2016 Art Show- Kindergarten

Hello!
This year has been a bit of a change for me as we are following a district-wide scope and sequence. It has been a year of new projects, new successes and of course of few failures! The art show this year did not have a theme as I have in the past however I did do something new with 3-4th grade. This year I saved all of their art show projects from the fall and in December they picked and labeled them on their own, took Artsonia pictures, and put them in a folder to save until the show. In the spring we did the same thing. It was SO NICE to not have to pick and label as much art this year by myself! I also think it gave the students more ownership over their art show work. I hung the 3-5th art by their classrooms, but K-2nd I still had sorted by project. I will do one blog post per grade level. :-) Enjoy!
KINDERGARTEN:

Little White Owl 

Students read the book The Little White Owl  by Tracey Corderoy then created their own version. We traced and cut a circle then folded it to become our owl. Students created a moonlit sky with silver crayon and a tree in the foreground for their owl to sit on. We worked on paper manipulation and 3D art and texture (tree bark) for this project!

Apple Tree

Students watched a Brain Pop Junior about Johnny Appleseed. We traced our hand and arm to create a tree trunk and branches and colored it with brown crayon. Next we used watercolor paint and a curly line to paint fall colored leaves. Last we stamped apples onto our tree. I used a pom pom attached to a clothes pin and put a small amount of red paint on a plate for them to stamp. The next class we cut our trees out, glued them to turquoise paper, than added and sky and details such as sunflowers or pumpkins under the tree. This project included tracing, printmaking (stamping), painting and line. 

 Aztec Gold

Students watched a Brain Pop Jr. about Mexico, which includes a part about the ancient Aztecs. We took a look at some of the turquoise and gold jewelry they made. For our project we used stoneware clay. I gave each student a small chunk of clay, they rolled it into a ball then smashed it into a fat pancake. We used stamps and marker lids to create texture on the clay pendants. Last they poked a pencil all the way through the middle to make a large hole. (Clay shrinks in the kiln so make the hole big!) Once they clay was fired, painted them with gold paint. I had some 5th grade helpers cut and tie the yarn in the pendants. We focused on texture for this project.

 Mondrian Primaries

Students looked at Piet Mondrian's art and created their own version. I had pre-cut 1x18, 1x12, and 1x6 inch pieces of black paper for them to glue on to create squares. Students used primary crayons and texture plates to color their artwork. We focused on color theory and texture for this project.

Color Wheel Caterpillar

Students folded their paper in half the long way then did a tri-fold (with teacher help) to create 6 squares on a 12x18 white paper. We used tempera cakes to create the 6 colors of the basic color wheel. The trick is.... I only gave them the primary colors! We started by painting the yellow square, then painted yellow in the next square, washed our brush and got a little bit of red paint, and mixed it on the paper to create orange. I led the class color by color until we had all 6 on our paper. Next class we traced a circle in each box, cut them out, and glued them onto a green leaf in color wheel order. Last we added the details of the face, antenna, and legs to our caterpillars. Students were working on color theory when creating this artwork.

       

Indian Peacock

Students watched a short video about peacocks to learn a few facts about them. We found the middle of the picture plane when tracing a circle for the head. Students added diagonal lines for the neck, and straight lines radiating from the body and head to become the tail feathers. Students also added "eyes" to the feathers, then traced with sharpie, and colored the eyes with gold crayon. Last we used tempera cakes to paint the peacock. Students worked on space for this project.

The Prairie Branch Phoenix!

Each 1-5th grade student made a feather during their first art class of the year. I put all the feathers together to create a giant bird to hang in the commons for the year. It is hung with a combination of poster strips and strapping tape. The students (and teachers) love it!

Back in the swing

Hope everyone had enjoyable holidays and are back in the swing of things at school! We are busy here at "The Branch"  (Prairie Branch Elementary) producing all sorts of fun things. :-) Here is a sample of what we have been up to!

5th Grade: Adinkra Cloth

 

This is a printmaking project that we did, along with the description I hung beside the projects. We make the stamps with foam; the students use dull pencils to imprint the symbols on the foam. I have a slide with the actual Adinkra symbols and their meanings on it that I show the kids, and they copy two that they like. The border of the paper is one larger stamp of geometric lines and shapes, and the two smaller stamps in the middle are the Adinkra symbols. The students roll out the ink on foam trays, then roll it on their stamps, then stamp them on their paper. It is important the students don't use too much ink at a time, because it will fill in their indentations, then the symbols will be covered up when they stamp. This project took us about three class times. I would definitely have them make their stamps the first day, then the next two times have them stamp. If everyone had their own brayer, it is possible they could get their whole paper printed in one 45 min. class if they already had their stamps made and they worked hard! :-)

4th Grade: Klimt Tree at Night

 

 

 

I got my inspration for this project on Pinterest from a painting by klbaileyart.com. This project focuses on tints and shades. I gave them a foam tray to mix colors on. They went from pure white on the moon, to tints, to the hue blue, to shades of blue. This took one or two class times. The last class we looked at Klimt's Tree of Life and painted the silhouette of a tree with black. I had them do this part step by step with me since there are no erasers when painting! The also had the option to add a "creature" in their tree.

3rd Grade: Bright Lights and Big City

 

 

Third grade also learned about tints and shades with a simplified version. I did not give them foam trays to mix on, instead I had them mix their tints and shades on their paper inside the buildings. We drew the buildings and painted them in one class, then added the yellow sky, windows, and street stripes in the next class. I did the mixing step by step with them on my document camera since this was their first exposure to tints and shades. The middle building is the hue, then they should get lighter as the go right and darker as they go left. As you can see, one student got creative and mixed the blue and yellow to create grass instead of a road! :-)

 

2nd Grade: Snowmen at Night

 

 

This project is done with chalk pastel. It took one class time to read the book and do the pencil drawing, then another to color their picture with chalk pastel. Each student was to draw their snowman doing something. Love the DJ snowman!

1st Grade: Friendly Snowman

 

 

 

Students learned about 3/4 perspective when looking at the face for this project. I had them trace a circle for the snowman's head then draw a half circle on another paper for the body. We started by drawing one of the snowman's eyes right in the middle of the head. They drew another eye near the edge, and we continued with the nose off to the side and mouth looking like it curved around the face. Students were to draw their snowmen and women with at least three articles of winter clothing. We used oil pastel to color these creations!

 

 

1st Grade: Chinese New Year Wreaths

 

 

 

 

 

To start, we read a short book about the Chinese new year. We then learned that 2013 is the Year of the Snake. Students traced a 1/2 circle on folded paper and cut it our to make a ring. I taught them how to fold the tissue paper squares over the eraser of a pencil to make them 3D. We glued the tissue around the ring. I also printed a snake for them to color and add to their wreath. These students chose to do color wheel order on their wreaths!

 

Kindergarten: Sneaky Snowflakes

 

 

 

 

Students watched a Brain Pop Jr. about winter. We then folded a square paper into 4 sections. Students used white oil pastel to make secret snowflakes in each quadrant. I did this on the board with them as a draw-a-long. I explained that it would be hard to see their drawings, but we would be doing something with paint later that would make them POP out. After we drew the snowflakes, I handed out watercolors. We discussed what cool colors are. The students used cool colors to cover their paper in a watercolor wash, and the oil in the pastels resisted the water to make them pop out. Sneaky! I went around with a spray bottle to make sure their paintings were staying wet. Last I went around and sprinkled salt on their paintings to give it a crystal effect.

 

Hope some of these projects have inspired you with your students or kids! :-)