Kindergarten: Cross-curricular Animal Sculptures

Trying something new this year, I had Kindergarten use the typical sphere and cylinder lesson to create model magic animal sculptures instead of family portraits. After learning that they are preparing for a trip to the zoo and will be doing classroom "research projects", I let students lead us through discovery by finding images of animal habitats that they described. The project flowed like this:

1- lesson on sculptures complete with images of Animal sculptures found in nearby Philadelphia. 

2- lesson on making forms (spheres & cylinders) with play dough to create animals. (Students practiced)

3- students chose one animal and made it out of Crayola Model Magic.

4- After a discussion about sculpture materials, students painted sculptures with silver or animal-like colors.

5- Student led discovery of natural animal habitats. We LOVE google for finding out where animals live and pictures of the habitats. (Arctic, forest, jungle, dessert, grasslands, etc).

6- students folded, cut & glued paper into a triorama.

7- finally, students cut & collaged paper into the triorama to create a habitat for their animal sculpture! 

  Triorama beginning to take shape. 

This leopard is hiding in the grass.

A chilly Penguin in the Arctic.

A giraffe with his head in the clouds! 

I was constantly impressed & surprised by the creativity in this project. Every student was interested & excited every step of the way. 

Fourth Grade: Why Make Art?

The 4th grade students participated in a poster contest for our upcoming Youth Art Month exhibition of Elementary student artwork. This year the theme is "Why make art?". Our students brainstormed ideas using these questions:

Why do people make art?

How can I illustrate this answer?

The answers the students thought of prove that they are connecting their art experiences with not only their own lives but that of their parents and others in and out of our community.

Some of their answers:

To express ideas.

To have a career as a clothing designer.

To share my feelings.

To make the world more beautiful.

To make gifts.

Because it is fun.

To have something fun and relaxing to do.

To have a career in advertising.

To inspire others.

And the list goes on.

This is the design from our school that made it to the poster representing making art to create beautiful things and to be creative.

Third Grade: Clay Update

The Entire 3rd Grade, except for two students, has completed their clay projects! Once the clay has dried, I will be running the kiln & students will move on to the glazing process. 

The variety and originality blows me away every time I get to teach this lesson! We have some very dedicated and hard working students. Here is a preview of the work....

Third grade: Clay Coil pottery

Wow! I just realized there have been no updates since November... 

We've been very busy in the art room. Third grade finished Victorian Architecture drawings in early December, then spent a few classes learning about Maria Martinez and her coil pottery. I completed demonstrations of clay building techniques using coils. This first week back, every third grade student has learned how to set up the table with clay tools, make a base and many have begun building a clay vessel with coils. 

Since my hands are always in the clay, I have no pictures of the phenomenon that is 25 children working with and cleaning up clay in 45 minutes. The perimeter of my room is lined with perfectly wrapped projects waiting to be completed. 

Kindergarten Texture....

Kindergarten learned about texture before the Thanksgiving break. They explored many words to describe texture: smooth, soft, rough, etc.  then used texture plates to create crayon rubbings. After a quick review, our students are busy cutting shapes to collage into creative imaginary animals! 

First Grade: Jungle Animals

First Grade has discovered that Henri Rousseau created jungle landscapes full of color and wildlife. They are using their knowledge of shapes and lines to draw animals from photographs. A lesson in using oil pastels was used to help the students understand the difference between realistic and imaginative creations.

Third Grade: Victorian Architecture

Third Grade students have identified architectural details found in Victorian Architecture during a slide show on the smart board. After sketching ideas, they are now creating a pencil drawing of their own creative Victorian House. 

Photographs & a detail page help give the students a starting point.