Monday, August 8, 2011

Self Portraits

At the end of the year, 5th grade students worked on a drawing project.  The subject matter?...themselves! I taught them the basics to drawing self portraits such as eye placement, nose, mouth, and hair.  They used mirrors to help them capture their own unique features in their drawings. After the drawing stages, they had the choice of which media they wanted to use to add color.  Some students chose tempera paint, others chose colored pencils or oil pastel.  Check out our talented 5th (now 6th) graders below! 







Monday, August 1, 2011

What if....?

I got the idea for this lesson from a fellow CCPS art teacher, Kalee Wells from Sycamore Park Elementary School, during one of our professional developments.

Fourth graders read the story "IF" by Sarah Perry. This lesson companied the surrealism art movement with language art SOL's of metaphors, similes and idioms.

Thanks for the great lesson Ms Wells!











Turtles on a Lily Pad


For the Kindergarten Day 0 clay project, I decided to do mini ceramic turtles.  The first 3 classes just made the mini turtles.  But, by the end of the year I decided that the Kindergartens (almost 1st graders now) needed a little extra challenge.  So, they added a lily pad to their sculpture.  

I read a few different stories about turtles and where they live.  We talked about a pond habitat and other animals that live in the pond. (Science SOL!)  After much discussion and demonstration, students used a pinch pot technique to create the mini turtles.  They created a mini pinch pot and then turned it upside down to create the shell.  They used their fingers to pinch and pull the head, legs and tail. Next they used the slab method to create the lily pad.  Kindergarteners also used the "score and slip" method to attach the turtle to the lily pad. 

Once the scultpures were fired, I provided students with yellow, green, white, and brown tempera paint to decorate and add color to their final projects!