Weeks 9/2/2024 and 9/9/2024 - 4th and 5th grades

 4th and 5th grades had their 1st art rotation this week!

4th graders looked at the works of artist Jaume Plensa and engaged in a turn and talk and class discussion. We noticed how he uses text and symbols in his works and combines them interesting ways to create his sculptures.

We created a mind map of words based on prompts I gave students - 3 adjectives to describe yourself, favorite hobby, place etc.

Once done, students were given a piece on 9" X 12" cardboard. They drew vertical and horizontal lines using a ruler and wrote words from their mind map inside the spaces using a variety of fonts with a pencil. Some students even made up their own fonts!

They traced their words with a black chisel tip Sharpie and erased pencil lines.

Students then wrote their name on a piece of construction paper using block letters, cut them out, arranged them in an interesting way like the artist and glued them to complete their work.

5th graders created "All about me" explosion books!!

Students were given multiple prompts and answered them by creating an illustration or text using a variety of fonts in 12 boxes/ triangles on white paper. For example - 4 adjectives to describe yourself, favorite food, favorite sport, hobby etc.

Once done, they outlined their work and added color using color pencils.

We then used 4 pieces of 6” squares in complementary colors to fold and connect them to make explosion books. 

Students then cut out their squares and triangles and glued them inside their books to complete their work!

Weeks of 9/19/24 and 9/16/24 - 2nd and 3rd grades

 2nd graders looked at the front cover of the book “That’s Not My Name” by Anoosha Syed and engaged in a class discussion during our 1st class of what the book was about by looking for clues. 

The main character in the book is Mirha. Her teacher and friends mispronounce her name at school which leads to Mirha wanting to change her name. A conversation with her mom leads Mirha to learn the meaning of her name which is "happiness" in Arabic. She goes back to school the next day with excitement to teach her friends about her name and how to deal with situations where students pronounce her name differently!

After reading the story, students shared an interesting fact about their name - some shared they were named after their grandpa, after a movie or a friend. Some shared the meaning of their name - “the gifted one”, “the loved one” among many others.

Each student practiced writing their name in several ways using pencil, picked the one they liked the best and wrote their name on a white poster board. They used a chisel tip black Sharpie to trace the letters and then used warm and cool color markers to create repetitive lines around their name.

They completed their work during the 2nd class and wrote something special about their name.

3rd graders looked at the comic book inspired works of artist Roy Lichtenstein - we had a class discussion of how the artist used dots similar to how comic books were printed back in the 1950s/ 60s. 

We noticed how the words used were sound words and had an exclamation point at the end, the letters used overlapping and that the colors were bright! We also talked about the Pop art movement, the word "pop" stood for "popular" and looked at several examples by other Pop artists. I introduced the word onomatopoeia to students and let them know we will create an artwork using their name as an onomatopoeia. 

We spent 2 classes cutting and layering paper in different shapes, added dots, name and also mounted our works on black paper. Students also wrote something new they learned in this lesson by filling out an exit slip.

Week of 8/12/2024 - First week back

Welcome back!!

We are off to a great start with 2nd-5th graders creating their collaborative artwork the first week of school!

Students looked at the works of artist Charles McGee and we had a class discussion about how he used patterns, overlapping, organic shapes, and lines using just black-and-white to create contrast in his works.

Each class worked with a different color paper square, added black and white paper strips and patterns with black and silver markers. They arranged and organized their pieces, glued them to complete their work and added it to a large piece of paper.

Approximately 510 squares were put together and displayed in the auditorium to provide a beautiful backdrop for upcoming events.

There are several positives to starting the school year off with collaboration - it teaches students how to contribute ideas for a group and how to compromise. It builds a sense of community as students work towards a common goal. It also improves critical thinking skills by analyzing and synthesizing information from various sources.

Here are photos of the day to day progress and the final install! 

Weeks of 5/27/24 and 6/1/24

 I am San Diego project

4th and 5th graders returned for their last rotation - our VAPA resource teacher for visual art Cat Phillips came to  my class to introduce the I am San Diego lesson which will be installed in 30 bus stops around the city from various schools in our district.

Students first wrote 5 things that makes San Diego feel like home to them. They then added lines to using Google drawing, created patterns, movement using a variety of lines varying in thickness and added drawings of things they wrote in their list. Here is a video and photos of student works!

 UTK-3rd graders created their works on paper using black Sharpies of different thicknesses.

 I am excited to see their works at bus stops around the city in August! 

5th graders also received their back pack name tags they had designed - I have been printing these for 150+ hours and was happy to give it to my students! 

          It’s been really nice to see them walk in school with these hanging off their backpacks!

 

 

This is my last blog of the school year - have a great summer everyone!

 

Celebration of Art and legacy mural

 Celebration of Art 2024 was a big success!! We had several members of our community attend this awesome event! The school was buzzing with chatter from students, families and staff. This year we had student ambassadors who greeted families at the gate and handed out scavenger hunt cards (differentiated for grades UTK-2 and 3-5). Each ambassador received a personalized badge they wore for this purpose.

The auditorium was transformed with beautiful artwork from students! We had an artwalk where each class displayed artwork from their class on the wooden panels in the south campus. There were multiple food trucks, a cake walk and art activities for students! Here are some photos from the event.

 The week after this amazing event 5th graders started on their legacy mural. Our theme this year was California Wildflowers and my 3rd year facilitating one.

Each 5th grader designed a flower digitally/ on paper, 4 students from each class created a final design out of which the final design was picked! 130+ 5th graders painted the mural over 4 days on a wall 9ft. X 28 ft. 

 

Week of 5/6/2024 - Last rotation with 2nd and 3rd grades

 

This week 2nd and 3rd graders returned for their last art class for the school year with me.

2nd graders worked on the element of art color using water colors. I gave each student translucent plastic shapes in primary colors. They held 2 colors at a time against the light to see how 2 primary colors combine to create secondary colors!

Next we drew 5 vases where each overlapped with the one next to it. We also drew the table line with pencil and outlined all with a black Sharpie marker. We painted primary colors inside each vase and mixed 2 primary colors to create secondary colors to paint where vases overlapped.

 3rd graders created mobiles inspired by the works of artist Ruth Asawa. We looked at several of her works and discussed what material she may have used, and how long it would have taken her to create her large scale works. It was beautiful to share the story of how her elementary school teacher inspired her to create art for a competition and how that experience inspired her to become an artist.

Each table had several strips of paper 1"X 12". We practiced folding them in pairs using different techniques after which students arranged them and put them together using double sided tape, glue stick or glue dots! 

Here are some student works.

 

Week of 4/29/2024 - UTK, Kinder and 1st Grade - Part 2

 UTK students looked at the work of artist Wassily Kandinsky and we discussed how the artist used circles of different sizes in his work and arranged them on top of squares. Students noticed how colorful his works were and that he must really like circles because he created so many of them! It is always interesting to hear what 4 year olds have to say during these class discussions :)

I gave each student a 10" square burlap with a pipe cleaner attached to the top. Students first strung beads, once they were close to the other end, I attached the other end of the pipe cleaner to the burlap to create a handle.

Next, students used a circle template to trace 4 circles on their burlap using a black Sharpie.They used tempera paint to create concentric circles in different color to complete their work.

 

Kinders illustrated the flower from Eric Carle's "The Tiny Seed" and the caterpillar from the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". We first read the story and discussed how each of them could illustrate the flower/ caterpillar. We used tempera paint on poster board.

 

1st graders looked at the book "The Warli People" and we discussed how they drew humans - with triangles, circle, few details and plants with repetition and patterns. Students noticed that there were only 2 colors the illustrator used in the story typical of Warli art.We practiced drawing humans, trees, houses, the sun and moon Warli style and then students came up with a scene that they drew and outlined with black Sharpie to complete their work.