Kindergarten Color Monsters

In Kindergarten, we started the year off by reviewing/introducing the colors.  We watched some fun videos that display colors by Sony (their Bravia t.v advertisements) and then we read a book- Monsters Love Colors, by Mike Austin.

This group of kiddos were all so good at identifying all of the colors and calling them out, I think we are going to have a talent filled year in the kindergarten art room!

For the project, the students colored in circles that I had drawn onto the paper with the necessary colors.  They were then instructed to think about how they could turn their circles into monsters!  They were all very excited with the opportunity to create their own monsters, they all turned out very unique and had great details!

Here are a few of our Monster Circles:

Winter Lights

  In Third Grade we took some time for a fun project using our learning concept of Value, we created winter lights.  I've seen this project done on various art teacher blogs around the web and I knew that the kiddos would absolutely enjoy creating it.  We first created our light string- yarn glued onto our background paper, set this aside to dry and moved on to the lightbulbs.  I had created a stencil students could use if they did not want to try out their own lightbulb shape.
   We discussed the details of a lightbulb- the filament and the shine that occurs on the outside (glare).  Students used Oil Pastels to color in their lights and then used Chalk to outline around their lightbulb once it was glued onto their background paper.  The chalk was then pulled away from the lightbulb, creating a value change and the illusion of a glow.

Here are some 'in process' pictures:

Here are some final products ( I ran out of black paper so some students did it on white):

Line Sculptures

In Kindergarten we have started to discuss various types of Lines that can be created.  We started off by filling out a line worksheet and talking about the lines that were on it, we created a line painting, and finally we created our own Line Sculptures.  This project was a lot of fun and challenged the students to use their fine motor skills with the various types of paper folding and rolling.  They all did a great job!  I demonstrated the different ways in which they could fold their construction paper strips to achieve a different type of line.  It was up to them how they then glued their strips onto the paper, my only goal was that the line stuck up and away from the paper base.  

  We discussed what a sculpture is and how it's different from a painting or a drawing, students were then given the paper strips and glue and let loose!

Here are some of our Line Sculpture solutions:

This is a favorite of mine, a racetrack!

Warm Color Pumpkin

  In Kindergarten, we had learned about the warm colors through many different projects.  One of the projects dealt with the field trip that their classes took to the Rocca Berry Farm pumpkin patch.  Students talked about what the pumpkins looked like- the outline wasn't a perfect circle or a straight line. We worked together to create a drawing of a pumpkin, then we put the warm color paint inside of the drawing.  Students were allowed the ability to mix together the warm colors within their pumpkin, this was a lot of fun for them.

   We then started to create the background on the second day.  We talked about the cool colors and how they can be used to create a background.  Students painted with purple and blue in the sky and green for the grass.  We used some scratching with our brush end to create line designs in our sky and ground.  The next day students cut out their pumpkins and glued them onto their painted backgrounds.

  Here are some of our warm color pumpkins:

First Grade Sculpture Fish

   In first grade we just finished learning about sculpture and what it is.  We looked at a power point that showed students a variety of sculpture that allowed them to start building an understanding of what sculpture can be. 

   We then had an activity that students did where they applied their learning, they were grouped by tables and were given images of artwork that was both sculpture and not sculpture.  The students were challenged to look through the images and organize the images into what was and was not sculpture.  They had a lot of fun with this activity and it allowed them to talk about their learning.

   We then created our own sculpture out of paper, a fish.  The students created their own fish and then rolled paper strips and glued them onto a base to create water.

   Here are some of our products:

Fifth Grade Foil Reliefs

   In fifth grade we are finishing our discussions on different forms of sculpture.  I had a power point where students were able to compare sculptures in the round and relief sculpture.  The main difference between the two is that relief sculpture has a flat background that is either built up on or carved down into.

  We then discussed our project, students were instructed to think of a word which would become the subject of their artwork.  It could be their name, a nick name, a pet's name, anything.  We then created lettering and cut those out and glued them onto a background.

   Foil was then placed on top of our design once the word was glued down, then it was smoothed down around our design pieces.  We then discussed a patina and what it is.  We added a patina to our artwork by coloring in the front with a permanent marker and then rubbing it off with steel wool, causing different values of the marker to be shown in contrast with the foil.

   Here are some of our examples:

Second Grade Value Night Scene

   In Second Grade, we finished discussing two things that can be seen in many artworks, value and silhouettes.  We learned about silhouettes, shadows of objects without any inside details, and took time to draw four of our own silhouettes for practice.  We also watched this video where a dance group uses their shadows to create different figures.









   Students were then introduced to the concept of value and how artists make value scales.  We used both charcoal and pencil to create a value scale (one for charcoal, one pencil).  Students then applied their knowledge of value to create a night sky, looking something like these:

We created our different value areas by drawing concentric circles, allowing for them a space to put their round value scale.

After our background was done, we learned about how we can use silhouettes to draw a tree.  A tree silhouette was drawn on top of the value sky.

   Here are some final results: