Day 1: Art class Intros and Art to Remember!

Harvest Community School art class is officially off and running as of yesterday!


I'm so excited with what I have planned for the students this year.  Maybe I should give a little introduction of myself before I delve into our plans for first quarter.  I am married and the mother of three very gifted and active boys--9, 6 1/2, and  2 1/2.   I graduated from the University of North Florida in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in art history.  If they had the major of art history back then, I most likely would have majored in that, but alas, I settled with a minor in art history.  I grew up in the home of an art teacher, and every person in my immediate family is artistically talented.  While at UNF, I was able to participate in several studio art classes such as Drawing I and II and Ceramics.  I came to Harvest in 2006 teaching middle school English levels.  After the birth of my 3rd son, I decided that I should work less.  The position for elementary art opened up, and God led me to teach this resource class in the fine arts department.  It has totally been a blessing!  


This year we have begun our Art to Remember fundraiser projects beginning the first day of school.  This is unusual, as we normally send these home in October.  Because of the wait for the "art classroom" as the modulars are being finished, I felt this would be a simpler way to get hands-on while traveling from class to class.
Art to Remember is scheduled to go home on September 26th, and orders should be returned to school by October 3rd this year.  After we finish up these projects, lower school will be learning about various ancient cultures.


K4 and K5 will be learning about the cave paintings discovered in Europe and will be doing some of their own "cave art".  1st grade will be looking at several Native American forms of artwork, while 2nd and 3rd will study the Greeks and how art was a huge part of their life!  4th grade will be learning about South American art, and finally 5th grade will be studying Egypt.  These cultures are just a few that demonstrate the importance art played in their politics, religions, and daily living.


Be sure to check out our bulletin board displays throughout the school year!


I also wanted to let parents know that I will be hanging on to many art pieces throughout the school year for the displays at the Christmas show and the Showcase at the end of the year.  I will do my best to be sure all students are represented in these displays.


Thank you so much for allowing me the privilege of teaching your students at Harvest!

Silhouette Cut-Outs--4th/5th grades

Sometimes while teaching art, I need a quick filler lesson.  This was one such lesson!  I have this cool silhouette of my son's head from when he was in kindergarten, and I thought that this could be a cool thing to do with other things!

First, I checked out several books, mostly on wild birds, from the public library.  I brought these into class for my 4th and 5th graders to peruse at each table.  My older students are well-acquainted with contour drawing and what I expect of them with this, namely, drawing while looking more at the object rather than from what they perceive in their heads!  We discussed this briefly, while I showed them my example.

The students were given 9 x 12" pieces of black construction paper.  I use Tru-Ray brand, as it is a much deeper shade of black than some cheaper brands.  They found an animal they admired in the books and took off drawing what they saw.  While they draw, I walk around making certain they are indeed drawing what they see.  It's fairly easy to tell when they are hurrying and drawing from their heads.

After drawing the animal, they cut out the forms very carefully.  Some were more detailed than others.  I then told them to flip the black paper over to glue the drawn side down to get rid of pencil marks.  The students glued their silhouettes to brightly shaded paper in different sizes.  This is a good way to conserve paper, especially at the end of the year and supplies are diminishing!

I think these look especially nice in a grouping and would be lovely framed!

Stamped Van Gogh Sunflowers--K4/K5

For our very first kindergarten project this year, students learned about Vincent Van Gogh and Impressionism.  We read the book, Camille and the Sunflowers by Laurence Anholt.  Using the story of a boy named Camille, this book described part of the life of Van Gogh and contained images of many of his paintings--especially of his sunflowers.  This is what we focused on.

Students began with a small purple piece of paper--about 5 x 9".  We folded this in half and I showed them how to make a symmetrical vase by drawing a line parallel to the fold.  Depending on the skill level of the student, they had the option of drawing a straight line, slanted line, or wiggly/curvy line.  You can see the diversity of vase shapes in the photos! 

They then glued this on the bottom half of a white 9 x 12" piece of construction paper. 

Next I brought out the tempera paint in brown, green, orange and yellow.  I had the children paint 3 brown circles above the vase--not too far apart.  They need room for the stamped flowers.  I had them next paint a green stem going from the brown circle into the vase.  For this age group, you need to be sure to demonstrate this, or you could have stems going over the vase or off the page!

We let these dry.  For the flowers, I had prepped flower petal stamps made from styrofoam petals I had cut out in different lengths, glued to cardboard squares in fan shapes.  Fruit and veggie trays from the supermarket work wonderfully for this!   I showed the students how to brush on the paint to the stamps and then stamp around the brown circles to form flowers.  We shared the yellow and orange stamps, swapping with our neighbors.  It is OK for the stamps to go off the page and overlap each other.

For the most part, this was a successful project, and the kids learned about Van Gogh's gorgeous sunflowers!

Van Gogh's Sunflowers--K4/K5

This was the first lesson K4 and K5 at Harvest Community School learned last year.  I read a book about Van Gogh called Camille and the Sunflowers.  This contained several of Vincent's works along with a story.  We discussed Vincent Van Gogh's life in general as well as Impressionism.

Symmetrical Vases with Pussywillows--K4/K5

 

This was another great lesson for my kinders.  I snagged this idea from several different sources, one being my son's preschool teacher.  He had brought home a large pale blue piece of construction paper with a die-cut yellow vase glued on.  Then my son had drawn stems with a brown crayon and stamped pussywillow blossoms with his finger dipped in white paint.  

For my class, I decided to take this a step further and teach some symmetrical cutting as well!  I taught them what the word symmetrical meant and then demonstrated how to cut a vase this way.  

Day 1: Each child received a 9 x 12" piece of white construction paper.  I had pre-cut squares of multi-colored tissue paper.  I also put out containers of glue mixed with a little bit of water.  I use large yogurt containers for this.  I showed them how to paint the glue on with acrylic paint brushes to make the tissue squares stick to the construction paper.  This can be a bit tricky for them.  They must use a clean finger to hold the square in place while they paint with the other hand from the inside out onto the white paper.  They glued as many squares as they liked in various colors all over the paper.  This took the entire 35 minute class period.  They were set out to dry.

Day 2: I showed the kids how to fold the paper in half (tissue-covered side folded in) and how to draw a line from top to bottom on the plain side (with fold to one side).  To make this work for all skill levels it is important to show three types of lines.  I told them they could draw a straight line--up and down, a slanted line, or a curvy line.  You can see from the pictures the different wonderful results that came from this.

After the line was drawn, the kids were able to cut.  Some of them needed help with this, especially if their line was particularly wavy!  They loved opening up their vases seeing how they "matched" on each side!

We then glued our vases to a 12 x 18" colorful piece of construction paper making sure they glued it near the bottom of the paper.  This left room at the top for our willows.

I showed the kids an artificial pussywillow branch first and showed them how there is a long brown stem with white, soft blossoms coming off the sides.  With a brown crayon, they drew long branches coming from inside the vase.  You do need to remind them that the branches are coming from inside the vase.  Then came the fun part of dipping one finger into a plate of white tempera and printing our "blossoms".

This was such a terrific spring lesson--bright colors, blossoms, and so many things to learn wrapped up in one beautiful piece of artwork!

 

Winter Snowmen--K4/K5

Not many things are cuter than a kinder, but a kinder's snowman comes pretty close!  Before Christmas, our Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes were introduced to snow...and the playful snow people that come with it.

Most, of course, have not had the pleasure of building a real snowman, so we made our own in art class!

We began with the concept of small, medium and large. I demonstrated the concept on the chalkboard putting the circles one on top of another with large at the bottom, medium in the middle, and small on top.

The children used a 9 x 12" construction paper in blue or brown, which was a nice background for the white paint.  We began with a horizon line with the white tempera.  I had to be sure the kids did not paint this too high up, or there would be no room for Mr. or Ms. Snowman.  They painted the bottom part of the line entirely white. 

Next, the students followed the large, medium, small concept to paint the snowman on the horizon.  One student had hers hovering above.  I just said her snowman was flying!  After this, the kids painted snowflakes using a q-tip to dot.  I had to be sure to demonstrate how to dot the paint and not scribble, although this still happened on some.

The second day of this lesson was adding collage using my scrap paper box.  It was fun to show students how to cut out little mittens, scarves, hats and buttons from construction paper and painted paper (from previous lessons).  I told them to do their best cutting out shapes--triangles or squares for hats, circle-type shapes for buttons, rectangles put together and fringed for scarves, etc.  Some get frustrated with this process, but I try to explain that it doesn't have to be perfect.

Last, I showed them how to tear out a fir tree from green construction paper.  This proved to be difficult for many, so not all have one on their finished picture.  Over all, this lesson was a success, and something of which the kids were proud!

Winter Trees--1st grade

Most Floridian kids have an itch to see winter snow...to roll in it, make snow angels, build snowmen, etc.  The closest thing we have is the white, sandy beaches, which are anything but chilly!  So this lesson is a fun one to do with kids who, for the most part, have yet to experience the thrill of a white winter.

I began this lesson (another borrowed from my mom!)  by discussing what trees really and truly look like.  I drew a "lollipop tree" on the white board along with the "lollipop flower" most kids (and adults) are acquainted with.  Yes, one can see and recognize these as trees and flowers, but is this what they really look like?  The kids could see the difference right away, especially as I held up a long, slender branch for them to observe.

"See how God made the branches grow up toward the sun? They grow out of a main branch." They do not, however, grow into right angles or geometric shapes.  It is important for the kids to understand that the trees reach up toward the sun.  To demonstrate this point, I had the students stand up and stretch out their arms.  I had a volunteer come up and I showed how trees have armpits too! 

We began using black crayon on 12 x 18" colorful construction paper.  I demonstrated how to draw lightly  creating either one trunk (with paper vertical) or two (paper horizontal).   Students created branches reaching up and roots like fingers reaching down into the soil where water and nutrients are.  I demonstrated this using my fingers spread out reaching down.

After sketching these out and checking each student's work for following directions, I had them color in each trunk and branch.  I had to be sure the kids colored in darkly and fully for a nice finish.

For the second day of this lesson, I brought out the white tempera.  We began with a horizon line behind the trees.  Carefully painting around the bottom of the trees, each student mounded the "snow" in drifts around the trunk and in the "armpits" of each tree.  We had to discuss how snow might mound on the "arms" of each tree, again using a volunteer for example.

For a final touch, we used q-tips to dot snowflakes into gentle flurries or heavy blizzard, according to each child's preference.