Introducing, the wonderful world of Lines

I was absolutely inspired by art teacher/blogger Cassie Stephens in this entire unit and you have her to thank for the poem your kindergarteners and first graders are reciting daily :)

Kindergarteners and first graders learned all about vertical, horizontal, diagonal, carved and angled lines by reading and acting out "Larry the Line"

Larry the Line

Larry the line

Is a friend of mine

(creating a snake by opening the fingers of your hand, puppet style and there's your snake!)

He can make three

(hold up a three with your fingers)

Straight lines for me!

Ver-tickle

(create a vertical line with your forearm)

Diagonal and horizontal!

(pantomime each)

Any curve, he can learn

With a twist and a turn.

When he's out of his tangle

he makes a great...angle.

(created by placing your hand on your hip and pointing to your elbow)

Any line, he can make

After all, he's a snake!

(cue children screaming and hissing like a snake)

It took some repeated articulation for students to realize we were saying LINE and definitely not LION. 

Kindergarteners practiced making different types of lines using a variety of materials. We then read Eric Carle's 1, 2, 3, to the Zoo to learn about different types of animals. Then, using clay, students had to mold a ball into an animal without cutting, only pinching. Finally, students used as many different types of lines as they knew to carve into their clay animal. Many students were too excited to have clay to focus on properly carving their lines and ended up shredding their animals. With a few repairs, they were able to settle and make fabulous animals.

I really want to hang these up but I'm so afraid of them falling and shattering. I already sent home half to be safe. 

First Graders learned the emotive and expressive qualities of both lines and colors. Students studied Kandinsky and described the energy and purpose of each line in his energetic compositions. Then, students listened closely to Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and used his march to inspire their own line compositions. While, some devolved into excited scribbling and color mixing, some really listened to the different parts of the song and illustrated what they heard. 

As much as I use line in my personal art, it definitely took some creativity to make it interesting for the younger students. 

Color Theory

        With just a taste for color theory, I wanted to dive right in and teach the students more explicitly and give them a chance to use this newfound knowledge. I chose a variety of alternative color wheels based on the results of a pre assessment. 
      
        Kindergarten and first graders are exploring the color wheel through fingerprints. Given only one color at a time, students are constructing finger-painted color wheels. For each wedge of the wheel, they solidly fill one in and make polka dots on either side. As they add more colors, the polka dots overlap creating new colors. Throughout the entire period you could hear shouts of "wow, green!!" or "I made orange!" 

      Second and Third graders made watercolor Venn Diagrams in order to explore the relationships between the primary colors. As they overlapped the primary colors, they gasped with excitement as the new color was revealed. Students witnessed first hand how secondary colors are made with 2 colors while tertiary colors are made with 3. 

    Fourth graders collaged abstract color wheels. Since they are already aware of how to mix colors, I wanted them to explore the relationship between colors as they constructed this abstract collage. Students had to evaluate the values of each color and where it belongs on their prism.

 

    Fifth graders collaborated to make a class sized color wheel, with each row with in charge of a primary color and it's analogous color. Students explore color as they debated which segment the color belongs on. We will use this color wheel as the class set and reference it throughout the year.

Students will use these personal color wheels as a tool for the duration of the year.

Prismatic Portraits and Patterns

Students had a blast finding creative solutions to adding details and visual interest with only one color. Here are some of the finished pieces by grade. 

K-1 

Students explored value as they created monochromatic patterns using a variety of media. 

1-5

Students explored value as they created a monochromatic portrait using a variety of media.