Symmetrically Sketched Spiders

In this lesson my student have been exploring the differences in draing techniques. Sketching and gestrual drawing vs. complex contour designs. For an exercise in sketching students were given one half of a spider and asked to finish the spider using sketching and shading. Student show off what they have learned about value and skethcing before partaking in a contour exersize.

Pastel Spider Web

This project highlights the lines of a spider web while introducing little hands to conrolling glue and blending chalk pastels. Students first draw a dot in the middle of the paper and make ratial lines reaching to the papers edges. Students then color in each section with a different color of chalk pastel. Using two fingers student blend in a back and forth motion to smooth the colors into the paper and to blend the edges together. Students then create a glue dot and repeat the line pattern they created earlier with glue. Student then add circles that get larger to complete the web. The glue will disolve the pastels showing the black paper and leaving the blended pastels in the web's spaces.

Abstract Tree Silhouette

In this project students start by watching a Prezi that I created introducing them to the basics of what abstract art is and why we create it. Students then create a bare tree silouette with branches that strech to the edges of the paper. Students use black oil pastels to thicken thier outlines. Students then add a different color of oil pastel to every space created by the tree branches giving the work an abstract feel.

My character

This was a great kindergaten art project. Students explore how found objects can be used to create art. Students scavenger the art room in search of objects that can be used to create a face. Things such as buttons, string pieces, dust bunnies, scrap papers, crayon and eraser pieces, etc. Then using a construction paper circle students assemble a face. Student study pattern and rubbings to create an outfit. Students then sketch hands and feet. To end this project students create a drawing of the asseblage piece they have created. They give thier character a quote and learn how to write in a speech bubble. The two works are mounted and displayed together.

Fall Leaf Watercolor Print

This project showcases the beauty of the leaves in fall. In class student pretend to be a bug on a leaf as we explore the lines and shapes that nature creates. Students then explore outside to find a variety of leaves to use in thier artwork. Students then use the backside of thier leaves under thier papers and the side of a wax crayon to create a rubbing or print of thier leaves. Students them outline the leaf with a marker and them use watercolors to blend around the leaves and fill in the background. To culminate this project students write a haiku about the experiece of being a leaf falling from a tree.

Fishy Wax Relief

This is a lesson that uses the technique of wax relief. You can buy these black pages from art catalogs but they are costly and you can create your own pretty easily. Give students oil pastels and have them create a grid, being sure to use lots of colors and make a thick layer. They may use rainbow colors or chose a color scheme to work from. After paper is filled with color students apply a thick layer of black oil pastels untill the colors are covered. Then students use printmaking "scratchers" to create thier work of art. For this lesson in particular we focused on underwater scenes. We learned fun fish facts and studied the beauty of the color spectrums found underwater.

Wayne Thiebaud Cakes

In this lesson as a class we watch a few video clips of ace of cakes. We discuss how even cake can be art and the many forms of jobs that fall into the artistic category. We talk about how Duff, from ace of cakes uses his creativity to think outside of the box; a key element in our art room. We then look for inspirations from artist Wayne Thiebaud and discuss how he used cakes and candy as his main subject matter.

On black construction paper, Students create and elipse shape to start then fill in as a cylider. They may make multiple tears, but tears should get smaller as they go up. Students are to add a cake plate and stand to accompany the cake. Students then add decorations. Warn them not to make too small of decorations as oil pastels will be hard to fill in tiny lettering or details. Students then use oil pastels to decorate their cake giving it an icing feel. Student may follow up with a short story or poem using describing words to tell the tale of thier delicious cakes.

Under the sea

This is a 1st grade lesson that allows students to explore the world that lives underwater. We start by finding interesting fish facts from books and internet sources. We have a class discussion on ideas we already know about underwater life then we build on that knowledge base by adding new facts from research.

Now that we have a good knowledge base we delve into the art process. Student do thier sketchbook connections first by doing step by step how-to-draw demos that allows them to do sketch work on about 8 different marine life animals. Then we choose our best fish to create a large individual sketch. Then we create a resit with watercolor and oil pastels. To wrap up each student presents their fish along with one interesting fact they learned and places them in a mural that we have previously created.

PAPER SCULPTURE

This is a 5th grade lesson that explores how paper can be used for sculpture. We use white on white to study how sclulptural techniques can show space, value and depth in an artwork. We use one small piece as an accent color. We watch a power point that features techniques as well as artists who have created some really amazing works with white paper sculpture. I will try and post my ppt in a box.net file soon. I encourage students to think outside the boz on this one and get very mechanical in their detail work.

INSPECTING INSECTS

This is a lesson I do with Kindergarten. We talk about how studying a particular subject can help us draw it more accuratley. So we watch a presentation about what it means to be an insect from http://urbanext.illinois.edu/insects/03.html it is actually a 4th grade presentation but the first 10 slides cover the basics like 6 legs, 2-4 wings, antennaes and what they do. Then we play a game I project and image of a group of bugs from google images and in groups they figure out who belongs in our insect bug club (this checks for understanding of previous lesson). Then we create a series of images of insects, one in watercolor, one in marker, and one in chalk or oil pastels. We paste our insect studies on posterboard and show and tell them and do whole group discussion of what we learned. To wrap up we create invented insects out of clay sculptures. This is a great cross curriculum with science.

TRIBAL SHIELDS

This lesson is the 4th grade component to my Native American Unit. I review the native culture. We do a group study of Native American symbols and meanings. Then the students are free to design thiers how they wish. We use an oil pastel and watercolor resist as our medium.

LINE, DESIGN & ILLUSION

This is a lesson I have done with 4th grade. They create an illusion using a combination of lines, shapes and color patterns. The students can opt to use things like letters in their illusion as well. We study Escher and a few other illusion puzzles with this lesson.

MR. PICASSO HEAD

I recently found the website Mr. Picasso Head, which is awesome! I gave a brief history about Pablo Picasso. We had just done a lesson about abstract art so this was a good transition to talk about how cubism relates to abstract art and how it differs. So we compared and contrasted, then we went on the web and using out Intelliboard each student chose a part to create a class picasso head. Next we did out sketchbook connection, we sketched two of Picasso's famous portraits, then the students created two of thier own cubist portraits. We then chose 1 of the four for our final project. We drew it out on large paper, outlined with sharpie, then painted with tempera paints. I think they turned out really neat and the students enjoyed the project. They gained key concepts about art history and art styles while using higher level thinking from past lessons to compare, contrast and create.

This lesson is part of my native american unit. This particular lesson is done with 2nd grade. We study navajo designs and rugs. We then learn all about the meaning of symmetry. We create a symmetrical navajo design and do a resist process to finish. This is a good addition to the cultural unit.

Legend of the Indian Paintbrush

This is 1st grade's role in the Native American Unit I do every November. We read a great book called The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, which is a story about how a boy named little gopher had a special talent of painting. The story is a legend of how there were these magic paintbrushes that sprung from the hill sides that encompasses all the colors needed to create a sunset painting. So after reading the book and discussing the native culture we create our own watercolor sunset painting. They always turn out beautiful and I love the book and its relation to the unit.

TORN TREES

This lesson is for kindergarten, we discover how paper can be used to create art as well as dimension. We learn about nature and why the leaves change colors(science). We relate that to why warm colors are warm. We also learn about organic shapes. We tear an organic shape of a tree trunk and then many leaves. This is a good time to review the proper ways to use glue, and not make "glue soup" as I call blobs of glue all over the desks...
The organic feel of this work and warm colors make for a great piece for kindergarten.

ABSTRACT BLOCK PAINTING

This is a kindergarten lesson. I use it an intro to tempera painting. We discuss the different kinds of paint and then compare and contrast their effects on paper. We also learn and look at some abstract artworks. Then we create one of our own. I tell the students that they need to think about the colors they choose and how they move thier brushes.

Portraits and Porportion

This lesson is one I do with 3rd grade. We learn all about portraits vs. self-portraits. We have a class disscussion about why artists create self-portraits and how it is a reflection of their inner slef. We study somewhat famous self-portraits and reflect on what we learn about the artist from each one. They I teach about porportion and how if affects our portraits. Now it's time to create. The students sketch out thier individual self-portraits, adding features and details like jewelry, hats and we design our shirts for the picture. Next, we create a border so that the focus of the picture is on the portrait. Lastly we add 3-5 objects in the background that tell something about ourselves, and of course we color it with markers. I was very impressed with how unique each of the portraits were.

IT STARTS WITH ME

This lesson is one that I do with Kindergarten early in the year to learn about them.We start by reading the book First the Egg this book is about how things change and turn into other things, like an egg into a chicken, a tadpole into a frog, paint into a picture, a word into an egg, and it ends with a ckicken laying an egg. So it very philosophical for kindergarten about how the book would start agian. The cool thing about this book it that it has see throught holes that peek into the next page as a part of the current page (it really is cool), we mimic this illustration style in our project. Through the book we touch on science and art through the various subjects of the pages.

Now it is time to make our own book. We discuss what it means to be an author and an illustrator. I premake a double sided paper that lays out how the book should be. We fold it and on the front is says "It starts with me..." Below this line we draw a picure of oursleves today we run through the body parts and facial features and look at our clothes and create a picture of ourselves. But we leave the face blank because it gets cut out a a peep hole (like the book). On the inside page it says "And what I want to be" this is where we imagine what we would like to be we grow up. We discuss what that occupation would allow us to look like and what we could do in that profession. We also talk about how shcool and college can help us achieve our goals. So on the inside page we draw the pic of us grown up. Then we write what it is we are. Then we cut out the front face so it peeks into our future selves.

These turn out really cute I was proud of some of the things that they wanted to be. I heard everything from art teacher, to ninja, to archeologist, to super hero....I really enjoyed doing this with the students, especailly at such an early age.

http://www.box.net/shared/ubhl0j3nff -Project Print Out

Space Exploration

This is a super fun lesson that I do with 1st and/or 2nd grades. This lesson starts with a how-to session that creates our space ship, the ship is outlined and we add details, we brainstorm about things that we would see on our space ship like the NASA emblem, a picture of the earth, the letters USA. Then we talk about what NASA is and how those emblems relate to us. Then we cut out the space ship and set it aside for latter.

Now we focus on space. We discuss the planets, how they relate in terms of color and size and to our planet. We draw the planet and we start with the sun and learn of its importance to out solar system. We outline our drawings with crayon, then paint them with watercolor to create a resist. The resit technique gives the planet a glowing quality that the students just love! Lastly we glue our space ship into orbit and blast off. This is a good cross curriculum with science.

SHOE SKETCHES

This is a lesson I do with 5th grade. We start the unit by taking about how important skethcing is to an artist. We talk about realism and what it means in terms of art styles. Then we create sketch books that have 3 sketches of the same think be do a sketch, a contour, and a blind contour drawing of something like an apple. We learn that sketching lines are to determine the best way to draw a subject (lines that can be erased). Contour lines are about the outline or contour of a subject, these lines are very quick and not detailed. Then we do a blind contour, this is always fun, but I teach my students that the point is practice and the way that you arm flows when it hits the paper. The culminating project is using sketching lines and realism to create a 3 point sketch of your own shoe. We do the side first, then the front and lastly the back. We also learn about how a table line inpacts a drawing and we build on the shading skills we learned in 4th grade from the shapley shading lesson. Overall the students enjoyed this because the explaination and practive of how to sketch allowed them to be successful at drawing something realistically. When we feel successful at something we seem to like it:)

This is an idea I had last year. I always start the year with a color theory review, every year it gets more complex. My hope is by the time they leave for middle school they get aquainted with the wheel and all the terminology that goes with it. So I created some visual aids that have become a permanet part of our classroom much like the word tree. I created people, each with a personality of a term from the color wheel. First, we meet Roy G. Biv, then Primary Pete, Secondary Sally, Warm Willy (that one always gets some laughs), Cool Carly, and Neutral Ned. Each personality has a dialoge box that expains him or her self. It is great for kindergarten and we refer to it during class in all levels.

ART WORD TREE

This is a class room addition this year. We started a word tree or word wall. Whenever we discuss a new key concept art work we stick it on the wall. Then in the future when I review something and I get a blank stare I ask a student to go over to our tree, find the word we are looking for and explain it to the class. That allows the definition to be explained in student terms, because sometimes my terms are not clear to them. I find it to be a great asset in art and vocabulary.

SHAPLEY SHADINGS

This is a 4th grade unit that studies the world of geometric shapes, shading and light. We start this unit by going over how to draw the geometric shapes we go into depth about what dimension is, along with examples of 1D, 2D, and 3D objects. We then have a scavenger hunt which is great for kinesthetic learners. We scout out objects in our room that qualify as 3D geometric shapes. Next we discuss light and shading, students do a practice of shading. Then we move on to composition and what is means to be visually pleasing. We then cut out the shapes we each have drawn and shaded, and they are then used as puzzle pieces to practice our composition. Once we find a visually pleasing composition we sketch it on a large paper, it is then outlined and shaded with a color pencil color of choice. I am always amazed at how good they do with this project, something I didnt learn untill middle school they do very well with at a 4th grade level. This project also crosses curriculum with math (geometric shapes).

TOTEM POLES

This lesson is done with 3rd grade as part of my Native American Unit. Every grade level does an art project that focuses on the native culture. In this particular lesson we study what it means to make symbols and the idea of creating "spirits". By using construction paper we create a 3-D piece of art work. During this lesson we learn about the differnce between balance and symmetry when designing how our poles will look. The process of digging through the large scrap bin and finiding interesting ways to create faces, symbols and charactors is always a process that the students enjoy. This lesson takes approx. 3-4 40 minute periods (including a day of discussion and practice sketching then 2-3 days of work time). We usually end by having a class critique "native style" we sit in a circle on the floor and discuss the meanings behind our poles. All in all, it is a student favorite.

CREATE-A-MANDALA

This is a 5th grade lesson. The students usually work on mandala design print outs when they finish their work. So I thought it would be great to have them create their own mandala design. We studied the history of the mandala and how they were used as medatative tools by munks. The students made practice sketches and chose a design. We created and oil and watercolor resist to finish it. This took approx. 2-3 40 minute classes. On the webpage nga.org there is a program that allows students to create their own electronic mandala in a printable form we did this as a wrap up to the lesson, the technology was interesting to the students.

ART IN MOTION

This is a lesson I just finished with 2nd grade. We explored movement and rhythm in art, we also discussed what is means to create abstract art. This lesson also provided a good time to discuss the different process and products an artist can get by using different mediums, we discovered the differnces in watercolor and tempera painting.

The students really got into not thinking and just creating movements that went with music that I played. I chose classical music that had many different beats and rhythms so that could reflect in thier painting style. The paintings looked way cool when they were all put together. To wrap up we looked at the work of Paul Klee and compared and contrasted the students work with his.