Grade 1 Self Portraits

A SELF PORTRAIT is a picture an artist makes of himself or herself. First graders did just that after looking at this portrait of Judith Leyster

 

Students could tell from looking at this self-portrait that Judith likes to paint. We also know that she is from a long time ago (this was painted in the year 1630!!!) because of her style of clothes. First graders drew themselves doing something that they like to do. It was so great to see all of the students interests drawn out. When they were done, they each completed a short poem about themselves. Here are some examples of students who not only drew themselves clearly doing something they enjoy, but also did their very best work!

    

I am helpful, I like Legos, I am a brother, I try climbing, I am Connor

 

I am smart, I like my dog, I am seven, I try my best, I am nice

 

I am a girl, I like art, I am human, I try my best, I am a kid

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Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Grade 3 Rotational Symmetry

Third graders included math integration during this lesson on ROTATIONAL SYMMETRY. When something can be rotated and still looks the same it has rotational symmetry. Some things we see around us that have this property are snowflakes, ferris wheels, flowers, and starfish.

 

The students used their name or initials to use as a design to repeat four times. It took a lot of precision and patience to transfer the design in pencil, then trace in sharpie, and finally color with COMPLEMENTARY COLORS. Colors that are complementary are opposites on the color wheel.

 Red and green, shown here, are complementary colors.

Here are some of the amazing examples that were on display for over a month in the hallways of school!

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Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Kindergarten Watercolor Flowers

Kindergartners painted with WATERCOLORS for the first time to create a vase filled with colorful flowers.  We talked about how to properly use watercolor paints by first dipping the paintbrush in water then gently swirling the brush onto the paint. Proper cleaning of the paintbrush between colors is also important so the colors stay nice and vibrant. Here are a few students who really took their time drawing their flowers and then painted their entire paper neatly with the paints.

Created by Elaina

 Created by Nathan

Created by Caleb

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Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Grade 5 Your Shoe and You

Fifth graders focused on the element of LINE for their OBSERVATIONAL DRAWINGS of their shoe and two objects of their choosing. The two objects had to hold some meaning to him/her personally. We drew these objects from many views before choosing the best drawing and arranging it into a COMPOSITION. To create an interesting composition objects had to OVERLAP to create SPACE. Then, we used either WARM or COOL colors in the background with watercolor paints. Here are some examples that represent all of the concepts above!

Created by Shea

Created by Victoria 

Created by Dylan

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Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Kindergarten Pumpkin Patch

Kindergartners have been working on their pumpkin patches for a month! We used one 40-minute class each week for three weeks to mix orange, green, and purple paint for our papers. Then, we used another 40-minute class to assemble our work.

red + yellow = orange pumpkins

blue + red = purple background

yellow + blue = green grass

We also talked A LOT on how to control our glue bottles, hold scissors, and use scissors safely.These collages were inspired by some pumpkin patches the kindergartners had seen on a recent field trip to a farm.

Here is Emmaline's pumpkin patch

and Joseph's pumpkin patch!

Happy October, Kindergarten!

Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Grade 5 Shoe Drawing

Fifth graders are working on LINE drawings of their shoes. This is just the beginning of a larger project we will be working on. They took off one shoe that they were wearing that day, placed it on their desk, and began to draw from the sole of the shoe and up. They were looking for different lines in their shoes such as the dashed stitching, zig-zag laces, and curves of the sole. Here are some of their drawings that will be used in a bigger final piece.

Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Kindergarten Cut and Glue

Kindergartners are introduced to materials one at a time and this year we began with glue. Using just one tiny dot, kinders were challenged to glue small squares onto the lines on their paper that made their initials. This was a true observation of fine motor skills and how ready we are to move onto our next material. When they completed their gluing they could draw things they liked all around their letters. Here is a photo of Kacey working on her background!

Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Grade 1 Line Sculpture

First graders start the year off learning about LINE and the lines we see around us every day. We completed a bubble map of all the lines we could think of then got to work creating those lines in paper. We made lines that were straight, curved, wavy, zig-zag, thick, thin, curly, and even made up our own. Students glued their paper lines to a base to create a SCULPTURE. First graders know that sculptures are three-dimensional and can be made out of all kinds of materials such as wood, clay, paper, and metal. Here are some in-progress photos of the sculptures...

How many kinds of lines can you see? 

Samantha is ready to take her sculpture home!

Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Welcome Back!

Goodbye summer, hello school!
We begin our school year with the Art to Remember fundraiser! This is a chance to get your child's artwork on a keepsake item while raising money for our school. This year grades 3-5 will have a free choice of drawing. Their three guidelines are that the drawing must be of something they like, the whole page must be filled with color, and the student's name must be visible.
Kindergarten students will be coloring their entire page with crayon and also including their name in a drawing inspired by the book The Day the Crayons Quit. They will be challenged to use all of the colors in their crayon box. Later, we will add a hand print in the middle with paint.
First grade will be tracing their hand and coloring in the sections either with solid colors or patterns. They will also find a spot for their name.
Second grade will be drawing pictures of their houses. To brainstorm what their houses may need we completed a circle map with words and pictures. Their whole page must also be colored and their name visible somewhere on the front of the paper.
All artworks are the original creation of the child with guidance and encouragement from the art teacher (me!). Books are provided as a visual resource as well as drawings on the board for help.

For more information about Art to Remember: http://arttoremember.com/

Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Grade 1 Windsocks

First graders have been doing lessons that involve color theory all year. We cultivated this knowledge with a fun end-of-the-year rainbow painting that was turned into a windsock. Windsocks are light cylinders that are mounted to show the direction and strength of the wind. Students were able to recognize and demonstrate use of primary colors, secondary colors, and which primaries make which secondaries through painting. First graders were especially excited to have something three-dimensional to bring home. Here are a couple of pictures of the students and their windsocks

Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Artists Who Finish Early

It can be difficult to keep students busy who finish their artwork early. Students always love to "free draw" but it's not always meaningful and sometimes is just a waste of paper. By keeping just a few large art reproductions on the cart students can play I Spy with a partner. Here are two kinders playing with Judith Leyster's Self Portrait
The girls were taught not only "Spy" objects, but lines, shapes, colors, and textures :)

Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Grade 5 Modern Mona

This popular lesson was a huge hit at my school's Celebration of Learning last year so I knew it had to be on display again this year. After grade five students learned about the Mona Lisa,  her history and what makes her so famous, they created their own modern version using a template of the body and oil pastels. These large drawings needed to be filled with details so any viewer would know exactly who the new Mona was supposed to portray. Backgrounds, clothing, and accessories were used to give clues. Students were also in charge of making a "frame", mounting their art, and setting up the display in the hallway and staircase for the Celebration. The three examples below were sent to another show called PS2015 and Gift of Art to the State of Rhode Island at the University of Rhode Island Providence campus

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Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Grade 5 Primary & Secondary Hands

Before fifth graders go on to the middle school we did a refresher lesson on primary and secondary colors. They traced their hands in black crayon, overlapping a hand on each side. Hands were only to be primary colors while the overlap was a secondary. The backgrounds could be painted a secondary color or black.

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Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Grade 3 Cherry Blossoms

Third graders looked at some Asian art that included CHOP MARKS, otherwise known as a stamp used in lieu of signatures on art, contracts, and personal documents. They made their own chop marks by pressing their initials using a pencil into styrofoam. Then they inked the new chop mark and pressed it into their paper. We used watercolor crayons to color the page around the chop mark. Students then used a real tree branch to paint a tree branch on their page. Once the branch dried students used some sponges to press pink and white cherry blossom flowers on the ends. They could also use tissue paper if they chose. Here are the final products :)

Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Kindergarten Klee Portraits

Paul Klee created this piece titled Senecio in 1922. Using simple colors and shapes, Paul makes use of various shades of orange, red, and yellow to reveal portrait of an old man.  Kindergartners made their own version using a COLLAGE technique on top of a drawing. They began with a circle then divided it using 3 lines. They could color the sections using any colors, not just warm colors like Klee. They used shapes to add facial features and they completed a worksheet where they circled materials used and counted how many of which shapes they used. Check it out!

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Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

Grade 4 Dale Chihuly Sculptures

Grade four students applied some previous knowledge about ORGANIC SHAPES to this new lesson for the Celebration of Learning. They first learned all about artist Dale Chihuly, like that he lives and works in Seattle, Washington and also has a whole team of artists that help him make blown glass SCULPTURES. Here are the two videos we watched

Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass

Erica Hill Takes a Lesson in Glassblowing 

Then I gave each student a Chinet plastic cup that they could color using Sharpies. They could use any colors they wanted while taking into consideration some of the patterns and color choices Dale Chihuly would make. Once filled with color I took the plastic cups and put them in the oven at my house until they just started to melt. The FORMS that came out of the oven were unpredictable and students were aware and excited about that, these were our personal sculptures. The final touch was to make a coffee filter that related to the sculpture so we could nicely display the sculptures at the school art show, the Celebration of Learning. The coffee filters were just colored with washable Crayola markers and they sprayed with water. Here are the final SCULPTURES

   

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Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.

K-5 Get Healthy

The American Heart Association recently launched its 2015 GET HEALTHY! Poster Contest for Rhode Island schools. Students in grades K-8 are asked to draw a picture of their favorite physical activity and favorite healthy food(s), demonstrating how they GET HEALTHY!  In addition to being entered to win great prizes, posters will help educate lawmakers about the importance of supporting policies that promote access to healthy foods and safe places to play and be active in our communities.  Students began working on these posters and we're coming up with some very interesting ideas such as these vegetables being expelled from cannons. Be sure to submit your contest application no later than April 8th to have your poster sent in.

We have many, many super submissions going to the contest. Here are just a few!

Some lessons have been taught to multiple grade levels. Not all schools participate in the same lessons due to budget, materials, student needs, etc. Please leave a comment with praise, questions, or ways to polish.