A long overdue update!

You always know the holidays are here when you don't even have time to take a breath, haha.  

Well I know everyone wants to know what is going on since it has been long time since my last update.  I am going to try to get some  quick up dates up today and post pictures tomorrow.  Thanks for your patience!!

Kinder-

We have been quite busy!! As I am sure your little ones have told you they have created two projects out of clay.  One was adding textures to a small (tile size) slab of clay while the other was a 3-D pinch pot.  Although it has been crazy scheduling kiln firings and glazing time all classes are officially finished with painting/glazing their pottery.  I am really excited to see the final outcome when they get out of the kiln- cross your fingers that I can have all of them fired before the holiday break!

1st-

Students have been finishing up a unit on "change" where they created season pictures, day/ night wax resist drawings, and a growing collage accordion book.   I am so pleased with how well the children did especially with the challenge of collage.  

They have also started their new unit on "storytelling".  We started by creating a short (5 page) storybook.  Everyone came up with a character, told what that character liked to do, a problem, solution and of course how the character ended up.  These books have turned out so great!! I am really impressed with the creativity of the children.  Currently we are working on puppets.  WOW! Did these kids love the idea of creating puppets.  I didn't expect for the kids to get so immersed into the project.  This will project will definitely be repeated in future years!  I don't want to give too much away with these so please wait to see some of the pictures tomorrow.    

2nd-

Second graders have started a unit on collections.  They started off with learning how to create a tessellation (a repetitive pattern that fits together almost like a puzzle).  They created a whole page full of their tessellation shape and were in charge of creating a different pattern in each tessellation using markers.  These came out so well, I would encourage the children to continue doing these and transforming their art into wrapping paper, possibly for the holidays coming up.  Currently they are working on an Andy Warhol pop art project.  They will be creating a "stamp" out of styrofoam of an object that is popular in their life.   Then, they take their "stamp" and will refine their printing skills by creating a repetitive "collection" of their object, just like Andy did in his famous paintings (like the Campbell's soup cans or the Coca-Cola bottles).  I am really eager to see how the printing comes out.  

4th-

Fourth graders have been busily working on a research project.  I know, I know research in art? I sound like a mean teacher, huh? I have to say the kids had the same reaction at first but now that they are fully immersed into their projects they are having lots of fun.  Each partnership was assigned a famous artist and was in charge of coming up with their a project (our of the ordinary) to present to the class telling the main "claim to fame" about the artist.  They will be taking a short quiz (I know even more mean :) No fear guys, it should be pretty short and easy.  I just want to make sure the kids are aware and know these artist.  

Well, that is the big update thus far.  I hope you guys come back tomorrow to see pictures.  

Take care and don't forget to do a little snow dance tonight.  Everyone could use at least a two hour delay :)

Check out the 4th graders self portraits!

I am so proud of all of my 4th graders.  They have amazed me at every step in this project.  I think you will notice that the students personalities really pop out at you.  I wish I could post all of them but I thought I would at least give you a little taste.   

1st Grade

First graders in Ms. Water, Ms. LaPrade and Ms. Whiterow's classes have been creating beautiful drawings in our new art unit CHANGE.  I challenged all my students by asking them to do a 4 window drawing of one place and show how it changes in each of the seasons.  As you will see below they did a wonderful job.   I was blown away by how great the students used the different seasonal colors we talked about in class.  Enjoy!

Kindergartners have been quite busy learning about lines.  They worked on a week long project using only straight lines.  On their first day of art that week they used different cardboard edges to stamp straight lines on their papers.  They created a drawing with all their stamps.  Then, on the second day of art class,  they colored in their drawings with oil pastels.  I was blown away at how fantastic these projects came out.  The kids had a great time creating them.  Check them out below.  

What has been happening?

This year I am working with all Kinder, 1st, 2nd & 4th grades. 

This month in art....

k- all kindergarteners have learned about Mr. Roy G.Bv the rainbow man.  He loves his colors! After learning the name and order of the colors in the rainbow, students used colored tissue paper squares to create their very own rainbows.  They did a fantastic job!

Now k students are learning the primary colors and secondary colors.  They have read "White Rabbits color book" which helped them know which two primary colors mixed together make orange, green and purple.  They got to mix the colors themselves and paint pictures with them.  The next step will be to take their colored papers and cut out shapes from them.  Then they will build a colorful shape collage.  I think they are going to turn out great!

1st- First graders are very enthusiastic in art class this year.  We jumped right in and

 reviewed the primary colors and started creating different shades of secondary colors.  So far they have created 4 different shades of oranges, greens and purples.  They filled three papers with the color families.  Our next step is to create an abstract collage using their painted papers.  I am looking forward to seeing their creativity continue to bloom.

2nd- This year second grade started off learning

 about matter (solids, liquids, gases) in science class so I decided experimenting with different matter of media would be really fun for the kids.  We discussed what makes each type of matter different and what different kinds of liquid and solid media artists use, we could not think of any gases that are used in art :) The children had a few class periods to experiment with 4 different kinds of liquid media (ink, markers, paint & watercolor) and 4 different kinds of solid media (crayons, colored pencil, charcoal & pastels).  The kids saw first hand the different effects each type of media created.  We wrapped up our 

experiment with a great discussion of the similarities and differences between each media, as well as the liquid vs. solid ones.  

Next, second graders will be exploring the comic style of drawing.  They will be looking at a few comic artists work, including one of my own favorites Patrick McDonald (mutts comics).  Then they will give it a go by creating their own.  

4th- The entire 4th grade jumped right into their their first big project, a self portrait.  They studied different portraits to see similarities between them.  We discovered that the

 features on a face (eyes, nose, mouth & ears) had a particular "location" on a head.  They used their knowledge to draw themselves.  They then added backgrounds that described them.  I have been so pleased with how they have come out.  They have shown to be brilliant artist!

September

Thank you for making my first month at Jamestown so wonderful!  The students and I have already started having fun being creative and experimenting with all sorts of media. 

 I will be using this blog to share all of our fun adventures in class, as well as any special activities that we will be participating in.  I hope you enjoy reading and seeing what goes on in art class.