Color Mixing and Textures

This last week we continued on our color wheel and mixing activities.  Kindergarten is finishing their color wheel clowns, first grade is almost done with their "Mouse Paint" palettes and second grade is having fun painting their color theory scarecrows (pictures to come when we are all finished).  Third grade created texture paintings that will be used in making our Eric Carle style animals.  Fourth grade is adding more colors to their abstract, hidden color wheel and fifth grade worked on original Op Art pieces.  Fourth and fifth grade are also learning about actual and implied textures in art.  We are enjoying celebrating our creativity!

Exploring Color All Over!

These past weeks have been busy!  We have moved from learning about line and pattern to working with color.  All of the students will be learning about primary, secondary and complementary colors as well as warm and cool color.  The older grades will add tertiary colors, tints and shades/values.  We will complete several projects exploring color and continue many others throughout the year.

Storybook Pumpkins

Our school had a pumpkin decorating contest this past week and it was just awesome!  We sure have some very artistic and imaginative students here at Polser.  There was such a great turnout and all of the pumpkins were related to a children's storybook.  We also had a group of pumpkins that were selected for a Twitter contest.  Votes were counted through tweets and retweets.  It was such a super way to include our world-wide community.  Great job Polser Bears!

Collaborative Cube Sculpture

Our fifth graders worked really hard over several class periods to complete the sculpture that was unveiled at our school carnival.  I was so proud of them! We practiced a lot of geometric vocabulary and added abstract and realistic faces to our cubes.  Our idea came from a sculpture that was completed by students from the Nasher Museum Summer Institute for Teens.  Click below to watch our slide show to see the sculpture from many angles, just as if you were there in person.  After our unveiling, the fifth graders took turns reassembling the cubes into different arrangements.  In small groups, they discussed and critiqued their own work, looking at the elements of art and principles of design.  It was a wonderful learning experience for all of us!

Cube slide show: http://bit.ly/1glLVXl Nasher Museum Summer Institute for Teens http://on.fb.me/HvHevt

Red Ribbon Week

 This week is Red Ribbon Week, so we prepared last week with our collaborative projects.  Kinders through third grade created their own "brick" to be joined with their classmates in creating our wall against drugs.  In kindergarten and first grade we talked about cool and warm colors and using mixed media to create our art.  Second and third grade took it a step further by learning how to make bubble letters and creating Zentangles (artistic doodling), inside our letters.  Fourth and Fifth grade traced their hand and made numerous Zentangles inside, using many more complicated patterns.  Their collaborative project was "Hand in Hand We Stand Against Drugs".  They both turned out so well!  This Saturday will be our fifth graders unveiling of their collaborative sculpture.  Stay tuned!

Kandinsky, Van Gogh and Carle, oh my...

Weeks 6 and 7 were spent finishing projects in all grade levels.  Kindergarten and 2nd grade both created caterpillars and butterflies from the the book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.  They both practiced their tracing and cutting skills as well as adding personalized details with bodies, heads, antennas, etc.  They used "bleeding" tissue paper to add color by overlapping pieces and brushing on glue.  1st grade finished their paintings demonstrating motion after discussing and viewing, "Starry Night", by Vincent Van Gogh.  3rd grade finished their Kandinsky abstract paintings demonstrating their knowledge of the different types of lines and geometric shapes.  4th grade finished their Kandinsky remix, by cutting apart their oil pastel circles and rearranging them in an unique way, similar to artistic couple Sonia and Robert Delauney.  They turned out so cool!  5th grade is continuing their work on a collaborative sculpture to be unveiled at Polserfest.  You will have to come to the art room during our carnival to see the awesome artwork completed by our fifth graders.  I've included some of the beginning work, but no finished project until after the unveiling!  Can you guess what they are making????

Kindergarten

2nd grade

3rd grade

1st grade

5th grade

4th grade

Polser Quilt Week

Last weekend I was totally "buried" in Polser shirts to make a quilt for our school carnival.  After many different pieces, sizes, rearranging and deciding on a final layout, I got down to sewing and quilting.  I worked after school most nights and straight through the weekend, then came home straight after school Monday and worked until bedtime until it was done, whew!  It turned out really cute and I am looking forward to seeing how much money the PTA can make on the raffle.  Tickets go on sale starting this Tuesday, $1. 00 each or 6 for $5.00!  The winning ticket will be drawn at, Polserfest, our school carnival, on Saturday, October 26th.

Shapes, patterns and paint...

Our 5th week concluded with a study of shapes, creation of patterns and different styles of painting.
Kindergarten kiddos manipulated shapes into a design of their choice and created a new piece of art, 1st grade demonstrated motion in their paintings and 2nd grade finished a watercolor resist lesson.  3rd graders began an activity with geometric and organic shapes, 4th grade continued work on their oil pastel, Kandinsky circles and 5th grade finished patterned, name towers. It was another awesome week!

Dot Week Continued......

To continue our "Dot" week, 3rd grade created a Kandinsky circle, torn-paper collage.  Some students chose to create centered circles, while others had a unique take on the famous artwork and created off center and multiple circles.    4th grade has started work on an oil pastel rendition of Kandinsky's, "Color Study, Squares with Concentric Circles".   They will complete this project next week with a special collaborative twist!  5th grade chose one circle to incorporate into an original artwork to "make their mark".  I was surprised to see such creative imaginations!

Dots, Dots and More Dots

image borrowed from:
http://bit.ly/19oXKoF

image borrowed from:
http://bit.ly/1f5mPMT

This past week we celebrated "Dot" week, school wide, based on the book "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds.  The students discussed how they can "make their mark" and how that mark is unique to them.  Every grade level completed a different dot activity.  In addition to reading "The Dot", we learned about the Russian artist, Wassily Kandinsky, focusing on his abstract works and more importantly his, "Color Study, Squares with Concentric Circles".  Kindergarten made, "Not A Dots", with dot painters; first grade created radial symmetry with coffee filter art, then integrated their creation into a final piece of artwork; 2nd grade used oil pastels to create Kandinsky circles, then used watercolor resist to complete the project.

Lots of Lines

Well our third week is coming to a close.  We had a great week learning all about line as an element of art; horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved and zig zag.  3rd grade finished their etchings from last week, then moved on to mini landscapes using lines to show motion.

1st grade created a "View From Their Window", demonstrating what they know about lines.

Kinder and 2nd created patterns using lines within geometric and organic shapes, then transferred that knowledge into their drawings of ladybugs and turtles.                          
We also loved making the lines with our arms and bodies to help us remember the vocabulary.  The big kids discovered how to show emotion with lines and created artworks using patterns.  It was another awesome week!  Stay tuned, next week,  for our "Dot" artwork celebrating the book, "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds.










                           

Self Portraits & Etching

Our second week in art brought more self portraits and the 1st step in an etching activity.  Students used mirrors to assist them in sketching their features.  These will be compared to their end of the year portraits after we learn more about proportions, body movement/placement, balance, etc.

  Our 3rd graders began an etching activity after learning about the 5 main types of lines.  We observed a painting by Matisse, Interior in Yellow and Blue, and discussed his use of all the various lines.  Students will continue this activity next week.  Our younger students completed their beginning of the year assessment in which they demonstrated their knowledge of shapes, patterns, lines, as well as the correct use of scissors & glue and following specific directions.  It was another exciting week!

Lesson Learned

We learned many lessons this week, both the students and myself.  The kiddos learned, and are still learning, to work together, use materials respectfully and safely as well as think creatively.  It will take some practice, but we will succeed together.  I, however, learned a valuable lesson that could only have been learned through classroom experience.  After working hard to create and fill our material containers for each table, I realized that more is not always better.  If we are not using a supply in the basket, then don't have it in the basket.  As excited as I was to let the students experience different kinds of art tools, it became 20+ kids in an "art candy" store.  Too many, too quickly, so out they came until we need them.  We will learn to pace ourselves and still have a great artistic experience.  Looking forward to learning together!!!

First week of fun!

The first week of art went by like a flash!  I met all 500 of our students and it was quite a blur.  After our initial meeting and discussion of basic procedures in the studio, our third through fifth grade kiddos worked cooperatively to create a circle map recording all the art project, styles and media they would like to learn this year.  Our littles, kinder through 2nd, began by creating a self portrait to compare with our end of the year portraits.  It was an awesome first week!

Meet the Teacher

Ready for meet the teacher! Had a great night meeting excited kiddos ready to start the art!! Looking forward to an awesome year!

•  Thank you to all the parents that came by and shared their excitement as well!  Polser Parents are the best!!!! You make us so Polser Proud!

Crayon Sorting Helpers

Brought some more helpers to our room today. My mother-in-law Jane and great aunt Gail, visiting from Illinois, joined my ever popular helper, Aaron (my youngest son) to assist in more bulletin board creations and various odd jobs, while I met with some wonderful school colleagues.  They separated crayons by color for the students to easily replace the colors they need. It's getting closer.  12 more days until we start the art!!!

Color Wheel Extraordinare

Right before leaving for vacation, I finished a giant color wheel for our classroom that is almost 5 feet across.  Students will be able to bring items from the world around them that match the color wheel.  My hope is for students to recognize that there are many color combinations, tints, shades & values all around them if they just stop and look. Now to get it hung up in our room......