K and K4: Texture! Pumpkins and Indian Corn

Our little guys had a great time texturizing paper.  We talked about this term and what it means.
For our Indian Corn, the students learned how to dab autumn paint colors into a corn shape.  They then glued on scrunched-up brown paper for the husks.

For the pumpkins:  Day one involved stamping a pumpkin-shaped piece of paper with fall colors using bubble wrap.  This turned out to be messy (of course) but interesting for the students.  I had to be sure they stamped and didn't smear the wrap around.  Day two involved gluing the pumpkin down to another 9x12" piece of paper and then using a glue bottle to decorate the pumpkin using glitter.  They looked at our model pumpkin to see how there are "c" shaped lines on these gourds.  These made pretty bulletin board displays.

4th: Molas

For their cultural project during first quarter, fourth graders learned about the Kuna Indians from Panama and the gorgeous molas the women create.

http://www.sciencejoywagon.com/kwirt/mola/molas.htm

The link will direct you to some of the history and pictures of these beautiful renditions of appliqué.
Fourth grade created their own molas from colorful paper collaged onto a black background. They decided on their own simple-form animal using layers of paper and pattern.  Unfortunately, most of the fourth graders' molas have mysteriously disappeared!  Hopefully they will turn up before Christmas break as I was looking forward to displaying them at our Christmas program.

2nd and 3rd: Art to Remember

 2nd and 3rd grades used a ton of creativity and color to fill up their Art to Remember papers this year.  Many drew and painted geckos with pattern.  Several others drew butterflies or even some reptilian friends with lots of pattern.  We then employed "wax resist" by painting with bright watercolor paints.  It was fun to watch the patterns "pop" out!

K4: Art to Remember

Cute little Jr. Kinders hand-stamped their way into a beautiful bouquet for their Art to Remember project for 2011!   They also painted their own stems and leaves.

K: Art to Remember

Using handprints and fingerprints, Harvest kinders learned a bit about perspective--background and foreground--in this cute piece for our annual Art to Remember project!

1st Grade Totem Animals

1st Grade:  Totem Animals/Northern Native American Art


For first quarter, first grade learned about Northern Native Americans and some of the art they created, specifically Totems of the northwestern tribes.  Like the Greeks, much of Native Americans' art was functional along with beautiful.  This is true for the totems.

Most of the time, totems were used as symbols of a person, tribe, clan or family.  We discussed how these would be carved out of wood and then painted.

First grade drew their own version of a totem lightly in crayon.  We talked about how to make the bird appear to be a cylinder in shape by keeping the drawing long and straight.  It was also to be symmetrical and go right off the page at the bottom.  These birds don't fly!

When the student was happy with his or her drawing, they were to go over it dark in black.  The next week, we had fun with color and paint!  With painting, I usually discuss contrasting colors and what that means.  We kept the colors simple, bright, and fun.  The last thing was to add pattern to both the bird and the background.

2nd/3rd Grades--Greek Collage

2nd and 3rd Grades: Greek Collage


Okay, so we have been having problems with our internet provider....computer issues--gotta love them.  Anyhow, this caused a huge pause in my blog posting.

I am going to do my best to catch up on our first quarter lessons for this year.

Second and third grades learned many things about ancient Greece during our first quarter.  This collage took quite a bit of time and energy, but most were able to finish the entire assignment.

The first part of this collage was the scratch art Greek vases.  I got this idea from Art Lessons for Kids. http://artlessonsforkids.me/2011/04/24/papier-mache-greek-vases-in-grade-seven/

The students took a look at pictures of ancient red-figure and black-figure amphoras and kraters.  We discussed how important these artists were to the ancient Greek culture, also how these beautiful "vases" were really functional pieces of art used to hold wine, grain, olive oil, and many other things.  The children first drew there own version of an amphora or krater on paper, then plunged into their "real thing" on the scratch art paper.  They had a blast seeing what color emerged from beneath the black scratch paper.  Each vase received a unique geometric design reminiscent of early ancient Greek design.

The next part was taking a look at ancient golden death masks.  I know what you're thinking...how morbid!  But who isn't fascinated by King Tut's gorgeous gold and gem-encrusted mask:  http://wysinger.homestead.com/files/54_tut.jpg

We looked at the so-called "Mask of Agamemnon" after discussing the story of the Trojan Horse, which really fascinated the kids.

So we used cardboard from recycled cereal boxes to cut out ovals.  The kids drew a symmetrical face.  I demonstrated on the white board how to draw an accurate face.  They then traced their drawings with glue.  These were left to dry and then brushed over with a couple layers of gold acrylic paint which gave a raised effect.  We also made Greek coins in this fashion.

Finally, the last step was an in-depth look at the Greek column orders:  Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.
The kids really took to this, which is amazing--I didn't even learn about this until college!  I let them decide which one they could handle.  They practiced drawing one of these orders on newsprint.  We then took our stylus and pressed through the newsprint onto foam.  (I reuse the veggie trays from the grocery store.)  We printed these onto our 12x18" paper in white paint.  Most of these turned out pretty well.  It can be difficult if the design is not pressed deeply into the foam.

The amphoras, coins, and masks were then collaged onto the large paper.

Art to Remember and Cultural Projects

Art to Remember projects are officially finished, and classes have already begun their cultural art pieces.
I will be posting pictures soon of these fundraiser pieces.  I am hoping things will go as scheduled, but we may have to extend the dates for Art to Remember as the school has not received our class labels or parent order packets yet.  This will be fine, and orders will still be here in time for Christmas break!

Jr. Kindergarten has finished colorful handprint flowers for ATR and has also completed their Lascaux Cave art.  This lesson was inspired from The Incredible Art Department's website: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/Lessons/6-cave.htm

The children were able to trace their own hand (a new thing for many of the students of this age), draw an animal after looking at pictures and discussing animal body parts: head, body, legs, antlers, etc., and color with crayon, cray pas, and paint.  Kindergarten will also be finishing this project next class period.

Kindergarten was able to learn some things about perspective with their ATR projects this year.  They were to draw a barn and silo on the top half of  their paper.  We discussed how this, along with the small size of the buildings, caused them to seem far away in the picture.  In the foreground, the children created an adorable chicken with her 3 chicks using their handprint and fingerprints.

First grade completed Native American pouches.  During this process, they learned a bit about Native American culture, sewing, weaving, pictographs, and using beads in their work.  The past week we began learning about northwestern totems.  After learning the purposes for these large carvings, students were able to draw the bird of their choice.  These will be painted later.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/0876287887_63_64.pdf
For Art to Remember, 1st grade will be using the beautiful renditions of Van Gogh's Starry Night which Mrs. Wallace teaches the first graders every year.

Second and third grades learned about wax resist--how wax crayons or oil pastels resist water color paint.  They created really cute geckos, snakes, butterflies and more for their ATR projects.  They have also been learning quite a bit about the famous vase artists of ancient Greece and how art played such a huge part of their culture.  The students were able to draw their own kraters and amphoras from real pictures of ancient versions.  They then decorated each with geometric patterns in the style of ancient Greece.  The next step was to transfer this pencil-drawn image over to scratch-art paper.  The kids had a lot of fun seeing the bright images "pop" out of the scratch paper.

Fourth grade and fifth grade were able to use more of their own creativity with ATR this year.  We drew a circle on the paper, and we discussed the Indian Mandala.  They then decorated the circle with either rotating colorful pattern or turned the circle into a creature of their own design.  Fourth grade has begun their cultural artwork as well.  They have been learning about the Kuna Indians' Mola.  This is a fabric appliqué process.  They have been learning to draw a primitive-shaped animal and then cut this shape out in three colors while growing in size.  This has proved to be quite a challenge for the 4th grade, but one that will stretch their artistic skills.  We will continue working on our Molas for the next couple of weeks.
Fifth grade is becoming acquainted with ancient Egypt.  This seems to be quite a fascinating subject for them.  They are learning to draw in the stylized methods of this ancient culture, creating static figures amongst hieroglyphics as seen in the paintings of old.

Art to Remember pictures are coming soon, along with pictures of our cultural art as it is being completed!

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.

Red, Yellow, Blue--K4/K5

Teaching the little guys, as I fondly call my kinders, is best done using music or movement.  I'm still learning in this area, as I've been used to teaching middle school students in the past.  It is also particularly challenging teaching this age group because each lesson, while teaching the ideas of true art, must also be simple enough for four and five year olds to grasp and the art itself not above their skill levels.

Fine motor skills are being developed at this age, so things that are fairly simple to an older elementary student, such as drawing shapes or cutting with scissors, is something still being learned in the kindergarten classroom.  This is especially true for our Junior Kindergarten class.  This year has been one of learning for me as well!

For this project, which I gleaned from my talented art teacher mother, is a perfect lesson for teaching the primary colors to the youngest Harvest students.  "Red", "Yellow", and "Blue", as our three mice are called come to life while singing a song to the tune of "Three Blind Mice".  Red, Yellow, Blue, how do you do?  We discuss primary colors and how they are the base colors for every other color.  In another lesson later (Secondary Color Balloons) students will see how these base colors can mix into secondary colors, Purple, Orange, and Green.

I pre-cut the triangle shapes for the mice bodies since we did this lesson toward the beginning of the school year.  The students were to paste (using glue sticks) each triangle in order facing in one direction.  One corner of the triangle is the nose.

Next, students were to take a black crayon and follow my direction on the board to draw two circles (colored in) for ears (in perspective--one front, one back), a black nose, eyes, whiskers, and four little feet.  Most followed direction fairly well.  Of course a few have a mind of their own.  Finally, the assistants and I drew a glue line for a tail and the student placed snippets of yarn carefully on the glue.

At the end of the year, it is amazing how these projects teaching art basics can stick with young children, especially if a song is attached!

Kandinsky--4th and 5th grades

The great Kandinsky...this where 4th and 5th grades began for our last quarter of 2011 with our focus on the masters of modern art.

We began as usual by discussing the artist, where he was from, and the idea of abstract art in general.  We took a look at several examples of his artwork.  For this lesson we used some of my husband's nicer art poster paper. It is a better quality and heavier than normal construction paper.  Starting with the basics of composition layout and balance of both line and color, it was interesting to see how each student took this idea in a different direction in the end--creativity at its best!

I had each student use a ruler as a straight edge and draw with pencil lightly to begin.  Learning to draw lightly so erasing is easier or perhaps not even necessary is something our classes have been working on all year.  Some employed protractors as well for a diversity of shape.  For the circles and curved shapes, yogurt containers work nicely.  The student was required to use a balance of lines--both long and short--and several shapes.  During the application of color in the form of oil pastel, I was looking to see that they balanced it by using like colors on both sides of the paper.  Like Kandinsky, they could blend colors as they swim into each other across the page.  The last touch required the student to draw carefully over each original pencil line in black oil pastel to make it pop!

Watercolor Leaves--4th and 5th grades

For the fall, what better to draw and paint than leaves?  Well, 4th and 5th grades did just that!
Using real leaves, of course, the students employed contour drawing for this project.  Having had class with me last year, most of them remembered what this meant and realized that I knew when they were "cheating" and drawing from their heads instead of really looking at the leaves.

The challenge here is to create a well-balanced composition, drawing large (which can be a challenge in itself), and drawing the leaves as if they just fell onto the students' papers.  I had to continually remind them to not have all the leaves with stems down.  It looks too planned.

After carefully drawing what they saw as a pleasing arrangement, the student traced over their pencil drawings with crayon.  We discussed cool and warm colors and using them for contrast.  The students also used white crayon to draw snowflakes here and there on the composition for a wax-resist effect as we added the watercolor.  Originally I told the kids to paint the leaves with warm hues and the background in a patchwork of cool ones.  As you can see, the students did mix this up a bit, but for the most part managed to still keep warm colors behind cool and vice versa.  This was the most important part for contrast anyway.

Here are some of their displays!

"In Monet's Garden"--2nd and 3rd grades

Following the first quarter's theme of Impressionist artists, the second and third graders worked on a piece following Impressionistic techniques while learning about Claude Monet.

We began the lesson by reading Linnea in Monet's Garden, which tells the story of Claude Monet with pictures of him, his family, and his work.

I was inspired to do this lesson from another art teacher's blog.  It may have been "Merrymaking", but I'm not entirely sure.
I took each child's picture so they could picture themselves in Monet's garden on his Japanese footbridge like Linnea in the story.
Each child began with a white 12 x 18" sheet of construction paper.  Using natural hair brushes and watercolors, the kids were to create the "fuzzy" impression of the lilypond and the foliage around it.  I pre-cut strips of white paper for the foot bridge, which they also painted in the dabbed-on Impressionistic method after gluing them onto the large paper.  Finally, the students were to use very thin brushes to paint red v-shaped lilies.

Linnea in Monet's Garden