Kinders have enjoyed the Butterfly Alphabet book I have been reading to them. In it, close up photos of butterfly wings create the letters of the alphabet. They learned that butterflies are insects and have 3 body parts. We then drew our own butterflies and wrote the alphabet in upper case letters. After redrawing them in sharpie, we painted. The goal was to give each letter its own color and fill in the rest how we chose. Kinders are learning to handle a brush " like an artist!" . They know to " sweep Mr. Brush, not smash him!"
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
First graders learned a few tricks about how artists show near and far in a picture. We looked at artworks by real famous artists. We saw the tricks they used in their paintings. Things are drawn smaller the farther away they are. We draw objects higher on the page to show they are farther away. Using this knowledge, they drew 3 houses with oil pastel. Each house gets farther away. Then we painted with liquid water colors. Thanks to deep space sparkle for the inspiration!
Second graders have completed 2 more steps toward their woven baskets. We moved on to painting and texture combing paper to be used for flowers. We also painted the background paper with lots of swirling vines. Thanks to painted paper blog for the inspiration for this project!
After wrapping the warp on our paper plate landscape looms, which also serve as the branches and trunk of our trees, we learned to weave the weft. This proves to be a very difficult task for many third graders. Some have a tough time cognitively grasping the over and under aspect of weaving. Nearly all could not tie a knot to get started, add, or end yarn. This is a life skill!!!!! Before velcro and testing, all kinders had to prove this skill. So I really push them to do this ,and to practice at home. Here are a few that have gotten 2 colors woven on their trees. Thanks again to Cassie Stephans for the inspiration.
I am focusing on textile arts for a few weeks with several grade levels. 5th graders will weave a little beaded hanging. Today students decorated the cardboard that they will be using as the loom. So before we cut notches, students added fun patterns to their borders.
Fifth graders are completing their card self portraits using markers, and colored pencils to create skin tones. They had fun choosing a suit and incorporating it into their crown and medieval clothing. It would be fun to make a smaller version for a class deck....next year? Thanks to Mrs. Art Teacher blog for the inspiration!
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Kinders love playdough. But working with clay really gets them fired up! First of all it is a gray color. It makes their hands messy. And they have to actually form it into something! We start with a small ball. Then poke little thumbs in and squeeze around the hole. This is called a pinch pot. This is a very basic clay form, and something I teach all kinders every year. But we went on from there! The children flipped their pot over, pinched, pressed, pulled. poked and scratched until it resembled a little clay mouse! Some even have whiskers and little feet! The white mice below have been fired in the school kiln. Next on to glaze!