Kindergarten- Cave Art!

I chose for Kindergarten to learn about cave art for their art history unit. I thought it was fitting considering that the cave people were the first artists and the Kindergarteners are just beginning art too! We began the lesson by viewing a PowerPoint about how cave people lived and made art. I included images from the movie The Croods for examples of cave people. They LOVED it and were very attentive. Next we used scrap paper to practice drawing different animals that the cave people hunted.

Next, I handed every student a price of brown paper. I showed them how to tear the edges of the paper off to look like a stone. Then they drew their animals on their "stone" just like the cave people did, using just black, red, brown, white, and orange. 

The last step was fun for the kids. We crumbled up the paper into a ball and then folded them back out flat. They really looked like stone then!

3rd Grade- Surrealism!

For each grade this year, I focused on one period of art history. I chose Surrealism for third grade. We began the unit by viewing a PowerPoint about Surrealism. I made a packet to go along with the presentation that made the information more fun for the students. For instance, the had to write about a dream or nightmare and share it with their partners at their table. They loved looking at the crazy surreal images! 

I chose 2 projects to go along with our Surrealism unit. The first one was a dream collage. The students began this collage by looking at the artwork of Salvador Dali and talking about how wacky his art was. Then, they drew a background on a sheet of paper for the setting of their dream collage. 

The next class the students cut up images out magazines and combined them to make a crazy dream-like picture. When the projects were complete, I had students write 4 sentences about their work in the back. 

The second project I chose for the Surrealism unit was just a fun one-day project. Students began by folding their paper into thirds to create 3 different sections. In the top section they drew the head of a make believe creature, ending the neck at the folded line. 

Then they all passed their papers to the student to their right. That student then added the body. 

They passed their papers to the right again and that student finished the creature by drawing it's legs. 

The papers were then handed back to the original artist for them to finish as they wanted. 

5th Grade- Hidden Name Designs!

This was a fun project for 5th grade to do after they spent so long on their Op Art designs. For this project I had them fold their papers multiple times to get many squares. Next they had to draw each letter of their name in each box. They were instructed to make their letters touch each side and the top and bottom of each square. If there name didn't fit in a line or if it was too short, they had to repeat it and make it go onto the next line.

The next day I passed out oil pastels. The object of this project is to make the negative space stand out more than the positive space so that their name was somewhat hidden. They could do this through their color choices or by adding pattern. Here is the final results: 

4th Grade- Circle Designs!

This was a quick and easy 2-day project that gave fourth grade practice with patterns. I had previously cut out different sizes of circles to be used as a stencil. The students started by tracing around the circles, starting with the largest and ending with the smallest one in the center. The next step was to decorate each section with a different pattern and color it in. I made sure that they understood that a pattern had to repeat over and over again. They cut them out to finish them. They were very successful!

2nd Grade- Matisse Vases!

We practiced pattern by looking at Matisse's work and making flowers and vases inspired by his. The first step was to draw a shape for the vase. The students then used markers to add patterns to the vases. The next day they added flowers by tearing peices of tissue paper and gluing a dot in the middle and glueing them down. They then glued them down and scrunched them up to be 3D. I love you colorful and unique every one of them are!

They also looked very great in the hallway for Spring! 

1st Grade- Kandinsky Circles!

For this project we looked at examples of Kandinskys work, mainly his circle paintings. This lesson was a great introduction to working with oil pastels. I first had the students fold their black construction paper twice to make four squares. Then they used the oil pastels to create colorful Kandinsky-inspired circles in each square. I showed them how to blend the oil pastels together to make softer edges. I also told them to make each square different. They all did a great job and they turned out great!