Nothing to do with the olympics... but-

OK, I've been posting about the Olympic Art projects, because that's the focus right now, but check out my 4th graders, painting on easels. This was the previous project to our Olympic Theme. And, something that they look forward to for years, because they are the only grade I break out the Easels for, and we paint on canvas board, with Acrylics. We worked on the idea of place, and how artists depict places in their work. And each student set to work designing their ultimate place, if they were free to choose anywhere, with no restrictions. I thought they did very well.

The first graders are just loving this one. They were each given a paper plate, and as we explored the Vancouver Web-Site, they chose a symbol that depicted the event they liked the best. I pointed out the symbols along the tab line at the top, and we discussed why symbols are important. Then, we looked at a variety of mosaics, and discussed the idea of sorting colors, and concentrating more on the color than the objects. I gave each table a tray with beads, noodles, sequins, fun foam, etc, and they began to fill in their symbols. As you can see... we are about 1/2 way through. Some get it, and some... well, they are enjoying gluing their objects. Some re-teaching may be in order, but, I think the majority is a success.

Technology!

We have these awesome things, called NEOS. It's a mobile computer lab. Gives each child a keyboard, and the ability to learn keyboarding skills. (A small screen means they may just write more than they realized). So, I started this sentence, and asked the 4th graders to continue on with it. Some flew with it, and others, like always did the minimum, but with some prodding, I thought they all did o.k.

"Today, at the Winter Olympics, history was made as _________________________.

The orange... thing? The previously mentioned Hockey Playing T-Rex!

Here you see my 4th graders working hard on their "torn paper pictures". I allowed them sharpies to draw details or outline the most important thing. I think it's important for them to understand that one's eye is not drawn to the entire picture but to a focal point, and that by outlining, we can subtly show importance.

Olympic Dinosaurs?

I have to post a picture tomorrow, after the glue is all dry... but ahhh, 4th graders. I have a 4th grader who is on the immature side, and he can find a way to put a dinosaur, a bat, or a monster in just about any assignment. This one? A T-Rex playing hockey. Why fight it. My assessment of his first turn in was to make sure the dinosaur was wearing a helmet... after all, his brain is already small enough.

4th Grade- Torn Paper People Olympics!!!

It may seem simplistic, but with no use of pencils, or scissors, getting detail and action into these pictures is a challenge. Students picked their event, and set to work. We are about in the middle. I will give them more time for details, backgrounds, and I follow this up with a reflective writing activity...(shhh, they don't know that's coming yet!) I have included an example of Luge, Hockey, and Snowboarding.

Here you see a Kindergartner adding Athletes to their banner. I had them do line drawings based on photos from the Olympic website, and then cut them, and glue them to the blank banners from last session. We'll be adding embellishments next.

So, I've made the decision that the art show is going to be postponed until March 23rd. My original idea was to have it before spring break, especially since the theme is The Olympics, and I wanted to have it close to the airing of that fun. But, old man winter handed out too many snow days, and there is no way to have it done with the quality I have come to expect from my kiddos. In the meantime, we are working away, and having a great time. The 3rd graders are especially pleased with their Olympic Athlete Mola Collages! Pictures to come soon.

The second graders are going to be creating an Olympic Event Scene. So, we began by creating a snowy background. What a mess... but such are the things that endear a second grader to their art teacher. A chalky background, over which we stamped white tempera/acrylic medium mix. And, set it aside to dry. We will continue this by cutting silhouettes out of tissue and attaching them to the winter scenes... but that's another day.

Here, you see a Kindergarten student drawing his athletes. He's very interested in the snow boarding, and was disappointed that his mother made him go to bed, and he did not get to see the "Flying Tomato".

The Kindergarten students will be making "Banners". We looked at examples of what banners were,discussed reasons that they might be used (special events) and each student created a basic banner using contrasting colors. I focused on Red White and Blue, but they could have whatever combination they desired. I slipped in some scissor skills by having them "fringe" the edges. Then, we began our "research". The students chose whatever colors of construction paper they wanted, and I brought up the website. They found a comfy spot on the floor, and began to draw simple line drawings of the sports events they wanted to illustrate.

In preparation for our Anual Schoolwide Art show, we are following the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. I have encouraged the students to watch at home, and we check in "online" for new photos. Each grade level will present an art project based on ideas stemming from the Winter Olympic Games. I am an increasingly big advocate of using technology to further art lessons. To start this lesson, we viewed the Vancouver Olympic 2010 website, and looked at photos of all the events, in order to better be able to choose which event would play a part in each project.