Kindergarten line shape and pattern owls

Kindergarten artists are learning about the Art Elements. Specifically the elements of line, shape and pattern. We read books about owls and drew our own using shapes. We added pattern in the owl, the background, and the frame. 

Learning Goals: 

I can use pattern in my art.

I can distinguish between warm and cool colors.

I can see shapes in art and use them to draw my own owl

Third-grade Robert Indiana

3rd graders are studying the art of Robert Indiana. They noticed how he used letters and numbers as art at a time when people did not see those things as such. We used his word love, and other words such as hope and joy in our art. We thought about the use of warm and cool colors and pattern to create these wonderful artworks! 

Learning Goals: 

I can identify the art of Robert Indiana. 

I can distinguish between warm and cool colors. I can emboss metal patterns. 

I can create block lettering like Robert Indiana.

I can create a collage. 

Second grade travel collage

2nd grade artists have been thinking about how art comes from every part of the world and looks different from different cultures and countries. We compared and contrasted art from all over by looking at a slide show, books about art and culture, and looking at various artworks. We read Dr. Seuss' book, "Oh the Places You'll Go!" and thought about where we would like to go if we could travel to see any art in the world. 

Check out our slide show by clicking HERE

We created these collages of us traveling to those places! We thought about how artists use lines to show movement and where the plane could have traveled. 

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.

Fifth Grade Chihuly Collaborative Sculpture

5th grade artists are working on a collaborative project like Dale Chihuly!  We learned about his life, his installations and some of the work that he has displayed at our local Frederick Meijer Gardens! We watched a slide show about him and then began coloring water bottles with permanent markers in either warm or cold colors. 

Click Here for our Chihuly PowerPoint

On Day 2 of this project, we did a partner read out of the Scholastic Art Magazine about Dale Chihuly and chose our 2 favorite new facts to write down on a slip of paper for a prize drawing.

Learning Goals:
I can work collaboratively.
I can retell facts about Dale Chihuly's life and art.
I can explain the difference between form and shape.
I can distinguish between warm and cool colors.

Fourth grade Edgar Dégas and Jackson Pollock figure drawing

Fourth grade artists reviewed the artist that they learned about last year, Jackson Pollock. We talked about how his art is abstract and is more about the action of painting than the representation of what is painted. We used his style of painting to be the background for our Edgar Degas figure drawing project. 

First, we had fun dripping paint onto our papers and then blowing through a straw to push and mix the paint around on our papers.

We also reviewed warm and cool color schemes by painting one half of the paper with each color group.

Next, we watched a movie about Edgar Degas and wrote down our favorite 5 or 6 facts on a bookmark to put on the backs of our artworks. They use these facts to share with their families what they have learned about this project when they get to bring it home. We had a few kids volunteer to model some poses for us to practice our figure drawing. We tried to focus on having poses that included diagonals so that we could see more movement in our artworks like Edgar Degas did.  

We carefully cut out our figure drawing silhouettes and glued them to our warm/cool papers.

On the back of the artwork, students wrote six facts that they knew about the artist.

Learning Goals:
I can recognize the art of Edgar Degas.
I can recognize the art of Jackson Pollock.
I can tell some facts about Degas and Pollock's life and art.
I can paint in the style of Pollock.
I can draw a human figure with the correct proportions.

Kindergarten Paul Klee cats

Kindergarten artists read the book inspired by Paul Klee called, "The Cat and the Bird."

We also looked at the images in the Paul Clay's book entitled, "Animal Tricks."

We talked about the art elements of line and shape and used to them to create our own Paul Klee inspired cats. We also reviewed the art elements of shapes, lines and colors. We used shapes to draw the cats, lines to create a line pattern, and cool colors to use in the background.

We used cool colors to create line patterns in the background.

We reviewed warm and cool colors by putting images with these colors into a Venn Diagram on the board.

We like to write our learning goal on the back of our artworks to share with our parents what we were learning about when we take our artwork home.

Learning Goals;

I can recognize some of Paul Klee's artwork.

I can use lines to create a line pattern.

I can find shapes in an artwork.

I can separate warm colored markers from cold colored markers.

I can create my own Klee inspired cat.