Art and the Beach

As you will see in a few more sentences, this week was very busy for me in class. Because I was constantly running around this week, I don't have as many pictures as I typically do to share of our progress, but I will happily try to explain what we did. I also have a few extra things to share with you this week!

The K4 students moved on to warm vs. cool colors this week. They are creating a drawing of a swimming pool on a hot summer day. This week we drew and colored the sky using the warm colors (red, yellow, and orange).

The K5 students are wrapping up their ice cream cone artworks. This week, students cut out their primary and secondary colored scoops and glued them onto a long piece of black construction paper. After looking at them, I am considering adding a little something to the background...I haven't decided exactly what yet. I have a few different ideas which I will discuss with the K5 next week. Ultimately it is their artwork, so I would like them to decide the finishing touches.

The 1st grade participated in something that had mixed reviews this week. We tea stained their artworks. I explained to students that tea (like we drink) has a natural dye that will turn paper a beautiful brown. Some students were extremely excited to dunk their cave art into the tea, but others looked at me like I was crazy. They asked me over and over about the tea and how the tea worked like that. May of them asked me after they became more comfortable with the idea if we could drink the tea after we finished putting all of our papers in it! The were also very concerned that I had not put any sugar in the tea!

While we were tea staining our papers, the 1st grade created a border that their cave art will be placed on in the next couple of weeks after we finish everything up.

The 2nd grade was extremely busy this week. After drawing their chosen sketch on a larger scale on 9 x 12" paper, some students began tracing their design on a transparency using "black glue" or glue that has been mixed with acrylic paint. They did a fabulous job carefully tracing the lines and controlling the amount of glue that they used! Because I only had enough of this special glue for half of the class, the rest of the students will be tracing theirs next week.

The 3rd grade spent some time creating something to accompany their medallion. I gave students the option to paint either a section of a paper plate (which will become a necklace for their medallion) or to paint a piece of mat board to mount their medallion onto. Because of the metallic nature of our medallions, I gave students the choice of silver or gold paint. Due to the amount of paint that students used, we had to wait to let their items dry. We will be adding decorations and details to these objects next week.

The 4th grade had, probably, the busiest day this week. When students entered, they immediately started constructing the base layers of their project. Using aluminum foil, students wrapped mat board and newspaper to create their "canvas". Students then received a cartouche handout and began drawing their hieroglyphics inside. After they had successfully drawn their name, nickname or initials, students transferred their hieroglyphics to their canvas by tracing their drawing while it lay on top of the aluminum foil. With all of that work completed, I think that we will be able to start adding some color next week.

The 5th grade is still busy working on their Sumi-e landscapes. I think I may be able to share some finished ones next week!

The 6th grade finished coloring their vases with oil pastels as soon as they came into art. They spent the rest of class evenly applying a layer of black acrylic paint over their entire vase. Hopefully next week we will begin etching our designs.

As you can guess, Art Club is still working on our Romero Britto inspired paintings. I was telling them this past week, I am guessing that we have maybe another two or three weeks before they are finished. They are looking so awesome though! Some students this week began tracing some of their smaller details with black paint. So cool!

Other topics to share... First, most students have finished their transparency swirl that I discussed here during the first week of school. I got all but about 15 or so hung up on Friday. They make the hallway look so colorful and festive!

Last but not least, the beach. If you read my post last week, I shared that I would be going to Folly Beach this weekend, hence the reason I did not post anything yesterday. Well, it was a great trip again! The weather was beautiful...not a cloud in the sky and very little wind compared to what it normally is. What surprised Mr. Chance and I was how different it was than in the summer. The normal things, or what we considered to be normal, where not there. We typically look for large whelk shells and their was only one of these shells on the whole beach to be found. We have never ever seen a star fish there and this trip we saw about 30. We also saw an eagle, TWO horseshoe crabs, and the find of the trip...a SAND DOLLAR!!! Hooray!!! We had a great time and are trying to plan another trip in the spring! Here are some of our finds...

A Wonderful Week in the Neighborhood

Let me start of by saying that I love my job! I am so happy to be back at school, finished with my masters degree and able to focus on teaching!

Secondly, sorry for not posting this on Saturday. My mom, dad, and Nana came to visit. We did a lot of shopping and also got to go visit Folly Beach (one of my favorite places ever!) and Fort Sumter.

Our first week, although more business oriented, was a fun one. With all grades, K4-6th, we started by reading the book "The Museum" by Susan Verde (illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds). Such a good book! Additionally, it really lended itself well to the discussion we had about the projects that we will be working on this year. We also discussed the Artist Rules and my reward system commonly known in my room as "The Points".

I hate for students to not be able to create any art on the first day. I remember going to the first day of art in middle school and was so disappointed that we had to listen to rules the whole class period. The 1st-6th grade are creating a collaborative project based on the works of Dale Chihuly. Instead of using glass, we are using transparencies and Sharpies to create "swirls" that will be put together to create one large artwork. In a few weeks, it will displayed in the upstairs hallway. The pictures below are of students creating their swirl.

For all of you that missed it, Back to School Night was this past Tuesday. I took pics of my displays to share with you. 

This week, most students are reviewing the elements of art. However, the K4 and K5 will be starting their first projects. Can't wait to share! Look for my post on Saturday, I promise :)

Update and a Classroom Sneak Peek!

Hope everyone is having a good summer so far! Even though we only have a little over a month left, I have a ton that I am going to be doing before the start of school.

The month of June flew by for me. After the completion of Art Camp (look for the photo book in the office at the start of school to see what we did!), I went home to Kentucky for a week. It never seems like I am there long enough. There is never really enough time to catch up with everyone and go visit all the places that I miss while I am here in SC. But hey, I can't complain. At least I did get to go visit :)

Anyway, after returning from Kentucky I went in to full planning mode. As I said in the beginning of this post, I have a ton coming up. I will be working for a former professor on a really awesome project writing lesson plans (more details coming soon) and my husband and I will be going on a trip for our 5th wedding anniversary! Hooray! With all of that coming up in the next several weeks, I thought that it would probably be a wise idea to do some intense planning instead of waiting until August and feeling rushed to finish.

I do have to say that I am incredibly excited about the things I have planned for next year. I always get excited about the things that we do in the Art room, but I really think that students will love what I have in store for them this year...hey, I had a ton of fun making all of the examples up!

I am also excited to see the reaction when students come into the art room. I always enjoy having a theme for my room each year. It acts not only as a good platform for me to be able to discuss a lot of different topics with students, but its a fun space to be in. Students are excited to come back, want to discuss what you displayed in the room and it just creates an overall good atmosphere to be in.

So here's how this year's theme came to be. I believe that it was around Christmas break when the commercials for Valspar paint started coming on TV featuring the chameleon couple. I love that commercial...don't know why, just do. Anyway, it came on (and still does) often. Well, one afternoon I was in the art room thinking about all the different decorating possibilities. I will be focusing all of my units/lessons on art history this year and was trying to tie that in some how. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became. I thought, "Geez, there are so many different concepts to discuss with art history! How can I tie it with anything? If I tie my decorations with one particular period, it will become obsolete as soon as we change projects."

I started thinking about it. Yeah, art history has gone through a lot of changes in its time and still continues to do so. Depending on the situation or events taking place at that particular time in history, the attitudes of artist are subject to go in a multitude of directions. And that's when it hit me. CHAMELEONS! Some chameleon species can change the color of their skin in a reaction to their conditions. So....I know its kind of stretch, but chameleons are kinda like art history. Plus its art....chameleons, color, and art go hand in hand :)

Anyway, I was able to find/make some awesome things for my room. I still have a few things to do, but I thought I would give you a sneak peek of what things are lookin like :)

 

 

School Showcase!

Today was our School Showcase! I was very excited and proud of how the student art display turned out! However, I woke up with a fever and a sore throat this morning and could not go. Luckily, my husband was awesome and took in the display for everyone to see. So, if you were like me and could not go to the School Showcase, I have some pictures for you :)

Look at what we did!!!

Great Job Art Club!!!! I recently visited our newly displayed art and I am soooooooo proud! The artworks look so good grouped together in one big Picasso inspired display. Keep up the great work!
*Thank you so much to the individual that created the display for us!!!

 
I was also very impressed by our artworks that we created for the Appreciation Dinner! Everyone did a great job creating their idea, incorporating the elements of art and writing a wonderful "thank you" message. Our "helping hands" looked fantastic displayed on the tables for the dinner :)
*Thank you to all the wonderful ladies that set up this dinner! I am so glad that my art classes were able to help!

I also wanted to share what I have been up to. You may have noticed that I have not included anything about art classes this week. Well, that is because I was attending the South Carolina Art Education Association's annual conference in Myrtle Beach. I had a wonderful time and have so many great ideas that I can't wait to share with students! Below, I have include a sneak peek of what I worked on during the last couple of days...