Today, I was fortunate enough to participate in a National Art Education Online Conference put on by The Art of Education. What a great experience for relevant professional development for art educators. The conference was very invigorating and inspiring, the end of January is a great time to attend a conference. The experience was invaluable. If you are interested in checking it out, visit www.theartofed.com.
Anyway, back to what is happening in the Grimes and North Hill classrooms. Here is a quick recap!
Kinders- My youngest students began the year with one of my favorite projects. Shape robots.
They use cardboard stamps to create lines and shapes. They also love using Q-tips to paint with.
This is a great way to explore line and basic shapes at the beginning of the year.
still life for kinders 
This is the first year I have experimented with having my kindergarten students do a still life.
Around the end of October, I got a few pumpkins and set up a still life. I did demo how to see
when you draw and the little ones took it from there. I was so surprised at how these turned out. '
This is definitely something I will be trying for years to come, with all age groups.
Equally important, is letting students know that you are not only the art teacher, but an artist yourself. When I have a class with a good flow going, I don't hesitate to sit down and work near students on the same project that they are processing. They love to see it and it is great to see their eyes opened to the teacher's love of art as well!
First Graders- First grade is the year where we really start talking about types of space in art. I love to read "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds. "The Dot" is a great introductory book for exploring positive and negative space, as well as encouraging students to try something, anything to make art.
First Graders also got in on the pumpkin making action, this time focusing on lines inside and outside the pumpkins.
First Grade Kandinsky Trees, was a lesson on color mixing and the work of Kandinsky-
Second Grade- We started off the year by studying sea turtles and hexagons. Hexagons are a tricky shape to get a handle on drawing. Sea turtles provide the perfect opportunity to practice! These turtles turned out very vibrant. We also talked a lot about proportion and composition while drawing.
321....Blast Off! Second Grade was allowed to both use splatter paint and glitter in the same day! A student's dream, an art teacher's and custodian's worst nightmare! Actually, the day turned out much better than anticipated. Students also got to use tempera paint to paint the red, orange, and yellow flames. The most challenging part of this project was the drawing and the cutting.
Third Grade- Tints, Pattern,and Line Oh My! Students at Grimes were able to participate in an Original Works fundraiser for the PTO. They were able to take their art work and have it printed on various products (coffee cups, t-shirts, mouse pads, etc.) We discussed zentangle, pattern, line, and tints. 3rd graders used acrylic paint for the first time.
Fourth Grade-
Students studied Pop Art and artist Wayne Thiebaud. We discussed lines, patterns, and contrast.
Students were encouraged to choose any type of dessert they wanted and what color they wanted to use for contrast.
In October, students created 3-D spooky houses. They wrote narratives about a fictional spooky
family that lived in the house that they built. Students loved to use paper to create the pop up
houses. We discussed architecture and how architects have to have plans before they build their
structure. Students were required to plan their houses before they built them.
Besides glitter, there is nothing art teachers hate more, than stick people. 4th and 5th grade students practiced drawing figures by looking at wooden drawing mannequins. Students also shaded with crayons and a shadow. Students could draw the figure in any pose they wanted to. Proportion was a really important aspect of this lesson.
Dia de los Muertos- Day of the Dead -Culture Study
I love finding ways to use donated materials that you think you may never use. This year someone donated artificial flowers to the room and students created beautiful Dia de los Muertos masks in October.
Andy Warhol Soup Can Still Life- 4th graders practiced drawing a 3-D form and discussed the work of Andy Warhol.
Fifth Grade- Students spent a lot of time on this Op-Art piece. We talked about optical illusions
and how they can be created in many different ways. We also talked about shading and
complimentary colors. The results were very striking!
First semester, Grimes also had an Art Club that started meeting on Tuesdays after school.
We will save the photos from the Art Club for another post. This is what we have to catch
up on for now. More photos and posts to come for the remainder of the school year!
