Finished Kindergarten "Mouse"terpieces

Congratulations Kindergarten on finishing your first artworks! Great Job!

As a side note, Mrs. P's class is a couple of weeks behind. I will be posting their artworks during fall break.

You can view students' artworks below. They are listed by class...B, K, Pen.

Finished 1st Self-Portraits

Congrats 1st grade!!! Also, wanted to note that Ms. J's students are a few weeks behind the other 1st graders. As soon as they finish, their artworks will be posted.

Artworks are posted by these classes...A, Bo, and Bl.

A Short Week

Where did the week go? When I opened my laptop to do this post I thought to myself, "What did we do?" This is what happens on a short week.

I developed a REALLY bad cold this past weekend.  I unfortunately had to miss school on Monday and my cold dragged out all week long. I am still sniffling today, although I feel a ton better. On Friday, I attended a training for Discovery Education at the high school and was unable to hold Art classes as well.

I apologize for not being able to post the finished pictures of the Kindergarten and 1st grade projects. With all of the crazy events of last week, I did not want to post rushed pictures. I worked this morning on taking pictures of everyone's wonderful finished creations, and am now carefully working to edit out names and faces. I am hoping to get those posted no later than Tuesday night.

Although we did have such a short week, a lot of wonderful things did happen! Check out all of the updates below...

Kindergarten: Students began a new project this week. Before starting our artwork, we spent this week working on exploring the Element of Art, line. When students arrived, we discuss lines (what are they, types, where they see lines). We also practiced creating lines by using pipe cleaners/chenille sticks. Students manipulated the pipe cleaners to create zig-zag, curly, wavy, and squiggly lines.

Students were also able to practice creating lines in our new centers. In this first new center, students were able to draw lines in sand using bamboo skewers.

For our second new center, students used magnetic "lines" (popsicle sticks) to create pictures, letters, and numbers.

The third new center involved a line we see every day...the road. Students were asked to draw roads and then were able to use toy cars to test out their designs.

The last new center involved weaving. Students were able to use plastic string to weave line designs into plastic canvas.

1st: Students in first grade also started a new project this week. Students learned about South Carolina artist Ernest Lee, better known as the Chicken Man. Students discussed the differences between chickens painted in his style vs. realistic paintings. We also discussed the Element of Art, texture. Students, during the next several weeks, will be creating mixed media chickens out of fabric, felt, paper scraps, feathers, and paint.

For our activity this week, students practiced creating their own Chicken Man inspired drawings.

2nd-4th: Students are beginning to finish up their artworks. As discussed with students, my goal is to have all artworks finished in two weeks. As students begin to finish up, they will start working on vocabulary review and self-critiques.

We Have Finished Artworks...WOW

I can't believe it, but we are almost finished with our first projects!!! Kindergarten and first grade finished this past week, while 2nd-4th grade students' works are starting to really come together and should be done very soon.

As these first few weeks have gone by, students and I have discussed the idea of good craftsmanship thoroughly. Students have been working hard to create artworks that are neat, creative, and clearly show that they have taken their time and put thought into every action. I believe that this concept is really starting to come through in their artworks. Every class, I see students that are carefully working and are really concentrating on their creations! Great job kiddos!!!

Well, enough gushing for today :) Here is this week's update...

Kindergarten: I am so pleased with how the kindergarten artworks look! Students did such a wonderful job creating their artworks based on the book "Mouse Paint"! This week, I will be taking pictures of the finished artworks to share with you. Check back throughout the week if you want to see some very cute and awesome artworks!!! For now, I thought I would share a couple of them with you....I can't resist!

1st: First grade students have also finished their first project. I hope to also take pictures of their self-portraits to share with you this week.

2nd: Students are continuing to paint their cacti still life inspired by the works of Lina Cofan. With most of their pots/vases and cacti painted last week, students started working on their background this week, in addition to blending colors in at least one area of their artwork.

3rd: Similar to the second grade, students are continuing to add color to their artworks. However, instead of painting like the second grade students, third grade is using oil pastels to create their 5 senses based still life. Most students have completely colored their artwork, so we have been working on blending the oil pastels to create a softer, more solid look.

4th: During the last couple of weeks, students have been working on a project where they were asked to express an emotion/feeling though the use of lines and color. For this project, students were not allowed to use a paintbrush. We have used objects such as pompoms, pipe cleaners, plastic lids, sponges, popsicle sticks, and paper towels to create our marks. This week, students added an additional layer by splatter and spray painting. Students, in groups of three, used toothbrushes and plastic spray bottles to add organic, random marks to their artworks. Students had to be extremely careful to censor their actions in order to not cover up the wonderful lines/marks created during our previous class.

Before ending this post today, I did want to remind everyone of Open House on Tuesday evening. Make sure to stop by the Art Room to see more of our awesome finished artworks! Looking forward to seeing everyone!!!

The Pictures are Here

So if you read my post last week, I shared with you that my SD card reader is M.I.A. Well, it is still missing. However, I was not going to go one more week without sharing pictures of what students are up to, so another one has been purchased. Without further adieu, here is what we have been up to this past week....with pictures!!!!!!!!!

Kindergarten: As I shared last week, students have been creating an artwork inspired by the book "Mouse Paint". During our previous class, students created three miniature artworks that displays the effects of mixing primary colors. This week, students practiced good craftsmanship by carefully drawing and neatly coloring a mouse. Next week, we will be assembling all of the components of our "Mouse Paint" artworks.

In addition to working on projects each day, kindergarten students also have the opportunity to explore the Elements of Art in a variety of different ways. Because kindergarten has been given a full hour for art, we typically spend the first half hour of class working on our project and the second half exploring art centers. Our centers will change each time we start a new project.
For our centers this month, students are exploring color and craftsmanship. Students have the opportunity to work with sorting dominoes into different colors, using blocks to carefully build different structures, using color to help aid in solving puzzles, and drawing on the drawing boards to practice using good craftsmanship.

1st: For safety reasons, I will not be able to show the finished 1st grade artworks until I censor out students' faces. However, I will share with you that they have turned out really well. In fact, two of our 1st grade students' artworks are currently hanging at the School Administration Building! Way to go 1st grade :)

2nd: I am so excited with how these artworks are going! I knew after seeing Lina Cofan's work, in addition to several cacti projects that were floating around in the art education world this summer, I was certain this would be a perfect project for my students! They are having a blast with it! We have worked on overlapping objects, blending colors, and painting neatly. I can't wait to share the finished artworks with you! Until then, here's how they are currently looking...

3rd: As I explained last week, students are currently working on a still life drawing that depicts objects that represent each of the 5 senses. We started adding color this week with oil pastels. I am really enjoying watching students as they explore blending. They have been so excited about the many different possibilities that this medium holds. They are doing a fabulous job so far!

4th: I can't even begin to tell you how cool the 4th grade artworks are turning out! Students were asked to only use color and line to represent an emotion/feeling. See if you can guess what emotion these artworks are beginning to show...

An Unsolved Mystery

I am so bummed today. I took awesome pictures this past week to share with you, including classroom management items, as well as what we are working on!!! Why can I not share them with you? Well, since Mr. Chance and I are continuing to unpack from our move, my SD card reader has gone missing and the one that I can find does not work :(  I have searched my house high and low and the mystery of the missing card reader has still not been solved.

Hopefully, I will be able to find it this next week. If not I may be taking a trip to the store to get another one! I have so many things that I want everyone to see, not just hear about. However, as they say, the show must go on!!! Below is a list of what each class has been up to this past week....

K: Students have started learning about the primary colors during the past couple of weeks. We began by reading the book "Mouse Paint" and experimenting with color mixing through a variety of media including paint and oil pastels. This week, students began the creation of their first artwork by creating three mini drawings. Students used oil pastels to create an orange artwork, green artwork, and purple artwork created with red, yellow, and blue oil pastels. Coming up this week, students will assemble their mini artworks into one large composition, along with drawing a small mouse artist, just like the mice in "Mouse Paint"!

1st: After learning about UK artist Anthony Zinonos, students took photographic self-portraits or a picture of themselves. This week students imagined where or what they could possibly be doing by carefully studying their picture and how they have posed. After drawing creative and unique scenarios and backgrounds, students cut out their photographic self-portrait and placed their image onto their newly created environment.

2nd: Students have been learning about the works of Spanish artist Lina Cofan, whose works display ceramic cacti. After learning about the characteristics of still life and about the principle of design, pattern, students have started sketching their cacti still life. Students began by drawing their patterned pot or vase and then filled it with 3 or more cacti. Beginning this week, students will be exploring watercolor techniques, as well as the element of art, value.

3rd: After practicing creating a unique still life composition using objects located in the Art room, in addition to looking at the artworks of Australian artist Claudia Damichi, students began creating their own still life that reflects the 5 senses. Students, with the aid of a project planner, listed 5 objects that not only showed characteristics of objects traditionally used in a still life, but also could be used to show one of the 5 senses. After listing their objects and creating small-scale sketches, students began drawing their large final versions this past week. Students will begin adding color using oil pastels in the next few days.

4th: Students began their first project by discussing the art of Seattle artist, Dale Chihuly. In addition to analyzing his paintings, students watched a small video of Chihuly and his team blowing glass. For their own projects, students will be communicating an idea through painting and mark making. Using unconventional objects, students will be displaying an emotion through the marks they make and the color scheme they create. Students started their project this week by painting a solid, even base layer.

Again, I greatly apologize for the lack of photos. Even as we speak, Mr. Chance is trying to figure out the great mystery of the missing card reader. Hopefully this case will come to a close soon and I will be able to share with you the great work that everyone is accomplishing!!!