Week of 2/20/2022 - Kolam with 2nd and 3rd grade

2nd and 3rd grade students created Kolams this week! It has been fascinating to see how they notice the different aspects of the example I show them when I have them respond to the Kolam photos. The video of Kolam making from my friend Pavithra in India has been a huge hit! Students have been clapping at the end of the video because they think the process of making dots, joining them with lines to create shapes is amazing and Pavithra is an expert at this!

 2nd grade worked with 3 rows of 3 dots while 3rd grade worked with 4 rows of 4 dots. Kolam making is mathematical incorporating shapes, symmetry and a variety of lines. We all started with the same Kolam and I gave students several opportunities to pick lines, shapes and colors they could add to make theirs unique.

 Shown below are some 2nd grade responses to Kolams via a quick write.

           

  

My plan this year is to put together 6 separate Kolams - one for each grade level for our "Celebration of Art" in May!

 

 

Week of 2/13/2022 - Textures

This week was all about textures! I had kinder students work on a collaborative artwork to hang in the hallway outside their classrooms. I have 6 kinder classes in all and this lesson took quite a bit of planning.

The tables in my classroom are color coded - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. I set up a plastic bin at each table with 1/4 sheets of card stock in different shades and tints. Michaels has these for all the 6 colors! I also had metallic markers and yarn. After showing students objects and having them come up with words for how they would feel if touched, I introduced the word 'texture' to them. Each student created a sandy, rough, furry and bumpy texture on separate pieces of paper after cutting them into organic shapes. They then glued them on to an open spot on the black board. We worked on this over the course of this week and it was great to see how each class added shapes to create the below collaborative artwork. I can't wait to display these next week.

                                                          

1st graders worked on creating textures with clay. I have 6 1st grade classes and grouped 2 classes to work on one project. The first 2 worked on clay fish, the next 2 on a mug and last 2 on birthday cakes all using the pinch technique and using slipping and scoring to join clay pieces together. They used tools to add textures to complete their works. 

 

 

 

Week of 2/6/22 - Kolams with kinder and 1st grade

 It was great to have kinders and 1st grade this week - I started Kolam lessons with both grades.

Kolam (pronounced (KOHL.UHM) is an ancient art form that originated in India 5,000 years ago. Kolam, which means “beauty”, is a floor drawing made from white rice flour, and is used for ornamental or ceremonial design during traditional Indian festivities. The drawing consists of dots and lines that together form a meaningful design which symbolize happiness and prosperity.

The 1st grade students remembered this lesson and the Kolam installation from last year when they were in Kindergarten!

 I started class with a "hook" of a photo of people from India working on a Kolam and had students respond to what they see - it was interesting to see how they notice that people are dressed differently so this is from a different part of the world, they are painting with white paint on the ground and that the designs have several lines and shapes!

 

Kinders created dots on a 10" square white paper plate and connected them with lines to create a Kolam while 1st graders received the same plate with 2x2 dots already created on them. They had the option to connect the dots in different ways using different lines to create shapes. Both grades filled their Kolams with lines and then added color. The visual supports I created have been useful for students to look at different ideas of lines they can use and I often noticed students patiently looking at them and deciding what lines to use.

 Kinders added a red border to their Kolams while 1st graders added an orange border. I can't wait to  display these awesome Kolams during our Celebration of art event on May 11th this year!

 

 

Week of 1/30/22 - Weaving and Embroidery

 4th and 5th graders came back for another week of rotation with me!

4th grade created embroidery using running stitches on burlap. I shared several examples of the embroidery I created when I was studying textile design during my Master's program in India!

Students learned how to:-
use an embroidery hoop,
threading a needle,
tape the end to the burlap,
trace outline of objects and
go up and down with the needle to create stitches!

They filled in their shape with oil pastes and Sharpie markers. Several students commented on how the pastels worked well on the burlap!

 Once done they came back another day where they each glued their fabric onto a poster board, framed their work using tin foil and used a popsicle stick to attach to their work and tie yarn to hang it.

 

 

                                           

 5th grade worked on weaving like the 4th grade from last week. I differentiated the lesson by having them work on additional warp yarns and giving them the option to add extra weft when done. Students explored using yarns of different colors, thickness and lengths to create their work. It was a joy to watch students help each other and repeatedly tell me the weaving process is calming!

 

                                                   

Week of 1/23/22 - Clay and weaving

I started another 2 week rotation with 4th and 5th grade this week. A 5th grade parent helped me carry 600 lbs. of clay from Freeform Clay and Supplies in her truck! A staff member at the store helped load the clay in the parent's truck who drove them to school in her pick up truck. As I was unloading the clay from the truck, my colleague, a 3rd grade teacher walked up and started helping me put the boxed clay in my cart and wheeled it to my classroom. All of this from start to finish took less than an hour. Teamwork truly makes the dream work!! 

 I planned 5 different projects for my 5 5th grade classes - this way pieces don't get mixed up and I know which class worked on what project so pieces are easy to separate. My goal for all 5th graders was for them to know where clay comes from, what the words wedging, kiln, pinching and coiling mean and how they can use additive (while slipping and scoring) and subtractive processes.

The 1st class created spoons incorporating a coil method and pinching the end to make the bowl of the spoon! These turned out beautiful and it was interesting to see how the added pieces to the handle or used carving tools to remove clay to create textures.

               

2nd class created owls! Pinch technique for the body with coiling for the eyes, how awesome are these?

 

3rd class made pinch pots and added coils to them. Focus on creating textures using an additive or subtractive process.

 4th class created cacti - bowls from pinching technique with cactus made from coils. I wanted their cacti to stay standing and reminded them several times to do a great job slipping and scoring.

 

The final class created animals using pinch pots for the body. My initial plan was to have them create pigs but some students asked to pick an animal themselves! There were elephants, bees, ducks and several pigs! It was the last class on Friday and I was so happy to see all the different pieces!

On to bisque firing once our kilns are fixed.

4th graders created woven artworks - The purpose here was for students to experience the tactile aspect of art while using yarn of different thicknesses, knowing the difference between weaving and knitting, a class discussion about how fabric is made and understanding the concept of over and under and repeating it. We looked at how weavers in India and Ghana sit and weave at a traditional loom and I shared my handwoven sarees from India. This way students are able to associate this activity with fabric in a broader context and appreciate hand weaving as a beautiful art form.

                 

 

 

Week of 1/16/2022 - Going digital!

This week 3rd graders created a still life inspired by the art of artist Sara Rivka Dahan. I had each student bring their Chromebook to work with Sketchpad which is simple to navigate and user friendly!  

We looked at the works of the artist, discussed tints, shades, tone and value.
I have 6 3rd grade classes -  we observed a different fruit/ vegetable in each class. Students first created a created a black outline with pencil tool, exploring how line thickness affects the area they are coloring, added tints and shades using the crayon tool, created a shadow and finally a background. Students had  the option to add black and white dots if they wished to like the artist!

2nd grade students looked at real life objects and identified textures associated with them, practiced creating them on paper before using a variety of materials to create them on black card stock. 

 

 

 

 

Week of 1/9/2022 - 2nd and 3rd grade

Inspired by artist Jeff Koons, 2nd grade students created a balloon dog by combining ovals of different sizes. We started class by working on a quick write, pair share and class discussion as students looked at the "hook" I had displayed on the screen with prompts to get them thinking.These activities are a great way for me to get a feel for what students are noticing and a fantastic way to have them see the word wall, visual supports and use art vocabulary. 

We practiced creating values with color sticks to give them a sense of how much pressure they needed to add to create values dark to medium to light. Students combined 7 ovals by drawing with their pencil first and then picked a color of their choice for their balloon dog. They added different values and created a background to complete their works. 

                                                                            

3rd grade worked on creating polymer clay miniature mushrooms inspired by Yayoi Kusama. This medium was new to us and we spent time discussing how it feels, how it is different from regular clay and what we need to do to make it soft and workable. I gave students chunks of primary color clay and we mixed it to get secondary colors. - a great way to talk about color mixing! We looked at the 3 parts of a real mushroom and used a different color for each of the 3 parts. After practicing drawing textures on paper, we added textures on the mushroom using toothpicks, popsicle sticks, dots and spirals. I baked each piece after class in the polymer clay oven to make them hard and permanent. There was so much excitement as students received their mushroom back!