Kindergarten's Shooting Stars !!!

                                Kindergarten started painting their shooting Stars today! Yay!

We started the class on the rug in front of the Smartboard to watch this video from Youtube. It's Roy G Biv by They Might Be Giants.  The kids love this one! At the end I pause the video and we talk about what the letters in Roy G Biv stand for.

From there the kids moved to their tables for directions on how to use the watercolors and our new "artist" brushes.  This was the first time they were using the watercolors in the art room this year. They already knew how to go get their smocks from their Color Wheel Sunflowers...

When I gave them back their Shooting Stars they could get up to get their smock and begin to paint...

When the kids finished they put their paintings on the drying rack, put their smock away and if they had time got a free time activity.  Since our art time has been reduced to 30 minutes this year there is very little time for free time activity ( much to the disappointment of many of the kids who are used to having 5-7 minutes to free create... ) (As second grade finished up designing the backgrounds of their leaf prints and filling out their A.R.T. Splat ( Art Reflection Time - self reflection sheet) today I let them have the rest of their art time to free create today... they were over the moon! Some were done but a few needed about 10 minutes to tie up loose ends. I debated starting the rest of the class on our new project but thought it would be too crazy, chaotic and rushed... I'm happy the 2nd graders got the time to create freely and so were they :)  As they worked I went around and sat with each table a bit and talked with them about what they were making, what they are going to be for Halloween, etc... They even did a great job cleaning up when they were done :) 

Monday's classes have to paint their's yet but that won't be for a couple of weeks as next Monday is Columbus Day and the kid's have no school but I will be at school for a day of professional development.

Well... since my lesson plans don't write themselves and I think I've procrastinated enough for one evening,  I will leave you with this thought...

Shooting Stars...

                                          This week I cut up some old painting placemats...

                            I cut several of the strips into rectangles that I then cut into stars...

My Kindergarten students are learning about line this week...

        Each child chose a start shape from the pile at their table and glued them onto their paper...

      We spent some time as a group looking at, talking about and practicing some different types of               lines...

I love how each one is so different and each picture is loaded with information about the creative and mental growth of the kids...

Next week the kids will be adding the colors of the rainbow ( color wheel ) using watercolors! I can't wait to see how they turn out! So excited!!!

Mrs."C"  :)

*** Oh yeah.... I finally figured out to add the link to my Instagram page (lol) it only took me forever to figure it out! Technology genius I am not...  the link is at the top of my page on the right...  :)  ***

The First Full Week of School This February!

Sometimes you just need to go off track and just play....  :)    One of my 5th graders was having fun decorating his hand while finishing his landscape...

My Smartboard covered with directions and student examples... inspired by this pin and this pin.
4th grade is working on the 3-D cityscapes...

3d grade is working on Op Art hand forms....

They just started them this week... next week I will have them add visual texture to the background with rubbing plates.

Anyone who was done early took a circle sheet ( warm or cool color ) and designed a circle. I'm saving them all in a box to create a large collaborative piece. I will have different grades do different size circles or different shapes, haven't decided yet...

2nd grade has been fingerprinting hyacinths! We added details with oil pastel and a border from painted paper scraps.  

Sorry for the glare... I took the pictures after they were hung on the bulletin board in the front hallway at school.

Kindergarten is creating tulip fields... they are printing the tulips with the tines of a plastic fork, inspired by this pin.  I showed the classes a short video about the tulip fields in the Netherlands.
Next week they will add details with oil pastels.

They had so much fun they wanted to keep printing tulips on activity paper! This sweet Kinder worked carefully around her wet tulips to add details! It was too wet to take with her so I will give it to her tomorrow to take home. Isn't it beautiful? 

Well, that's what we have been up to this week, it is the first full week of school we have had the entire month of February!  Next week it will be March ( yeah! ) sorry February, but I'm so done with Winter this year! It's not over yet though... there may be flowers in the art room but it is going snow again here Sunday into Monday,  6 to 12 inches ( oh yeah...)  

Oh well, for now I will just have to live Spring vicariously through my students Spring flower creations! 

Hope you all have a great weekend! 

Mrs. "C"  :)

Primary Colors and Mondrian-Kindergarten and 1st Grade

This is what my white board looked like for several weeks in September! It was all about the primary colors in 1st Grade and Kindergarten! Let me tell you those kids are blowing my mind with their brain skills! They can recite the Primary colors from here to Sunday and tell you why they are the most important colors on the color wheel! One of the Kindergarten teachers told me the other day that she has heard her students talking about and using what we have studying in art class about color theory! ( we are now mixing the secondaries, we are finishing up orange and Warm colors and will be moving on to purple and green with cool colors starting tomorrow.

To start we looked at Mondrian's painting, Boogie Woogie Broadway. We discussed the colors, shapes and lines we saw. We even watched a video clip I found on You Tube where an animator created a 3-D animation based on the painting. The kid's loved it!

 

1st Grade proceeded by painting their square paper in using rectangles and squares using only the Primary Colors. 

We used the tempera paint cakes for this.

 

My Kinders got Primary colored construction paper that I cut into medium size rectangles and I demonstrated how to cut them into squares and rectangles of many sizes. They glued their shapes down onto their backgrounds. This was to reinforce their cutting and gluing skills.  They got black paper strips that they were able to cut to whatever size they wished when we added the black horizontal and vertical lines.

 

 

First grade stamped their horizontal and vertical lines onto their abstarcts using black tempera paint and cardboard scraps.

Some of these pictures have a reflection on them because they are part of an amazingly beautiful display in the front hallway at school.

We have moved into the Secondary colors in K-2 can't wait to show you what they have been doing!  I will take pictures and share soon! 3d grade is finishing up some patterned leaves that they had to write reflections on today, 4th is creating some abstract art from realistic beginnings and 5th grade is working with Forms and Visual texture.  Will share soon! I'm so proud of the kids and how hard they are working this year!

Well, it's Halloween here in N.J. The first one the kids in these parts have been able to celebrate in 2 years!!! No blizzard or hurricane this year! YEAH!!! I'm off to go watch the original Halloween and The Shining with my daughter! Trick or Treat!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and takes time to relax and re-charge!
                                                       Mrs. "C"