Rainy Day Cityscapes

5th Graders learned about Value and Symmetry while creating these cityscapes. I found this lesson on incredibleart.org, one of my favorite sites to find great lesson plan ideas!! But I tweaked it a bit, the original lesson can be found at this link: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elem41.html.

First students designed a cityscape on half their papers, then selected one color with all of its different values, from water soluble oil pastels. Then selected its complementary color and that was used for the sky. They reflected their cityscape simply on the bottom and with a wet brush blurred the image so it looks as though the city is being reflected in the water. Or as if the color washed from the buildings onto the sidewalk after a rainy day. Enjoy!

BUGS!!!

Well... I must have gotten a bad batch of clay or something, because more students then usual had blow-outs with their clay fish. But I didn't want any student to miss out of having a sculpture to take home. So we created insects from things we found outside. The next thing I know the room is infested with these creepy crawlies!!

Tropical Fish

These 2nd Grade students learned about Form and the clay process by creating Tropical Fish. This is a great lesson to introduce students to the 3 S's, Score, Slip and Smooth. First student wedged 2 pieces of clay then flattened them into a slab. I don't have enough rolling pins for everyone, but I learned a great technique from an art workshop, where student press the clay with their palm and flip as they press. I tell them to make it a "cookie" thickness but someone mentioned  it looked like a "crabby patty" from the cartoon Sponge Bob :)
After they have 2 "cookies" they draw, then cut a surfboard shape from the larger one. The surfboard is the body and the two crescents you have left are the fins and tail. After they were fired they painted them with acrylic paints. Here are a few examples of our fishes!

Art Club

Here are some great landscapes that were created in Art Club.

We discussed Landscapes and Space along with one point perspective. You can see that in their houses. After drawing their landscapes out with a pencil, students then used oil pastels on small parts of their landscapes, then used watercolors to paint in the rest. Using a several different watercolor painting techniques.

Art Club

WOW! This year is flying by, the first quarter is almost complete. And my first Art Club of the year is over :(
What a great group of artists! We learned how to draw from observation, and made bowls for the local Empty Bowls event. These bowls will be auctioned off to help raise money for families that are less fortunate during the holiday seasons. Here are some pictures of some of the artists at work. Pictures of the bowls will be posted soon....after the glaze fire:)

Sunset with Sailboats

2nd Grade students learned about Color and Space. First students talked about color and color mixing, while they painted their sunsets over their ocean. Then we talked space when they put the collage of sailboats (among other things) in silhouette into the picture. All I can say is "WOW"!

Shape Houses

 

1st Grade students learned about Shapes. We created collage houses using paper. The students never cease to amaze me:) They all are doing the same project yet everyone makes something that looks different and creative!!