Kindergarten Ice Cream Cones

Kindergarten is currently learning about how shapes can be used in art. This week, we studies circles and triangles, and put those shapes together to create an ice cream cone. The kindergartners also got to use paint for the first time for the chocolate sauce on their ice cream, and they were very excited about that. The ice cream cone pictures are based on Wayne Thiebaud's painting Single and Double Decker, shown below.

Pretty Picture from a 6th Grader

Today one of my 6th graders gave me this lovely picture, which I taped to my desk as a nameplate. The hearts are a nice touch, I think.



You are welcome to guess what gender that student was, but I will say that from the students of the other gender, I received some paper footballs and a paper airplane. However, those items were confiscated, not given to me. I must say, the craftsmanship was very nice, though! I tried them out once my students had traipsed off to lunch, and the airplane has this nice little spin to it when it is thrown. If only they put that much effort and skill into their graded art projects....

New Bulletin Board

Last week 1st Grade learned the concept of symmetry, and folded colored paper in half to cut out symmetrical leaves for the trees they painted the week before. I put up a new bulletin board yesterday to show some of the 1st graders' art. They were very creative with their colors!

2nd Grade Line and Shape Pictures

Two weeks ago, 2nd grade learned about line, and we made line pictures using yarn. Last week, the students learned about shape, and we looked at shapes that have names (geometric shapes) and shapes that are "made-up" (free-from shapes). Using scissors, colored paper, and glue the students made their own shapes, some "made-up" and some that had names, and created collages from those shapes. Here are a few pictures of the students' art:

 Boat in wavy water

 Flower

 Girl riding a horse

 Design

 Face

 Person with cane

Flower

House with trees and moon

Starry night

Castle

Skyscraper

Just a design (although I think it looks like a dragon!)

1st Grade Trees

Last week, 1st grade finished the unit on line by learning about thick and thin lines. We used thick and thin lines to paint trees with watercolors, using the thickest line for the tree trunk, and the thinnest lines for the smallest branches. I showed the students how to make very thin lines using just the tip of their brush.

This week, the 1st graders are starting a unit on shape, beginning with symmetrical shapes. Since we had just made trees last week, with no leaves since we were focusing only on lines, I thought it would be fitting to make symmetrical leaves for our trees.

I began 1st grade today by drawing a few symmetrical leaves on the board, and discussing their shapes with the students. Then, I drew half of a few leaves for the students to finish, having them draw the mirror image. Once the students fully comprehended the concept of symmetry, I showed them how to make leaves by folding a paper in half and cutting an arc.

Last week, I let the students paint their tree in any color they wanted, so today I provided a wide range of color choices for the leaves. Some of the students went wild with blues and purples, but others took a more realistic route. Below is a finished tree by a student who clearly had the upcoming season of fall in mind.

3rd Grade Hatching/Cross-hatching Project

After successfully completing the hatching/cross-hatching spheres I mentioned in an earlier post, the 3rd graders used their drawing skills to draw fruit. I was very impressed by some of the students' ability to layer lines over lines to create progressively darker shades! One especially successful drawing was the pear below. I chose this student to be "Artist of the Week".

I also created a bulletin board to show the whole school what the 3rd graders are learning. The other teachers have been very impressed with the skill exhibited by our talented students. I know I am impressed!

Gifts from Students

As an art teacher, you can very quickly tell if your students like you by the number of pictures and little presents you get. It has been almost 3 weeks now, so most of my students have gotten to know me well enough to have an opinion about me. Thankfully, most of them seem to like me well enough! Today I received several pieces of art from students, some created before class, and others created during class if they finished early. Today, 3rd grade was drawing fruit (using the hatching and cross-hatching skills they had learned last week), and one of my students finished early. He asked if he could have an extra paper to draw on, and I agreed. At the end of class, he gave me this very realistic rendering of art class: Miss Young drawing an example of an apple on the chalk board, while the student sits watching, grinning from ear to ear because art class is just so much fun :). The title across the top of the paper says it all.