Dragons- Made of lines and breathing fire!

As we wrap up September, we're also wrapping up our unit on Line. All grade levels did several projects on line and the kids are ready to move on. I'm confident that they will not forget their lessons in using Line and hopefully we can incorporate Line into the projects that we do with Shape in our next unit!



For our last Line hurrah in first grade, we made Line Dragons. The kids got so imaginative with these dragons, it was cool to see the different lines they used and also the different features they added to their dragons.















Students were given a black piece of paper with a white squiggle line already drawn down the middle for them. We spent a wee bit of time talking about Lines for review but then we moved right into drawing! Students picked a Line to use and followed the curve or their squiggly line with their Line on both sides, creating the body of their dragon. They used a white crayon to do this.
Then students colored the dragons body in with metallic colored pencils. And then they added whatever features they wanted to their dragons; wings, fire, stars, a moon, claws, horns, teeth... You name it, they did it!

Although this project was so simple, the kids really got excited about it and we were able add another layer to our discussion about the importance of Line in artwork. Using Line isn't just about drawing a bumpy line or a zig-zag line, it's about using line to create shapes and other images in your artwork. I think they're getting the connection!


Also the art room is putting out a monthly newsletter (at the end of the month since I had a hard time getting going at first!). This is to keep parents up to date about what their kids are being taught and to make them aware of the art room and it's importance. The document is pretty simple but hopefully effective! Take a peak...  Art Room Newsletter

 

 

 

Lines, Lines, and More Lines!!

All the grades begin the year talking about line. When talking about fundamental elements of creating art, line is about as basic as you can get! The lessons on line range in difficulty from just making single strips on line (Kindergarten), to using line to create a paper sculpture with one-point perspective (4th Grade). For this post, I wanted to highlight the second grade project. We talked about contour line and making that line continuous. We made it into a game where we tried so hard not to pick up our markers! At first kids were being silly, but after we practiced a couple of times, it was amazing to see what students observed and were able to draw! I have such good observers in second grade! To warm up we practiced drawing items in the classroom using continuous contour lines.

Then we went outside and did two drawings of three different plants also using continuous contour lines. Students chose their favorite of the two drawings.

 

After students made a selection, I drew two circles on their work in interesting places; one large and one small. We talked about coloring in those circles because they were our special 'color circles'. The colors of the plants and the backgrounds were only visible in those circles. The students were allowed to use whatever colors they wanted and some of the pieces are quite colorful. We spent some time talking about using colored pencils and how going over an area more than one time would give them a nice dark color.

 

 

 

 

Finally I had students tell me how to crop their picture. I cut off those areas using the paper cutter (I cut not the students!). This was a beginning of thinking about composition for them (we'll come back to that later) Overall I think it turned out well and I'm excited that the kids are already establishing good observation skills this early in the year. It's definitely something they will be using all year in art!

 

What is Art?

In my experience, after kindergarten, many students come to the conclusion that they are not good at art. By first or second grade, students have already identified who is 'good at art' in their class. This year I wanted to break that stereotype a little bit and talk about what all is encompassed by the word ART.

So each upper level class started by talking at their tables about what they think about when they hear the word art. Then each table shared out and we made a giant class list on the board. We then watched a small video, which is really made for young students, but which all the classes enjoyed called Small Potatoes (shout out to Chloe Green for the tip!).
After watching the video, students got a sticky note and wrote down a sentence or two or even drew a picture about what they think art is. When they finished they trouped out to the hallway to stick it onto one of two bulletin boards so that the whole community can see what we came up with.
After they stuck it, I had them pick one other sticky note that was already up there that they thought was cool and remember it to share with the class when they came back inside. That way everyone was sharing and reading other's ideas.





The message that I hope came across to all the kids is art is really anything. People paint with words and beauty is shown in movement. Anything from dance to tattoos is art.


You don't have to be good at drawing or painting to be an artist.

Small Potatoes Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl2Hv8yy7ZY

The First Week!

The first week of school this year was all over the place! Our first day was on Tuesday and it was a half day so no students came to specials. Wednesday was a full day and then Thursday there was no school in observance of Rosh Hashanah and the Friday was another full day. Because each class comes to art for different lengths on time on different days, I wanted to choose a first day in art routine that could be modified for all the classes and stretched or cut short until we had a full week and everyone could be on the same page.

(Disregard the smiley face, just protecting my students!)

To that end, all classes did a 'self-portrait'! Students cute out a hole in the middle of their paper for their head to go in, and then decorated around the hole with pictures and words that described them. This served several purposes. First of all I was able to learn more about new students and dig deeper with students that I know already. It's all about relationships! Secondly, I was able to see where every one's skill is with drawing, fine motor skills, composition, and creative thought. This was especially helpful with the kindergartners. With the lower grades I had the holes cut out already or the paper folded and marked so all the students had to do was cut. Upper grades were expected to cut and fold the paper themselves. All grades were asked to fill the space around their faces and use lots of color.

These turned out very nicely, for some of the classes that moved a bit faster than others I had the students stand up and 'put on' their artwork and share it with the class. This gave them a sense of purpose to creating (the worked harder and did better because they knew they would be showing everyone else) and it also prepared them for when we do critiques and talk about artwork in class. Better to start them early with speaking up in class, the more they do it the more comfortable they'll feel! A great start to a great year!