Third Grade: Chalk Pastels

This year I have tried to incorporate more technique practice before students plan for or begin new projects. Third grade is currently getting a feel for chalk pastels. Many students found controlling the mess to be a challenge. 

Second Grade: Presentation of the Elements

After 2 art classes of printing and creating the four mono prints of Earth, Fire, Water and Air, second graders discussed ideas to complete the project. Based on their prior experience of printing in first grade, some students suggested trading prints or giving them as gifts. The majority of students agreed that the four prints belong together. With colorful options, the students were responsible for gluing the four prints onto construction paper. Craftsmanship and presentation were discussed. Below are a few examples of the final product.

Fourth Grade: Abstract Art discussion

Mr. Malehorn's class was the first to begin the next project. Today we simply began a discussion with these 2 questions: What is abstract art? And How does an artist begin to plan for or find inspiration for abstract art?

Using the smart board and several examples, students first spoke amongst themselves in small groups, then shared their ideas with the whole group. 

They found many ideas today such as: 

1. Begin with a still life and make changes.

2. Create an image of something you cannot actually see, like sounds.

3. Show many sides of something real, much like the cubists.

Since I consider myself an abstract painter, I look forward to seeing their interpretations and ideas become a complete painting. 

The next part of the lesson will be to practice previously learned and new painting techniques.

Kindergarten: Texture

Kindergarten is learning all about texture found in art and life. Using knowledge from previous lessons, they cut shapes from crayon texture rubbings and assembled them into creative imaginary animals. They are now adding real textures with white glue. 

Artsonia.com

I just keyed in the 100th permission granted for our online gallery at Artsonia.com!!!

Last week during conferences, I spent most of my time in the lobby talking to parents about this project. Very soon, we will be taking pictures of student artwork and adding it to our online gallery at artsonia.com. The current gallery was started in 2010, but you can see that once the artwork is there, it will be there forever! I am very excited about taking on this project again. So far, I have only shared this with our 3rd & 4th grade students and they can't wait to get started.

Fourth Grade: How do I respond to art?

Each year, the fourth grade particpates in a poster contest for our district-wide Elementary Art Department Youth Art Month exhibit. This year Hilltop's fourth grade was asked to illustrate "How do I respond to art?". Each class started by having a group discussion answering the following questions:

1- What does it mean to 'respond' to something?
2- How do we respond to artwork?
3- What does that look like or how would you illustrate this?
4- What resources do you need to complete this illustration? (images of people, faces, etc.)

I have been pleasantly surprised by the range of ideas that have come from this project. Even though many students had the same idea of drawing a person looking at art, the way that each student brought the 5"x5" project to completion is as individual and unique as the student. Below are 6 examples of this project.

Second Grade: Monoprint

All 4 sections of 2nd Grade have started a mono printing project. We discussed the four Elements of Survival as a theme found in art (Air, Water, Earth, Fire). The students were given an opportunity to examine 3 works of art, discuss with each other how the artists portrayed these elements and then shared their discoveries with the class. Students found that the artists used a variety of lines, colors and shapes to illustrate these elements and using prior knowledge & experiences, the students could identify the elements. Students sketched their own ideas for illustrating these 4 elements. After a demonstration of how to use printing ink to create mono prints, students have begun printing. As of today, two of the classes have printed. All are very excited about learning this process. The oohs and ahhhs fill the classroom! 

Using the sketches as a reminder of their ideas, students paint abstract images of Earth, Air, Water & Fire onto plastic trays using printing ink. Students were asked to focus on using line, color or shapes.

Another example of sketches.

Printing the image from the plastic tray.

Each table had a tray of warm and cool colors. 

Kindergarten- Lines in September

Kindergarten's First Painting

Kindergarten started the school year by demonstrating their ability to draw many different kinds of line. They learned how to use watercolors and were asked to only use primary colors. Looking at artwork of Kandinsky, they identified straight, curvy, zigzag, thick and thin lines. I simply love the magic of having 25 Kindergarten students completely engaged in the process of painting and making art.