Friday, August 16, 2013

Elements and Principles of Art

In the past 2 years, I've felt that I've been a little weak in teaching art vocabulary. When my students talk about art, they are quick to share what's happening in the picture, but slow to describe the formal qualities (elements and principles of art). This year, I decided to begin with an elements and principles game for the first day of art class.

I started out by making these posters.


Then, we went through the lists and the students defined the words if they could, and found the elements and principles in the art prints on my walls. The students knew many of the terms, because I usually focus on one element or principle on each art project. 

Then, we played elements and principles bingo! I made bingo sheets with the elements and principles of art in the boxes (a few words got repeated since a bingo card has 24 spaces, not including the free space). Then, I hung up an art print, and the students raised their hands to share an element or principle of art they saw in it. They had to describe how they saw it, for example, "I see balance because the shapes on the left side are the same size as the shapes on the right side." After the student explained his answer, I wrote the term on the board, and all of the students marked it off of their bingo sheet. If they had that word twice, they marked it off two times!

It went really well, and my students are really really using the elements and principles of art in descriptive sentences now! I am feeling really good about the start of this school year!

19 comments:

  1. Neat! Last year I really concentrated on incorporating these and other vocab terms into my lessons. I felt like it was my strongest year teaching so far. Do you have copies of these to share? ;)

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    1. Ashley, I can email you copies if you give me your email address. I used an automatic bingo generator online, and typed in the words I wanted to appear in the game. It gave me bingo sheets with the words in a random order. I saved them (25 variations) as PDF's, so I'll be happy to share :).

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    2. this is amazing, another teacher taught me an elements of art song to have them remember...but i'll let you create your own instead of performing for you, ha! can you fwd that to me too? kantormr@gmail.com

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  2. That sounds really interesting! How old are your students?

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    1. I teach K-6th grade, but I only did the bingo game with grades 4-6. I initially planned to do it with 3rd grade as well, but they didn't have the attention span for it :).

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  3. It's ashleyperry.art@gmail.com thanks!!! :)

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    1. Great idea! Could I get a copy of the bingo game as well? artrebco@aol.com

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  4. Could you send a copy to me as well? susanbrooks2007@comcast.net

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  5. I would REALLY love to get a copy... I really want to focus on using these words with my students this year! Thanks! missruel@hotmail.com

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  6. I, too, think u have a good idea there and would like a copy. When u made your principles/elements poster, did u buy extra fonts? did u make it on microsoft word? it looks good!

    Thanks, 204chan@gmail.com

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  7. This is a really great idea! May I please have a copy too?
    Thanks!
    Adias@stmargaretschoolriverdale.com

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  8. This is such a wonderful idea! If it is not too much trouble I would also please like a copy too. Thank you!
    fmjacobi@gmail.com

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  9. I hate to be the millionth teacher to ask, but may I have a copy too! :) Thank you so much for sharing your ideas with us! swheeler@nsacd.com

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  10. Good evening Jessica, neat idea. I see you posted this a little over two years ago. However, if you are still sharing, I would also like to have a copy of this as well. Thanks, jestergab@comcast.net

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  11. Please send me a copy of this awesome lesson! I would really appreciate it and my students will too! Hilda Ward
    gohogsgo57@gmail.com

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  12. Hi! I'm not sure if you are still watching comments here or not but I thought I'd give it a try! I just started teaching art this year and would love a copy of your posters, if you don't mind sharing! My email address is nikkibussan@yahoo.com. Thank you!

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  13. Hi! I'm not sure if you are still watching comments here or not but I thought I'd give it a try! I just started teaching art this year and would love a copy of your posters, if you don't mind sharing! My email address is nikkibussan@yahoo.com. Thank you!

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  14. I would love a copy of your posters and Bingo game information too please baldwin@rundle.ab.ca THANK YOU!

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