Fall Art Projects

Kindergarten has been busy studying primary colors and how to mix them in order to get secondary colors. They have also studied shapes and lines by creating beautiful pumpkin patches and crescent moons. I had some real pumpkins in the classroom for them to look at and touch. They also explored different kind of lines by drawing them on the Promethean board, then they drew the lines on he paper with an oil pastel and covered them with water color paint. They enjoyed seeing the wax resist the absorption of watercolors. Last week we began exploring clay, many students said, "It's like play dough!" or "Where did you dig for this?" Very entertaining for me! Students created small pinch pots by the end of our 30 minute class. They look great!

First grade students have created beautiful spider web paintings and pumpkin paintings as well. Earlier this fall they studied how to mix primary colors in order to make violet, orange, and a green by creating beautiful symmetrical insects. Last week they made clay disc medallions using a slab method. They rolled clay with a rolling pin and cut out disc shapes. They carved or stamped a design into the disc using clay tools and linoleum block stamps. They also enjoyed the experience of working with clay and how it is very cold to the touch.

Second grade just finished their cool and warm color fall leaf painting and collages.  They used tissue paper, crayon, glue, scissors, and watercolor paints. They learned a great deal about composition and collage during this project. Our goal was to learn about how to place things in an interesting way on the page.

Third grade students have been working on Cubist portraits for several weeks, our goal was to learn about different styles of portraits and throw the "proportional Rule book" out the window. We discussed Picasso and studied many of his off the wall portraits. Students were asked to follow along as I demonstrated how to draw both a profile view and a frontal view of a portrait. Students also learned how to navigate the use of oil pastels. What a mess! I think students enjoyed the use of crazy colors and the texture that blending pastels creates.  Students also did a great job of adding details to give their Cubist portraits personality.

Fourth and fifth grade students have been studying proportions in drawing which is a very challenging skill to master. They have created beautiful oil pastel self portraits.  I am very impressed at their patience with his project as the level of difficulty is high. I expect a lot out of them! Students used mirrors while drawing and drew and measured the proportions of their face. It is extremely challenging, at any level to draw what you see instead of what you think you see. It is a very complex higher order thInking skill and students have risen to the challenge. Fifth grade students had an extra challenge of attaching their portraits to accordion fold to make their portraits 3 dimensional. We've been referring to them as bobble-heads. 5th grade students at North Hill created  bobble heads and students at Grimes did Cubist portrait masks on large brown paper sacks which was a challenge as it required thinking in three dimensional terms. They even cut eye holes in the bags in order to wear them. What a great variations on portrait projects!

Well that sums up October and November in the art room, until the next project my friends...

Welcome to the 2013-2014 School Year!

Welcome to the 2013-2014 school year everyone! I am very excited at the potential I already see from students in art classes this year! This year I am teaching at Grimes Elementary and North Hill Elementary. The district decided to hire a half time art teacher to help Mr. Mulder and me out. It has been a great help, but that meant we all got moved around to different schools.

This past summer was great for me as I got married and changed my name to Mrs. Moffitt, it was fun to share my wedding photos with students and share a little bit about myself. 

But, enough about me....let's get down to business. This year has already been such a whirlwind and I am already behind on blogging. I hope to give you more updates this year about what is happening every couple of weeks in the art room.

Lets rewind to August!

Kindergarten started off the year by creating Shape Robots! First we reviewed our basic shapes and how to color neatly inside the lines of shapes. We practiced coloring in a robot coloring sheet. Then we read the book, Clink, which profiles the story of an old unwanted robot...who finds an owner at the end.

Kinders stamped shapes using black and metallic paint and card board pieces, they added details with q-tips, when the paint dried, students colored inside the lines that they created. What a successful project, I'm so proud of my new art students

                                                          

First graders began the year with a study of space and shape. They are so smart and talented! We learned about positive and negative space and how to create that using paint. Students were inspired to make their mark after we read the wonderful book The Dot by Peter Reynolds. This year we are really igniting a passion for reading in the art room by reading lots of books as we begin lessons. If you haven't read books by Peter Reynolds I highly recommend them.

The second and third graders started the year of studying the Abstract style of Spanish painter, Joan Miro’, they used his work as inspiration. Second and third grade students really enjoyed the freedom of designing Abstract shapes and lines. They used very dark lines, and very bright colors using paint in the background and colored pencils inside the shapes. The results were very striking!

Fourth and Fifth graders began the year creating Artist Trading Cards or ATCs. ATCs are small works of art created on playing cards. They each created 3 cards, 2 of their choice, and one in the Abstract style of Spanish painter Joan Miro’. When students had created 3 cards, they traded one card with someone in their class, without knowing whose card they were getting. ATCs are traded all over the world. There are several websites that allow people to trade their ATCs. Students really seemed to enjoy the choice allotted within this project. Many student chose to use collage and drawing on their ATCs. This is a great collaborative project.

Until the next project!