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.

Guitar Art Hero

In this lesson I created an introductory PPT that allows the student to view and learn about 9 different artist. The students fill out a guide that is to help them arrange information about the artists. The students use this guide to help them choose and artist or art period that intrigues them. I did this unit with 5th grade students it, taking approx. 3-4 40 minute classes.

Then the students create a large scale tracing of a guitar outline and use a piece of famous art from art history or from the PPT to use as inspiration for the art that will cover thier guitar. Students create a sketch on the base of the guitar then fill it in with a chosen medium.

I was amazed at how much my students loved the powerpoint. They were talking about their feelings toward the artist styles as well as relating it to history. I loved this unit!

My powerpoint, actual lesson plan, guide sheet and guitar outline can be found at

http://www.box.net/shared/rk5azcv8rl -Guide sheet

http://www.box.net/shared/kyx6kogg20 - PPT