This was a fun end of the year project for my fifth graders. They had some great discussions around Keith Haring's artwork and then worked on making a figure sculpture demonstrating motion. The armature was wire and the students created their person step by step along with me. They thought about what action their figure would be doing and bent the wire to recreate the motion. Students used air dry clay for the base. Some made a base that went along with what the figure was doing and others just created a functional base. Each class then finished off their figure in different ways depending on how much time I had left with them. Some left it as a wire figure on clay, some added paper to give their figure clothing, and one class covered the wire with white model magic. Once the model magic was dry, they painted their figure all one color using fluorescent paint. I did not get many photos...I sent them home with the students as soon as they were finished. The first photo shows what the painted figures looked like (made by students of one of my colleagues). Thanks Mike! I had a couple photos of the "clothed" figures.
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My second graders had a great time with this project! It is a lesson that I have done with my third graders in the past (when I started at East Aurora, it was the first year of art for third grade). We discussed the color wheel, and primary colors and secondary colors. No pencil with this project. Straight to marker! After students had their birds drawn, they where given red, yellow and blue chalk pastels. They mixed their secondary colors and made their birds in color wheel order.
First graders had a day to experiment with squishing, twisting, rolling, cutting and coloring model magic. I also read “The Little White Owl” by Tracey Corderoy to the students. Our next class I taught the students to make their own owl with model magic. Needless to say, they loved using this medium! Sadly, with all the end of the year craziness, I did not photograph any of the little gems. Students divided their model magic into sections, mixed color in with markers and then created fabulous owls inspired by the illustrations in the book.
In second grade, we read the story, "Are You My Mother?" by P.D. Eastman. We then discussed form. Students had the rest of class to experiment with their model magic. They learned how to color it with markers and mix it in. Towards the end of class we created the nest and added raffia to make it appear more like a nest. The next week I modeled making two birds and some eggs for the nest. Students were free to make as many birds or eggs as they would like. Their sculptures were precious when completed!
Fourth grades learned about weaving and different kinds of looms. They love weaving and it is a great project to finish off the year. Students get into a rhythm, and each time I come to class they pick up where right they left off. It makes for some very quiet classes as they relax and weave to music. We finished these off by adding yarn hangers and beads to the stick at the top. A great video on teaching students some different techniques, like open slot, closed slot and rya knots can be found here.
This was such a fun project for the end of the year! Students reviewed color (primary, secondary and mixing), drew their wacky birds, and then colored them with chalk pastels. No pencils with this project! We learn to make our mistakes part of our art.
This was another multifaceted project that ended up with an astoundingly high success rate. I was beginning to doubt the lesson somewhere in the middle, but we forged ahead. I am beaming with pride at the growth I saw in my first graders! They looked at still life paintings by famous artists and with a huge variety of flower drawings for inspiration, the students practiced drawing different kinds of flowers. I modeled step by step drawing for several flowers so they would get the idea of really focusing on line and shape. And did I say draw big? Big, big, big...no tiny flowers here. Little ones tend to draw little:) During the practice, students worked on making vases. They covered a paper square with bleeding tissue and water. No pencil allowed on our project. We learned to turn mistakes into something good. Students drew their flowers with marker, added a table cloth using texture plates and crayons, and learned to carefully color their flowers with marker. Students folded their vase paper in half and drew a whatever type of line they wanted from top to bottom. They cut along the line, opened their paper and had beautiful symmetrical vases. They also ran their vase through a paper crimper. Students added stems and leaves from their flowers to their vases and the results were gorgeous!
My fifth grade students spent a little time looking at actual and implied texture, as well as some repousse from a variety of cultures. Students went on a texture hunt around the room and then created the design for their metal. They worked both sides of their metal to work on getting variety in the texture. Once they were done adding texture, they coated their metal with black ink. After about five minutes they wiped off their metal leaving ink behind in all the great little crevices. They were amazed at how much their texture popped once this was done. Students mounted their metal on black paper and continued with implied texture using metallic color pencils. This project was a crowd pleaser with students and teachers alike! The students liked the opportunity to work with a new material and there was a great success rate! I photographed several of these, but somewhere in the end of the year craziness, I lost my images. Here are a couple from my first class of finishers.
Lesson aligned with ELA Common Core unit "Clues to a Culture" Second grade students learned about the element of art, texture. They also learned about weaving and that it creates texture. They looked at different kinds of salt water fish and chose paper that would be one of the colors of their fish. After they drew their fish, students used chalk pastels to to add color, lines and/or patterns. I cut the slits inside the fish and students wove strips of paper into the fish. After weaving they used metallic markers to add patterns and visual texture to weaving. They loved making their giant fish! Unfortunately, I only have one poor quality photo from this year, so I will include a fish from the project last year for you to see what they did.
Students studied the weaving of several cultures. They made comparisons and described differences between the weaving of cultures. Students looked specifically at Kente cloth and learned that it tells a story about the person for whom it is made. They chose colors that would say something about themselves and when they finished weaving, they added details and symbols for visual texture with black markers. I found a great video on how to do the weaving. Kente cloth video.
Each year our entire district comes together and puts on a fabulous fine arts festival: all 12 grade schools, 1 magnet school, 3 middle schools and 1 high school! We showcase our fine artists, musicians, choral singers, and drama students all in one day. All the art in the photos below is from our grade schools and the primary grades of the magnet school. I didn't get photos of all the middle school and high school art. The elementary art is taped to the black paper we put up...tape becomes our best friend or worst enemy depending on how you look at it! Hundreds of pieces of artwork goes up in one grand afternoon, filling the main halls of the high school. The art team also sets up a few art activity tables for students and families. As the festival gets rolling the tables are filled with artists!
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Mrs. Kendell
I was a graphic designer for many years, and then decided to make the leap into art education. I taught elementary art for 8 years. Archives
May 2018
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