Fourth grade Mary Cassatt self portraits

Fourth-grade artists studied the portraiture of Mary Cassatt. We noticed how she was inspired by children and decided to do our own self portraits. We also focused on how to create value using only our pencil!

Learning goals:

I can discuss the life and work of Mary Cassatt.

I can identify Mary Cassatt's impressionistic art.

I can create a value scale.

I can draw my self portrait.

I can create light and shadow in my portrait.

First grade Picasso portraits

First Grade artists are studying the life and work of Pablo Picasso. 

1st grade artists learned about the art of Pablo Picasso. We read a book about him saw how his art changed from realistic to abstract. When he was a child, we was incredibly talented and painted very realistically. His life took many turns and he went through a Rose Period in his art, a Blue Period, and a Cubistic Period. Ask you students what his work looked like in these periods and why he developed each one! :) 

One day one, we used shapes to draw some side view facial features, and some front view features just like Picasso did. Then we reviewed warm and cool colors by painting one half warm and the other cool. 

On day 2, we learned a song called the "Picasso Polka" from the CD "Songs in the Key of Art." We had a lot of fun singing it while we worked as well!

On day three, we used a Venn Diagram to review the warm and cool colors and had students come up and place miniature artworks in the diagram depending on their color schemes.

For the backs of our artworks, we wrote out our learning goals on a sheet that had some Picasso art. Kids could even decorate the art if they wanted to:

On the final day, after singing the Picasso Polka, we used Mr. Potato Heads to create collaborative "Mr Picasso Heads!" They are heads with the parts all mixed up in a way that Picasso might have created them. Students had to work as a table group (of about 4-5 kids) to create their head as well as give him/her a silly name!

Learning Goals:
I can talk about the life and art of Pablo Picasso.
I can recognize his Blue Period, Rose Period and Cubist Periods.
I can distinguish between a side view portrait and a front view portrait.
I can use warm and cool colors.
I can create texture with a texture plate.

Third Grade Mini Mona Lisas

Third grade artists are studying the life and art of Leonardo Da Vinci. They are learning about one of the most famous and widely recognized portraits in the whole world... the MONA LISA! We even learned that she was so popular that she was even stolen at one point! We read the book, "Who Stole the Mona Lisa?" and learned a bit more about her history. 

After reading, we practiced drawing her portrait (and landscape background) for ourselves! We practiced various coloring techniques with colored pencils such as: blending, layering and mixing. We practiced some calligraphy when writing her name for our projects. After assembling our mini-Monas in old silver Premier jewelry boxes, early finishers were able to do an Art Challenge: We challenged them to complete a portrait on a photocopy that included only Mona's face and hands. They used their imaginations to think up a setting, fashion, and theme for their version of the Mona. 

Learning Goals: 
I can talk about and write down 6 facts about the life and art of Leonardo Da Vinci.
I can draw a portrait like Mona Lisa.
I can draw a landscapes that shows space (things get smaller as they are further away).
I can use various coloring techniques in my art.
I can do some calligraphy with Mona Lisa's name

Kindergarten & 1st Grade rainbow clowns

Kindergarten and 1st grade artists reviewed our knowledge of portraits by creating a silly clown! We practiced our knowledge of pattern, line, and rainbow order in the backgrounds!

Third Grade Picasso Portraits

Third grade artists are beginning to learn about the life and art of Pablo Picasso. We read "Getting the Know the World's Greatest Artists" and saw how Picasso's artistic style went from realistic, the blue period, rose period and cubism. We looked at his unique style of portraits and created one in his style. In order to get our brains thinking about portraits in such a unique way (mixed up features, some features from the front and some from the side), we played a Picasso Potato Head game where each table created a potato head with mixed up features and named it picasso style.

We used this worksheet to help us be inspired to draw our Picasso facial features.

Using the Picasso reference sheet for portraits, we drew various side and front view features on our collages.

Next step... to add painted details!

Kindergarten Winter Portraits

Kindergarten artists read a book about winter and snow and then we imagined ourselves out in a snow storm catching snowflakes on our tongues!

We discussed what a portrait is and used paint, cut paper, oil pastels and glue to create our own patterned portraits in the snow!

Learning Goals:

Students can distinguish between portraits and self portraits

Students can use pattern

Students can use a crayon resist in the background

4th grade Mary Cassatt portraits

4th Grade artists watched a movie about the life and art of Mary Cassatt. Then we used our own photos to cut in half. One side of our artwork is our photo and the other is the side we drew. We practiced our skills of proportions and shading.

Learning Goals:

Students can recognize the art of Mary Cassatt

Students can draw half of a face using correct proportions

Students can create a value scale with pencil

Students can use shading techniques to create value

Students can create a uniquely patterned frame

2nd grade Native American Portraits

2nd grade artists drew Native American portraits as part of our district wide Native American unit this year!  We started off by discussing what they already knew about Native Americans and then read some books and watched some youtube videos to learn more about the lives of these people.

Learning Goals:

Students can create a portrait of a Native American using correct proportions

Students can color the portrait using mostly neutral and warm colors

Students can use pictographs to create a story around the edges of the frame

Download Native American Overview Slide Show Here

1st grade Scarecrow Portraits

First grade artists are practicing their knowledge of portraits by looking at a fall scarecrow! We colored them using fall colors and then added straw and buttons to make it into a textured collage.