Friday, January 29, 2010

Call for Entries Update





































I had an earlier posting telling you about our "Call for Entries" for the Art Gallery, as well as coloring pages designed by the older kids, for the younger kids. Well, needless to say the students didn't let me down! Just look at how our Gallery is growing, AWESOME!!  And check out some of the wonderful coloring pages! So proud I
could pop! Keep up the good work guys!!!
#2

Giraffes Can't Dance!


When it comes to 2nd, 3rd, 4th graders the sky is the limit! They are so eager to learn, they have a great attitude and they absolutely positively love art time! They have worked so hard this year, and over the Christmas holiday I found the book "Giraffes Can't Dance", I loved the message of friendship, and being yourself. It reminded me of all the sweet kids I know at school. I was inspired by some work of a fellow art teacher, and we imbarked on what some called The Impossible. I wanted the kids to bring home something this year that would make their Parent's jaw drop. What better than a large, beautiful, museum quality painting. I hope you all enjoy these, and know how very hard your kids worked on them. Because I think they are awesome!!

We started by reading the story, and together finding the shapes we already know how to draw, that make up a giraffe. We noticed that when Gerald started to dance, he became more human-like and therefore he could dance our favorite dance. We posed like ballerinas around the room, walked like egyptians, and even had a little Saturday Night Fever, whoot whoot!  Look at the different personalities these Giraffes have! Next we painted them with Yellow. We didn't worry too much about staying in the lines because we are cutting these guys out!
 
The next week we split up into thirds and did 10 minute stations. First station was black permanant marker to trace over our pencil drawing.  Next we learned shading and used an orange colored pencil to create a shadow side.  Third we used brown permanant marker for our spots. They just pop off the page!
Next came the moonlit sky. We painted our grass yellow first, then completely covered it with green. Then we used the back of our paintbrushes to scrape of some green to reveal the yellow. This added texture and we were able to learn a new painting technique! Then we painted our sky blue, danced in some purple. Then came our white moon with swirls of moonbeams. Georgeous! Next we cut out the giraffes and glue them on. This has been so fun. I've had so many kids say "I feel like a real artist!" They are just so proud!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Call For Entries, Artist Gallery, Coloring Pictures

Yes, It's true! I really do want that art they've been working on at home. As all parents know, children want everything they create hung up and celebrated. Well, our new Artist Gallery gives them that chance. I've had so many beautiful pieces brought to me, that I thought we'd make it official and start a gallery. They have to work on it at home, (as to avoid the 1st grades begging me to hang up what we just did in class, etc) They can have started it at school, I love to see them working on things that we start in class, it's kind of like homework in disguise!
Our goal is to fill the entire back wall before school gets out, and I think we can do it! If parents would like to see this impressive display of uber-talent, you are welcome to come down with your child before or after school.

Also- Sometimes, with the younger kids, when we're working on harder projects I have students getting done at all different times. I'll let the early-enders color a picture while they wait. Starting this month the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders will be designing those coloring pages for the younger kids, each month we'll have a different theme. I'll copy their original so they can have it back. January's theme is "Things I like to do in the Winter!" Can't wait to see what they come up with!

Going 3-D


If you have 5th or 6th graders, chances are these lines look pretty familiar to you. The older kids are learning how to make their drawings more realistic, and more 3-D.

There are several ways to make something that's flat on the page appear to be three dimensional. One way is by whats called "hatching". A form of hatching is one I've coined "smiley face lines" by putting these lines inside any shape, it will appear to pop out of the page, we've done two assignments with these hatching lines, and the kids really enjoyed them. I tell ya, they love to doodle!

Winter Wonderland



We learned how to draw Santa!
Sometimes we need (okay I need) to take a break from more stressfull projects, and on those days, we love to color. I don't like giving the kids a ready-made coloring pages, usually we make our own. I love how I give the same directions to each child, and yet they all turn out different. These Santa's had such personality!




5th and 6th got to try their hand at sculpting. I think they did awesome!

The kids designed their own gift bags for their clay ornaments.




When we set our minds on making our art room into a winter wonderland, we don't mess around! For the month of December we learned how to create many wonderful Christmas decorations. I told the kids that the decorations were for our room, but the knowledge of how to make them was theirs forever. (i.e. it's going to be too hard to find your snowflake amidst the other 200) Saddest thing in the world was having to say goodbye to these beautiful creations!

Older kids made the beautiful 3-D snowflakes, kinder's made the swirly Christmas Tree's, and 1st grade made the paper chain.



4th grade Wall Mural, This picture was in it's early phase, it turned out awesome!! (sorry for the horrible cell phone picture :)



2nd grade painted and glitter-fied, Tree Decorations.



1st and 2nd worked on the lovely poinsettias, and hung them on the 1st grade chains

Tints and Shades



A Tint is a color mixed with White
A Shade is a color mixed with Black

When teaching this concept to the kids, I taught them that it is so important to get the darks and lights correct in art. If you get the lights and darks right it doesn't matter what color you use.


On the first week we did a "find the shapes" drawing of a piece of the Mona Lisa. The next week we painted the drawing. They got to choose one color only, then that color got mixed with black, and with white for a total of 3 "colors". They had to look at their piece of the Mona Lisa and find the lights, mediums and darks. The lights they painted with their tint, their mediums with the regular color, and their darks with their shades. Then we put all the pieces together. This was one of our most difficult assignments, lots of grunts and groans, but they turned out fantastic! I like how it went from a Da Vinci, to a Picasso look.

Expressive Lines






There is only one thing I've found that get's kids more excited then getting dirty with paint, and that's being allowed to use permanent markers. Especially if they're new, sharp, and juicy! This is an assignment we worked on in the fall.

To be a good artist, it is important to understand that lines create feelings in your art. Twirly lines make us feel happy and carefree, if we want our art to feel that way, then we incorporate soft edges into our piece. Sharp-angled lines give a sad, scary, tense feeling to our art, so likewise, if we want our art to feel that way we use those lines. This is a very simplified definition of course, but a great first stepping stone.

After we talked about line characteristics, I taught the kids some of my favorite doodling lines including the "ribbon" and the "heart-chain", then we started on our project. We drew a face, and every piece of "hair" coming off the head had to be a different kind of expressive line. Certainly, one of our favorite assignments so far!
For the younger kids, expressive lines came in the form of our first "line-by-line" drawing, Jabuti the Turtle, and his cracked shell. Each cracked shape was filled in with their favorite lines. They all turned out so great! I'll never forget how scared they all, (especially the Kindergarterners) were when I showed them a picture of what we'd be drawing. "Well, I don't know how to draw a turtle" Almost like they felt they were the only ones, and everyone else already knew how. They were so proud of themselves when they finished! I called them my little turtle-artist for about a month! I love when they acomplish something they never thought they could!

Bloggin' and Bragin'

Everyday I have the pleasure of teaching art to your beautiful, wonderful, talented, awesome children! And every single day I am excited to come to work, now how many people can say that! I have the best job in the world. It's quite fitting that our room is located deep in the basement, because art class is an escape from the everyday stresses of school. There is no wrong or right in art (as long as your following classroom rules of course). There is no grading, or comparisons, no good or bad. It's where the kids just get to chill, and create. And believe me, they do!

From Kindergarten to 6th grade it's such a thrill to find the children constantly exceeding my expectations. Often when i come up with a project, I question myself whether it's too much to expect from the kids, but they never let me down. In fact, they teach me a lot through what we call "happy accidents", when something doesn't go as planned yet turns out better!!

Hope you enjoyed visiting our art blog, come back and visit often!