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!