Grade 4 Abstract Chalk Art

If you could title this piece of art what would you call it? 

That same question was posed to fourth grade students. After discussing some title ideas they learned that the artist called this work Beasts of the Sea, and it is on the bottom right of the canvas in French. This paper cut-out by Henri Matisse makes use of GEOMETRIC and ORGANIC SHAPES. After learning the difference, students folded a piece of paper into quarters and cut out a shape of their choosing. They traced their shape many times with chalk, turning and overlapping as they went. Chalk was also pushed outwards of the shape to add more color to the paper. These works are ABSTRACT and just like Matisse they had to think of what they would call their art once it was finished.

                           Ducks in the Pond by Brianna

                                                              Beautiful Galaxy by Kayleigh

Grade 3 Gothic Architecture

This image and many others were some of the inspiration for third graders' GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE castle. They were required to pull at least two common attributes of this style of building when drawing their own in SILHOUETTE form. All students were required to have a ROSE WINDOW. To make the rose window, I used an X-Acto knife to remove the area where the students had drawn their windows. Students then taped an overhead projector sheet to the back of their building and drew on their window with colorful Sharpies.

Some students chose to make their castle haunted (note the ghosts, hahaha!)

Grade 5 Your Shoe and You

Focusing on the element of LINE, grade 5 students spent several weeks drawing their shoes and two meaningful objects to them. Here is their handout and rubric, created by Ms.Villanova!

Some finished products

And a visual of the rubric...

Thank you for stopping by!

Kindergarten High-Fives

WARM and COOL colors were the focus of this activity in which kindergartners practiced either of the two color schemes. After learning the warm colors and the cool colors students chose any color from red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or purple construction paper. At their group was a container of chalk including all of the colors listed above. If a student chose a warm color construction paper they had to outline their hand with the chalk of the two other warm or cool colors. 

Here are some students who chose to work with the warm colors

RED

ORANGE

YELLOW

Jayden (bottom, right) chose to use red construction paper so he then had to choose the orange and yellow chalk to trace his hand

Grade 5 Op Art

Op Art is a nickname for Optical Illusion art, popular in the 1960's. Op Art works are ABSTRACT and most of the better-known pieces are in black and white. 

BRIDGET RILEY is an English painter who is one of the first and best Op artists. She is still alive and making art today. 

This piece, Movement in Squares, was completed by Bridget in 1961.  

The pieces below are created by 5th grade artists on 9 inch circles!

Want more Op Art? Check out this excellent video from YouTube!

Grade 1 Lines that Wiggle

This is a favorite book of mine to introduce students to the element of art, LINE. The book's silly illustrations get them to notice lines in every day life and how to describe them. 

After reading the book to the first graders they completed a worksheet with nine different lines to practice. 

  

Using the worksheet to remember the different lines, students used sharpie on some large drawing paper to practice further. Later, they cut out some black frames and chose a section they thought was most interesting. Only what was in the frame was then colored in. Here are some examples!

 

Kindergarten Ladybugs

Kindergarten students got an introduction to SYMMETRY in the form of ladybugs. 

They were given this handout from artforkidshub.com showing only half of a ladybug. Students took their time and looked for shapes and lines to help them make their ladybug symmetrical. They were told to DRAW LIGHT UNTIL IT'S RIGHT with a pencil, then trace the pencil lines in sharpie. Coloring was done in crayon and did not have to be realistic. 

Due to the very small legs, students cut around their ladybugs in a circle to ensure no limbs were accidentally cut off. Then everyone took a piece of green construction paper and folded it in half, drew half of a leaf, cut on their line, and opened it to reveal a full leaf for their ladybug to live on. Students were amazed at the easiness and perfection of their symmetrical leaf. 

Hi Casey, Evan, Dylan, Alana, Allie, & Andrew!