest circle, they used the red paper & a hole punch.  The last step was to add the eye!  Some students finished early and wanted to add extra details- trees, clouds, the sun, etc.