Week of 4/17/2023 - Going digital with 4ths and 5ths

 4th graders created flyers for our upcoming Celebration of Art event. We looked at examples of different flyers and discussed which worked better and why. We talked about the need for images being sharp, without shadows, text being in a font that was easy to read and the information a flyer needed to have - title, address, day, date, time and possibly an additional sentence. 

We used Google slides to create the flyer using text boxes, changing font type, size, color and alignment. I showed students how to insert images and move them around and use colors that were appealing. There is so much variety in how each student approached this lesson. One flyer will be picked to be sent to families, teachers and our community partners.

 

5th graders started designing the legacy mural.This year we are using artist Lynn Giunta as our inspiration.

The prompt was to create a positive quote and combine it with bold, vibrant images that spark joy! We looked at how Lynn added components to her letters to make them interesting. I gave each student a planning sheet where we drew 12 images together for students to use in their work. They created 4 more individual ones by looking at Lynn's works. We used Sketchpad on Chromebook to first explore the different tools and features. Students then created their quote, adding patterns to letters and varying line width to create interest.

We will continue working on this next class.

 

 

 

 

Week of 4/10/2023 - Completing fantasy Fish and cacti

 3rd graders continued work on their fantasy fish!

After picking a habitat photo responsibly from the internet, each student superimposed their art work onto their photo after removing the background to complete their work.

I am thrilled at how these turned out!!

 2nd graders completed their cacti artwork. After coloring their cacti with cool colors using paint sticks, students used a variety of materials such as tin foil (smooth texture), yarn (furry texture), legos dipped in paint (bumpy texture), paper pieces (rough texture) and black Sharpie markers to create dots (sandy texture) and lines to create a prickly texture. They used watercolors in warm colors to paint their background and complete their works.

 

 

Week of 4/3/2023 - 3rd grade Fantasy Fish and 2nd grade cacti textures

Following a visit from Birch Aquarium in December 2022 to all 6 3rd grade classes where students were given hands on experience with a variety of fish, I followed up by having students create a "Fantasy fish".

I gave each student a planning sheet where they planned what habitat, body type, teeth type and coloration their fish would have. They exaggerated the features and drew their fish on poster board. I gave students the option to pick a medium of their choice to color their fish.

Here is an example - I realized I didn't take many photos! We continued work next class to complete the lesson.

2nd grade students created cacti using a variety of textures. We looked at different paintings and discussed what different parts may feel like if we could touch. We discussed different words to describe those textures - soft, rough, prickly, furry, sandy and bumpy.

I gave each student a long piece of poster board to challenge them so they would figure out how to create art on a different size base and not just the regular 9x12 size. We created a planter and added different cacti after looking at examples. - pencil first and tracing with a black Sharpie! Some students started coloring with paint sticks to finish next class.