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... :) ***
One week of school down after a week off for Spring break... My Fourth Grades started some Positive/Negative designs before vacation. I was inspired by the beautiful designs from Art with Mr.Hall. Tuesday I took a look at them and thought they need something else...
I decided to have them add some color and design to them. I had the kids pick three colors of their choice. Each negative space was to be designed using any combination of the three colors, line and shape.
Detail close-up of student work
The students thought the original design was interesting but they really thought they were cool after they added their details to them!
Thanks again to Mr. Hall for the inspiration! Enjoy the rest of the pieces!
This lesson was inspired by this pin, I found on Pinterest some time ago. I needed to do a color wheel lesson with my fourth grades but I wanted it to be something that would hold their interest. Since it is Autumn and Halloween is just around the corner, I decided to go with pumpkins!
I instructed the students to start by drawing six overlapping pumpkins. Every time I was asked: "Why do they have to overlap?" In return said: "Think about it." They knew we were using the color wheel in order to paint them in. Happily, there were a few students that quickly answered: "Where the pumpkins/colors overlap we will get the tertiary colors, red-orange, blue-green, etc..."
The first steps looked something like this. I reminded the students the major objective was to keep there colors in order of the color wheel starting with red. They outlined their drawing with black Sharpie marker before painting.
If they had more than six pumpkins, they were to go full circle and repeat their colors from red until they were out of pumpkins to paint. It took one 30 minute class to draw out, trace and paint their pumpkins. Very few students needed extra painting time the next class. The students kept asking: "Can we paint the background?" Mind you they are used to me always saying: "Paint everything!" "No, we are not painting the backgrounds this time." I didn't know what I wanted to do with the backgrounds at that time. Something that would give it some pizzazz! Something that would make you say: "Wow!" When you looked at them. So I thought about it all week. I wanted a background element that would contrast with the colorful pumpkins. I came across this pin.
That was my "AH-HAH " moment! Zentangle the background with black Sharpie! The black and white designs would be the perfect companion to the colorful, simple lines of the pumpkins! When the students saw the completed sample they were very excited to start their own designs! All the classes are doing an excellent job and loving the end results! Here are a few finished and in progress pieces from this week!
I love how this lesson turned out! My third graders just finished working on these Paul Klee inspired abstracts. I got the inspiration for project from a lesson I saw on Arteascuola. It was from her April 4, 2012 blog post (I couldn't get it to link directly to the exact page.
The link is located on her side bar in popular posts.)
First I had the students watch this short three minute video (above) of Paul Klee artwork. The video is one I found on Pinterest. It is on my "Videos for the Art Room" board on my Pinterest page. I also printed out several of Klees paintings and created posters about his life and work that are laminated and placed on each one art table. We discussed the paintings on the table posters as well as a few they viewed on the video. We also discussed what an abstract piece of art looks like, and how Klee used abstract elements in his art work.
The Rules Were Simple:
First: They had to use simple shapes, circles, squares ,triangles, etc. as well as lines.
Second: They couldn't use detail to help describe the subject of their picture, only shapes and lines.
Third: They had to draw on the paper I gave them and could not flip it over to the blank side.
The paper I gave them to draw on had writing all over it. It is text from the fairytale Thumbelina.
I then copied several passages from the fairytale "Thumbelina" and pieced them together randomly to fit an 8.5x11 piece of paper. Then made copies of the page for the classes to use as their drawing paper. The concept of drawing on a piece of paper that had print all over it was exciting to some of the students and frightening to others! I told them they could not use the plain side of the paper as the words were going to become part of their background design. They drew their pictures in pencil first. Then they were allowed to choose any subject matter they wished. Some chose buildings and castles after seeing my examples but others chose to draw animals, landscapes and people. When the drawing was complete they outlined it with a black Sharpie marker so that the sketch stood out from the print on the paper. I had them color them in with construction paper crayons. These took about two 30 minute classes to complete and the kids enjoyed making them. Some even asked for extra sheets of the printed paper to draw on when they were done!
Below are some of the finished pieces. I love how they came out! I hope you enjoy them! :)
Things are crazy around here lately! Third, fourth and fifth grades are testing for the next several weeks and we are trying to wrap up projects that started before vacation. Due to the Spring Break, class trips and assemblies... We are very behind in getting our art work done! We only have five more weeks of school left until summer break and I have to squeeze in a few more projects!
I was looking in my archives of art work from this school year and found these watercolors my fourth grades created back in September. It was a great starter project. We looked at Van Gogh's Sunflower paintings and talked about how they could create their own flowers using simple shapes. We also discussed ways they could draw their vases and reviewed using pattern to highlight parts of their picture. The students began by drawing with pencil. When they finished their sketches, we outlined everything in oil pastel. To finish up, they painted the everything else in watercolor. This project covered a lot of the basics to get us out of our summer mode and back into thinking creatively. We covered shapes, lines, pattern, drawing with basic watercolor technique and painting procedure.
