Line sculptures and Munch Screams

Second Graders practiced making and labelling different types of line, even inventing descriptive names for ones that don't have one already. Then, after studying Matisse's Paper Cutouts, students folded, curled and twisted paper to create a lines sculpture. The solutions the students came up with continued to surprise me as the unit progressed. I loved how you can see a new idea spread across a table as student comes up with a create folding solution.

I think this is my new favorite projects. Every one came out amazing and the students had a blast making them. Even my other classes have been begging to do this project just based on how they came out. The only down side is they're impossible to store!

Third Graders studied Edvard Munch and discussed how he used line and color to express his extreme distress. Students brainstormed what makes them so frustrated that they feel like screaming and used this idea to create their own Munch drawings. Using oil pastels, students used lines to fill in each of their forms. Students found it challenging coloring in their picture while maintaining the appearance of the lines. Students really had to experiment with values and oil pastels techniques in order to make their ideas shine through.

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. 

Final Projects

Time for the big kahuna! Using the skills they learned from the color wheels, students had to create a finished composition.

Kindergarteners learned about the artist Piet Mondrian and how he used the primary colors to create an interesting composition. With Halloween coming up, students used a spider web instead of a grid to organize their primary colors. Kindergartners loved learning how to make spider webs and apparently went home and wouldn't stop drawing them! I also incorporated a little bit of math and we were counting all of the legs on spiders in groups of 2, 3 and 4.

First Graders studied the author/illustrator Eric Carle. Using his same process, students hand painted paper different colors to be used for their collage. Once dry, they cut different shapes out of their paper to combine to make their own Eric Carle animals. 

 

I love how colorful and unique these turned out!

Second Graders learned about warm and cool colors as they created wax resist fall landscapes. Using warm or cool colored crayons, they outlined their landscape. Than students painted over they crayon using the opposite (warm-cool, cool-warm). The resulting landscapes had amazing contrast and texture. 

Third Graders studied how Claude Monet's oil landscapes.  Students then chose a scene and used crayons and watercolors to used color to show the effect of light. 

Fourth Grade learned about Pop Art as they studied Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. Students
then chose a piece of candy (just in time for Halloween) to draw 4 times for their Warhol style composition. Students had to play around with scale and orientation in order to find a pleasing composition for their drawing. Lastly, students experimented with complementary and analogous colors as they used oil pastels to color their drawings.

Fifth graders learned about observational drawing as they created a fall inspired still life. Then, students had to use complementary and analogous colors instead of white and black in order to add value to their drawings.






...and so we conclude color theory! Next stop, line

Color Wheels!

I love color theory and it shows by how deep we go into color right at the start of the year.

Kindergarteners dove right into painting as they finger-painted their color wheels. We tried to stay clean and used our imaginary brushes (1 finger only).













I tried out a new project with First Grade and I'm super excited with how amazing they came out. Students were instructed to draw 6 circles and turn them into birds. Once they were satisfied with their birds, students used blue, yellow and red payons to create a rainbow. The best part was when they added water to their secondary colored birds and watched the colors change.

Second and Third Graders made color wheel venn diagrams. I love how this project uses a concept they already know for a different purpose. They also make great references for color mixing.

Fourth Graders should already know how to mix colors so we worked on finding and identifying different values in magazines. Students collaged together the colors they found in rainbow order.

Fifth Graders worked together to create a class wide color wheel. Each table was in charge of a set of analogous colors

First Week of School

September

K-5
I'm very excited to begin this year. I have a year under my belt and a new classroom! For the introductory project we made our monochromatic portraits and patterns again. It's a great introduction to color theory and a way for me to see where all of my students are at.

The display is always so rewarding with this project and ensures I have a finished bulletin board early in the year.

How to do a wax resist watercolor painting.

Wax Resist Landscape

      Students learned about the feature of a landscape. We brainstormed the details we could include and made a rough draft to plan our composition. Student revised their drafts and made their landscape using crayons. Students then investigated the differences between warm and cool colors and instances to use these color scheme. Choosing one scheme, students painted on top of their crayon landscape, creating a Wax Resist Landscape.