Principles of Design: Patterned Portfolios

I promised more pictures and this week I believe I have fulfilled that promise! Before we get to the AMAZING artwork my students produced this week, lets talk about what we learned. We got off the "Elements of Art Bus" and hopped onto the "Principles of Design Bus."

This week we learned about. . .

Don't you just love those pattern cards!? I think it really helped my students understand that you can make patterns out of the elements we have been learning about: shapes, lines and color (I didn't use color in my examples because my 3rd graders could use my examples. It isn't until the 4th grade that we ask them to create their own. But of course I want to see my students' creativity, so they had to choose the colors to make my patterns come alive!) So we took our portfolios that we started last week (Their assignment was to write their name, "art portfolio," use the all the colors on the color wheel and incorporate the lines we learned from the previous week. I know, it was a heavy assignment but you can see that they rose to the challenge!)...

                        (Teacher example)

                                                             (2nd grade example...look at all the different types of lines!)

(4th grade example...LOVE the lines and symmetry!)

(5th grade example of a student who changed schools last week. I added this in because she nailed this assignment! She combined the color wheel AND ALL the lines we learned to make the front of her portfolio. SHE ROCKED IT!)

After they created the front of their portfolios, they had to flip it over and create patterns on the back. They could use any colors, but you'll see that one student kept the color wheel theme. Isn't that awesome!?

 

                                      (4th grade example)

                                                               (Remember the previous 2nd grade example? This is the back!)

(This precious example comes from a 1st grader. You can see that she combined the lines we learned last week with the shapes we learned from the first week of school to make her lines of pattern. She is so talented!)

So we had a VERY busy, productive and creative two weeks of school! I am one week behind schedule on posting, so I will try my very hardest to post last weeks project on texture ASAP! A huge thanks to my students for their patience this week on getting this up. You guys are awesome, keep it up! :) 

Project: Portfolio!

I wish I could say this post will be riddled with fabulously beautiful pictures, but alas, it won't be. I somehow made it to Friday without taking a single picture. Woops! I can promise I will be a better picture taker this week :)

Last week we started making our portfolios! The portfolio (or "art pocket" as my young ones call it) is made out of poster board...perfect for coloring, picture making and doodling! We only drew on one side this week because we were saving the other side for this week! Two in one project, gotta love it! On the first side the students (1st-5th) had to write their name and art portfolio using all the colors we have been talking about....

Then they had to incorporate line and shape! They could have done this in their letters or in their drawing. Here are some of the lines we learned!

After they wrote out their names and "art portfolio" I asked them to draw pictures. ANY pictures. It is no surprise that I haven't memorized all of their names, even though I have been trying my absolute hardest! 460 students...that's a lot of names! So because I am a visual learner, I asked them to draw anything they like. Think of this like a free assignment. The kids loved it! I will definitely be instructing more free drawing in the future. It is so amazing to see how their minds work and what their creativity comes up with! 

This week, as I said, we are doing the backs of their portfolio. We are now getting into the Principles of Design with Pattern, so stay tuned!!

Elements of Art: Shape and Line

Hello students, parents and fellow teachers! I have been swamped all weekend with homework (for my MAT program...yes students, I also have homework!), classwork for the upcoming week, and of course I didn't miss my Razorback game! WPS! But nevertheless, I will make this post before we start the new week.

So what did we learn last week? We learned about line and how line can create shapes, pictures, and and cool designs! 

For my Kindergartners, we went back over our colors because color played a big part in this weeks project. So here is a review for you guys...

This is my "color" poster that I used in all my classes, K-5th. Remember I'm on a cart, so I do not have boards (other than the two I've already shown you that are in the main hallway of our school). I went to Home Depot (again!) and got these awesome paint chips, because lets be honest, no sharpie could produce that a color...not to mention all the different shades. The black triangle points to the primary colors and the dotted points to the secondary (I introduced these concepts to my little ones, but in no way expect them to remember it...they don't technically learn that until the 2nd grade). I know you get it!

So for K we practiced drawing our shapes and for 1st we drew different types of line. I don't have an example of my Kindergartners work, but here are two outstanding works from my 1st graders! We did "Me and Line" self-portraits where we used line to draw ourselves! Before we started, we all met on the carpet and I let the students come up and practice their lines on the Smartboard. They LOVED it! I did this project step-by-step with them so it would not add confusion. So here is my end work on the Smartboard followed my two of my students work.

                                       

Aren't they adorable?! I was so proud! As you can see, we drew a huge "dot" for our face, a "thin line" for our necks, a "thick line" for our bodies, a "tapered line" for our arms and legs, "curly lines" for our feet, "dotted lines" for our arms", "zig zag lines" for our fingers and a "curved line" for our smiles. Did I miss one? I hope not! To finish off our work, they had to draw as many different types of line around their self-portrait. I know it is a little hard to read from the yellow handwriting on the left (you can see it on the right) that each student had to write "Me and Line." We also did our letters together, but I think they turned out wonderful!

My 2nd and 3rd graders had a slightly harder task, but I knew they were up for it! I knew they had already been introduced to the different types of lines in previous years so I had them take that knowledge and creativity one step further. We made LANDSCAPES out of line! Here is my example coupled with the poster board I made for this lesson.

We went over these on the smart board in the 2nd grade classes, but my 3rd graders had it down (and rightfully so! They've had more practice!). While all my 2nd and 3rd graders did a wonderful job, here are two that I've chosen to highlight!

                      They had to use 6 types of line!

                            Can you find them all?

Great work guys! Now finally for my 4th and 5th graders...we did something similar to the younger kids in that we also did landscapes using line. However, we used line to show depth and perspective. We also included a play on warm versus cool colors. Here is the review poster and the teacher example: 

                                           

So what do you think? Does it look complicated? Nooooo, I can promise you it isn't. My students were a little afraid (go on guys, admit it) but once we got started and I walked them through it, it was painless! Here are two works that I particularly enjoyed:

This lovely work was
done by a 5th grader!












This one was
done by a 4th grader!

So this was our week! I hope y'all liked it! I am certainly one proud art teacher. Let's see how they handle PATTERN this week when we make portfolios! To wrap up this entry, I will leave you with this...here is our first "art installment" in the MMA! (Notice the "name plates" we made the first week of school. Real nameplates for a real museum!) :)

Elements of Art: Color

I must admit that color is my favorite Element of Art! Remember the Matisse quote? I'm all about color and creativity! Last week we learned about primary, secondary, tertiary, warm/cool, and complementary colors. Remember those black sheets of paper on the Matisse board? This is the board with our objectives on it for the week!

I think the kids had fun learning...but I think they had more fun making their color related projects. For my little ones (K-2nd) we read one of my favorites!

This wonderful little book is about 3 white (and curious!) mice who explore what happens when you mix certain colors together. From this book we learned that when you mix primary colors together, you get secondary colors. Although this book is an oldie, it is certainly still a goody! We also read one of my new favorites...

This book shows many different colors! What I enjoy about this book is that it teaches children that there are many different "hues" (a word we learned in class). In a box of 64 count Crayola crayons, you can find at least 3 different hues of red, blue, and yellow (remember those primary colors?). The idea that there can be more than one red or blue was the concept grasped by this book. Here is an example...

After reading these two, it was time for our project! Instead of painting (I tried with one 1st grade class and ended up with paint everywhere! Literally, a child got paint all over him and then cut a hole in his shirt to "remove" the paint. What a classic story...kids will be kids :)! ) we practiced our motor skills by tearing colored construction paper and gluing to our painters palette. We tried to glue at least 3 pieces of the same color paper on top of each other to give it that "gloopy/paint" look...did we succeed? Here are the artworks from Mrs. William's Kindergarten class....aren't they great?!

For my big kids (3rd-5th) I had something really special planned. I knew I wanted to have them mix their own primary color paints to get secondary, but I wasn't sure how I wanted to do it. After some thought (and kindness shown by the employees at Home Depot) I was able to get 350 paint sticks! Yes, 350!! I gave the students a dot of red, yellow and blue. From there they had to mix the primary colors to get secondary. Here is how they turned out...

Pretty cool, right? What I LOVED about this was that while each paint stick was different, they look like a unified whole when grouped together. I think it creates some unity within the school as well as pride within my students. It's an amazing feeling to see them walk by and say, "oh, I did one of those!"...I will never tire of hearing that. These kids are amazing and I can't wait to see what else we can do! 

This week we are moving on to Line, so stay tuned!

My first year begins!

I wish I could have started this a little sooner, but better late than never...right? I started this blog a few months ago for an assignment from my MAT program. As you can see, I abandoned it shortly after. But now that I have started my first year of teaching, I thought it would be a great idea to incorporate this blog into my “rewards system” for my students. I will post weekly (hopefully?) to let you know what we are working on and showcase some of my students’ work. It is my hope that this will be an all-inclusive website for fellow teachers and students. Once I work out the kinks, I will post my favorite art books that my kids enjoy, pins I love that pertain to art in the classroom (you can follow me if you click on the tab above!), and other fun and creative stuff I find along my way down this journey.
It should be noted that I am an art on a cart teacher, so I do not have a fabulously wonderful classroom to show you. I will post my boards as I go along...and maybe my cart (which is amazing!). So here are my boards for the start of the year...enjoy! 

Sorry the picture is at such a poor quality, but hopefully you get the idea. The two black pieces of paper will house my objectives for the week. I will keep y'all posted with that as well! 

I chose the quote "Creativity takes courage" by Matisse for one main reason: studies have shown that children will stop creating art by the age of 9 if they are not encouraged. ASTOUNDING! As an art kid, I never knew this. I am making a vow to myself (and my students) that I will always provide encouraging words to support creativity within my students. (Another reason I chose this quote is my love of Henri Matisse. He was an important artist in the foundation of my Masters thesis and I am constantly drawn to his use of color as expression.) 

My next board:

Inspired by many museums, but more specifically, the MoMA. I teach in an area where there are not many local museums (there a few when you get into the main city). So, I decided to make a museum they could see everyday. Of course, it is their artwork that will be shown. The black laminated papers serve as permanent matting for the future artworks. I hope that by displaying their artwork in a "museum" it will encourage them to do their best and maybe visit more museums in the future. Field trip, maybe!? 

So this is enough for now, but I will keep y'all posted!