Art Show Night for 2012-13 School Year

As I continue moving things over from my old website, to this new format, I want to transfer some old posts as well!  Here is the post about the Art Show & PAWS Night from two years ago, enjoy!

We love the Art Show!

At the end of each year, we celebrate the students accomplishments with a school-wide Art Show.  Every student has at least one piece of art on display.  Last year's Art Show had over 1400 pieces on display! The art show featured paintings, drawings, class murals, paper mache and clay projects.

Meet the Mystery Artists!

After learning about six "Mystery Artists" all year, several lucky students had the opportunity to become the famous artists!  They were given a paint palette and paint brush and made the artwork come alive by telling families and friends all about their favorite artists.

  

We love Volunteers!

It takes a lot of work to make our Art Shows so successful, if you would like to help with next year's Art Show, please contact me at:  Meredith.Parkinson@hcps.org

Thank You PTA!

The PTA was a huge help in making the Art Show fun for the whole family, we all enjoyed ice cream and root beer floats in the cafeteria, YUMMY!

FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

Thank You Mrs. Carr for organizing so many fun activities in the cafeteria!  We enjoyed face painting, coloring sheets, spin art, getting our photograph as a famous work of art, and guessing how many crayons we broke in Art class this year!

Primary Robots: Kindergarten's study of Mondrian

In Kindergarten, we were studying primary colors, lines and shapes.  We looked at the artwork of Piet Mondrian for our inspiration.  This was a two day project, studying robots!

On day one, students looked at the works of Piet Mondrian.  We came up with a list of attributes to his artwork: primary colors, black lines, squares and rectangles.  As a class, we talked about the body parts of a robot.  We played "head and sholders, knees and toes" to discuss these parts.  We started with a rough draft paper.  It had a small example in the corner of what a robot might look like.  We started with the neck and head, then the shoulders and arms, and finally the legs.  Before the students added buttons, antennas, a face, or colored in their rough drafts, I instructed the class that I would call students up to my desk one at a time to choose a color for their robots belly (red, yellow or blue).  This way, it would be glued down in the center of the paper, all ready for day two.

On day two, I gave students a black crayon and we walked through how to draw the parts of a robot together.  We reviewed the primary colors again before students painted their robots.

When I hung these up for display, I cut away the extra white paper from their 12" x 18" and glued them onto construction paper that was a primary color, it gave the display a nice effect.

Pirate Ship Collage: Third Grade Complementary Colors and Collage

 Now that summer vacation has begun, I have some time to catch up on my blogging!

In third grade, we study complementary colors and the collage method.  One of the first projects of the year, combined these two areas of study.  For this project, we learned about pirate ships.  We studied the parts of a boat: hull, mast, sail, porthole, plank, crow's nest (the high lookout).  Then we practiced drawing our pirate ship, they included cannons, flags, sharks, and even treasure chests!

After the students came up with their concept, we painted our background.  They started with a sharpie and drew a water line a little lower than half-way through their paper.  Under the line, they painted the water blue, and above they painted an orange sunset.  We talked about the other colors that they might see in the water/sky.  Some students added green and purple to the water and yellow and red to the sky.

On day three, we started making our pirate ships our of brown paper.  I guided them through how to make the hull of the ship and I gave them 1" brown paper for them to make the mast.  Then they used scrap paper to add details to their ships.

On day four, they used a sharpie to add details: skull and cross bones, sharks to the water, steering wheel, boards and nails to the hull.  They loved this project and they turned out great.  I limited their actual pirates in two ways: only two pirates on the boat, and no violence (no swords, blood, shark eating people, that sort of thing)!

Macaw Collaborative Project (Part 2): Endangered Animal Study

Our collaborative macaw project is almost finished!  Yesterday was the last day of school, so I will be finishing the belly on my own.  The students were so eager to see it finished, but I let them know that it will be hanging up all next year when I turn my room into a rainforest.  Here is a close-up of the papers, the students cut "football shapes" or "teardrop shapes" for the feathers and then I called them up a few at a time for placement.

While the students were working, they were also creating their own recycled macaw.  Here are some examples from Kindergarten and first grade.  This was a wonderful end of year project, it only involved the scrap paper buckets and glue sticks or glue bottles.  Best yet, they loved creating their own macaw to take home with them!

Rocket Stenciling: Second Grade Printmaking

In second grade, we learned how to use a stencil.  For this project, we created rocket ships!  This was their first real project of the year, and they really loved it :)  Each year, students learn about a different method of printmaking, and in second grade it is stenciling.  For this stenciling project, the stencil is given to them ( the next stenciling project of jungle animals, they make their own stencils).

On day one, we learn about stenciling and come up with a rough draft - what colors do we want to use, what details do we want to add to our rocket and the outer space?  

Day two, we created painted paper.  I give the students a 9" x 12" piece of paper and if they have time a 6" x 9" piece of paper for the fire.  The larger paper will become the rocket, the students come up with any pattern they like: stripes, zig-zags, polka dots, etc.  The smaller paper is for the fire and is painted with only warm colors (yellow, orange and red).

On day three, the students trace the rocket stencil and cut out their rocket.  Then they learn how to trace part of the stencil, only the top of the stencil, or trace the wings of the stencil.  They also line up the fire with the back of the stencil and use it to see how wide the fire needs to be.  We only focus on the rocket itself on day three.

On day four, we begin by stamping the stars in the sky.  We talk about how this is the printmaking process that they learned when they were in first grade.  While that dries, the students use the scrap paper bins to create planets, stars, portholes, asteroids, UFOs, etc.  They glue down all of their details as the project dries.

Stamping Fish: First Grade Printmaking

In First Grade, my students are studying the stamping process.  They have learned that a stamp is a form of printmaking and that every time they dip it into paint, they will produce the same shape over and over.  We created a pattern that was either random or organized.

First, the class watched the YouTube reading of the Rainbow Fish.  We paused the clip and looked at all of the details in the fish as our inspiration.  Then we began our drawing.  We measured with our hands (one hand in all all sides) to draw a large oval.  Then we added the fins and the tail.  We used oil pastels to color in the fins, tail, and eye.

On day two, we rotated stations to stamp our fish.  Each station had a color of the rainbow.  I told the students that if you are finished before the other people at your station, enjoy watching them finish up, that way no one jumped ahead!

Day three was for cutting out our fish and completing our artist reflection.  On the paper, there was a space to draw our fish (if there was time) and two questions: 1. Was your fish stamped in a random or organized pattern? 2. What was your favorite part/ least favorite part?

For the hallway display, I created a large rainbow fish and as a reward, several wonderfully behaved Fifth Graders got to paint it!

Macaw Collaborative Project: Endangered Animal Study

Every year, I choose a new theme for my art show.  This year's theme was the Art of Asia.  I have begun thinking about next year, and the theme I selected was Endangered Animals.  This will tie in nicely with my school's increased arts integration program.  Part of the reason I choose this theme was because I wanted students to be more aware of the decision that they make and how those decision effect our environment.

So to kick off the them for next year, I told my younger grades that we were going to make a giant scarlet macaw entirely out of recycled materials.  The older grades (3 to 5) were making paintings of scarlet macaws to kick off the new theme, so this related nicely.

After a brief history of the macaw and the amazon rainforest, I made the connection with the students that recycling paper means that less trees are cut down in the rainforest.  Now I know that is over-simplifying a complicated issue, but after a discussion, they saw how the two were related.

So, to begin this project, I showed the class how I drew a large macaw (started with basic shapes.  I did not intend on drawing the entire thing in front of my kindergarten class, but they were mesmerized by watching it, so I did!  Then I got out our scrap paper bin.  Every time a student uses a piece of construction paper, any left-overs are put into these bins.  They come in wonderfully helpful for many things throughout the year: collages, free draw crafts, paper sculpture, fixing mistakes by covering up.

The students love looking through the scrap paper bins.  I talked to my students about all of the colors that we would need to make our macaw (I know there is no purple in the scarlet macaw, but I added it for our rainbow effect).  The students cut papers into football shapes, ovals or teardrops, making sure the shapes were larger than their thumb.  Then, the students sorted the paper into different bins by color.

As the students were cutting and sorting, I began gluing the colors onto the bird.  I called one table over at a time (4 students) to select the next feather to get glued and where they wanted it.

My second grade classes were also involved in this process.  They were given the scrap drawing paper (everything left over from weird cutting sizes) to create painted paper.  They selected colors that were neighbors and I talked about analogous colors.  These papers were then cut into feathers by the first grade classes.  It was really neat how all of the younger grades contributed to this project!  I will post the finished project as soon as it is complete!

Panda Bears: Kindergarten

This year's art show theme is "The Art of Asia."  Every grade level has studied and created a piece of art based off of a country in Asia.  In Kindergarten, we studied China, specifically the panda bear.  We learned that they are endangered, that their natural habitat are the mountains of china, and that they eat bamboo.  I have a piece of bamboo in my classroom, and the students were thrilled to hold it!

This is a three day project, I'm pretty sure if it was altered a little it could be shortened to two days though.  On the first day, we studied the panda bear and the country of China.  We then created the bamboo background.  We used a pencil and drew lines and dots straight up the middle of our paper.  I showed them that the bamboo could branch off in a different direction, but it wouldn't happen a whole lot.  After we drew all of our bamboo lines, we painted them with green paint.

On day two, we created the panda bear.  I have a ton of circles in my room!!  I keep them sorted by size and I used the medium and large circles for this project.  The mediums are yogurt lids and the larges are country crook lids.  I like to recycle and reuse whenever possible.  Anyway, we traced our two circles and added all of our details in a guided drawing.  I had the students use a black crayon for the eyes and nose, and then repeat that we were only painting "the ears, the arms and the legs."

On day three, we reviewed all that we had learned about panda bears.  I showed the class a video clip of panda bears playing and climbing trees, too cute!  Then we talked about cutting out something very large and that our goal was to try to not cut off his arms or legs, etc.  I told them that if it happened (which it did) that I could fix it by gluing it back in place at the end.  Then we talked about how picky I am when we cut.  That we are cutting like an artist and that we are trying our hardest to stay on the line.  This is not a race, we want to cut slowly and carefully.  I really think these types of reminders help!  After we cut out our panda, we glued him down by making sure that we put a little bit of glue all around the panda.  If we had time, I gave out strips of green paper and a little piece of green for the students to make a piece of bamboo in his arm.

Harmony or Contrast Macaw: Fifth Grade

My fifth grade students are studying the principles of Harmony/Unity and Contrast.  We went through several examples of harmony in colors, in texture,in value and in shapes.  Then we went through the same elements, this time with an example for contrast.  This is a four day project to complete.

For this project, students will learn how to properly draw a macaw, and will paint it using harmonious colors or contrasting colors.  We talked about harmonious colors being neighbors (and that they are analogous colors) and how contrasting colors are opposites (or complementary colors).  On day one, we created a rough draft for both harmony and contrast and selected our favorite one.

The final painting is 8" x 18" (I cut a piece of 24" x 18" paper in threes).  On day 2, I gave the students a template of the macaw's head to get them started.  I have found that if they have a first shape to guide them in the right direction, it helps!  We used visualization skills to picture where the wing belongs before drawing it.  I also went over the strategy of drawing with your eraser, or drawing lightly with your pencil to get you started.


On day three, we painted our macaws.  I gave students tempera cakes in the six basic colors of the rainbow.  I also gave them a Styrofoam plate for mixing colors.  The students who chose harmonious colors needed to mix the intermediate color for their birds.  The paintings looked beautiful drying on the rack, all of the younger students were in awe!


The last day of this project is for oil pastel details and an artist reflection about harmony vs. contrast.  Which principle do you prefer?  Why?  Other than color, list one other way to show harmony? To show contrast?

Metal Tooling Architecture: Fifth Grade

In Fifth grade, students studied famous buildings from around the world.  We looked at Stonehenge, the Parthenon, the Taj Mahal, St. Basil's Cathedral, Medieval Castles, and Notre Dame Cathedral.  We created our own architectural drawings using an inspiration sheet with different elements: doors, windows, arches, domes, etc.  The students needed to pick at least three architectural elements.

After our drawings were completed, we learned about low relief sculptures.  A perfect example for the students was the faces on a penny.  Each student was given a piece of metal tooling that was 6" x 9" large.  Underneath their work, they had a piece of felt so their lines would be nice and deep.

Students traced over there lines with a pencil and turned it over to double check that they had all of their desired lines before removing the drawing.  Then, we colored in our buildings with colored sharpies.  Students were encouraged to cut out their buildings to shape, but watch out, it is sharp!!

Once complete, students needed to create a short written response about their building: what is the building type (a castle, church, mansion) in other words, why would someone go to this building?  What is its purpose?  And what three architectural elements does your building have?

Flower Origami: First Grade

Today, my first graders finished up their study of origami.  This project was originally taught to me by Mrs. Carr, so I can't take credit for coming up with it!  I believe strongly in not re-inventing the wheel, and this project is a real keeper :)

This project takes two class periods to complete.  In the first class period, the student learn the difference between shape (flat, 2D) and form (3D).  We talk about all the different ways we can turn a flat piece of paper into a three dimensional form.  I end the discussion by crumpling up a scrap piece of paper and ask if it is three dimensional or not, and they found this quite funny.

The materials needed for day one are: 

• 12" x 18" blue paper
• 6" x 12" green paper (grass - for fringing)
• (x3) 1" x 12" green paper (glued flat for stems)
• (x4) 1/2" x 12" green paper (curled for weeds)

To start, we glue the stems down, evenly spaced out.  The paper is vertical (see picture for the end result of day one).  Then we curl the thin green stripes around a pencil and glue them down in between the stems.  Next, we take the 6" x 12" green paper and fringe it as a class.  I talk about our fringe lines being parallel, to incorporate a math term.  Once all of the green papers are glued down, if there is still time, we add tiny bugs to our grass: caterpillars, ants, snails, but nothing to the sky (they would be making them where flowers will eventually be glued down).

The materials needed for day two are:

• (x3) 6" x 6" colored paper (I used orange, red and purple)
• (x3) 3" x 6" yellow paper

We begin class by discussing the difference between paper sculpture and origami.  Origami is the art of paper folding, not cutting or gluing.  The only origami in this project is the tops of the flowers that we will be creating today.  Everything else is an example of paper sculpture.  I walk the class through the steps to make an origami flower.

To begin, the students need to fold their square in half (both directions).  They will see a plus sign.

Next, they need to fold each corner into the center. 

 Last, they need to fold each corner back towards the outside. 

After they have created all three, they need to glue the tops down.  I found it easier to fit if the center flower is low and the other two are higher.

After they are glued down, the last step is the tube for the center.  These can be a bit challenging, I may change them in the future.  The students take the 3" x 6" yellow paper and roll it up so that it is 3" tall (the short way).  They glue it together and hold it for thirty seconds.  I tell them that this is a good opportunity to talk to your friends at your table about weekend plans!  Next, they fringe both ends of the tube and fold the fringes out.  They need to put glue on the fringe and glue it to the center of the flowers.  And viola, awesome flower origami!