3D Geometric Forms

In this 4th grade projects we learned what makes something 3 Dimensional. Our 4th graders should be able to tell you from this lesson some key aspects of both art and math, such as...

A shape is 2D, like a circle or square.
A form is 3D like a sphere, cube or rectangular prism.
A 3D form has length, width and most importantly depth.

After learning the technicalities of each form students created balanced compositions and added charcoal shading for give the appearance of depth!

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.

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:)

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).