Historical Portraits...kind Of

John Sevier

Andrew Jackson

I did an extensive unit on portraiture with my 4th graders.  As a fun way to wrap it up, we made torn paper historical figures from TN.  This ties in with the people they will encounter in social studies this year, as well as gives them something concrete to work towards.  It was a one day project, with no scissors or pencils of any kind allowed.  I think they turned out well, the students learned to look for important details, and it was a fun ending to a portraiture unit. Check out our Artsonia Gallery (4th grade) to see some of the drawings as well. 

Texture City

Some struggled with building placement...

Love the personality in this one- 

I had the students use texture rubbings from a previous session to create buildings.  We added a street as well, and in order to bring home the idea of foreground, middle ground and background, we used little foam squares to "pop out" the cars and people in the front.  Big Fun!

Kindergarten Paintings

Here's our first crack at watercolor painting.  I had the students draw their families as best they could, and the session after we painted, I had them trace the pencil lines with sharpie pens.

Adjusting to my space (temporarily)

Family Portrait was the topic.  Wide variety of ability at this point.

So if you follow my blog, you know that I am in a temporary room while the construction is completed on my art room.  I'm trying not to complain, because good is coming from this temporary insanity, but today, I realized just how much I'm used to my routine in the past.  I have unpacked just enough boxes to see me through a few weeks.  MNPS curriculum dictates that the Kindergarten students must experiment with paint during this particular time frame.  I thought, since I'm a tad limited, I'd start with watercolor.  Pulled open the cabinet today, to discover that I've lost my water cups in a box somewhere, along with my watercolor boxes.  What I had was refills.  So, thinking fast I scrounged up 12 bowls for water, and I put the refills out on plates.  Not a bad discovery... The drips have a place to land, the paintbrushes have a home, and aside from not really having counter space to stack them on, it ended up working really well.  Who knows, out of this uncomfortable time in my teaching, I may find some innovative new material distribution systems. 

Saving a project

Not too bad, she got the basic idea

Another ok one

The majority turned out like this.

Sometimes, I have the best ideas but they are torn to shreds by my students.  This is one of those times.  My thought was, that I would give them a variety of materials, and we would look at photo-montage/collage as a self-portrait technique.  In my head, the students would create "posters" about themselves as a beginning of the year intro.  I took their pictures, thinking they would have fun embellishing them with colored pencils/scrap materials, and the posters would be a sort of self-portrait, inside and out. And, it would give me a chance to work with them on emphasis, balance, and craftsmanship.  Don't think they got that memo.  Despite my best efforts, this project did not turn out as planned.  I was determined to make this a valuable use of time and material though, so I decided to have them work on their critiquing skills.  At the end of the 2nd session, I paired them up, gave them a think sheet, and had them evaluate each others' poster, after a clear conversation about constructive criticism and not bashing a classmate's effort.  At the beginning of the 3rd class, I had them read the critiques of their own poster, and use markers to try to make any fixes or changes that may have been brought to their attention.  Then, I had them self-evaluate using the same think sheet.  So, even though I feel that in general, this project was not my most successful, I think the honest conversations afterward maybe made a tanked project worthwhile.

Learning to Adapt

Suck it in kids- not a lotta room to maneuver.

So, today, I came into my room (my temporary room while they build the art room) and found that all of the boxes I'd crammed into the closet for storage were pulled to the middle of the room.  Seems there was a breakdown in communication between the builders as to when the shelves were to be built.  I didn't cry this time- I just sought out the janitor, begged him to help me move them to the other side of my room, and went on with my day. Only to find out that they won't be building shelves till I move out, so that I can keep my boxes in the closet....Sigh.  I am trying to decide whether or not to move the boxes back, or leave well enough alone, but I moved the rubber maid totes back into the closet, and left the other boxes lined safely along the wall.  I'd like to say that the boxes will stay put, but with my luck, they will come install counters and lockers and it will all be back in the middle of my room again.  In a couple years, after I'm safely in my new room, I'll laugh about all this, but-not yet.

Sharpener

Sometimes it seems I spend my entire plan time sharpening pencils.  I used to let the kids do that themselves, but we lost a lot of studio time, and it got really noisy, and then a motor would overheat, so I began to have a "sharp" container and a "not sharp" container, and the students learned to switch out pencils.  This year, I have "team captains" for each group of tables.  They rotate turns every art time, and that way, one person is the "feet" for each team.  I ordered a new sharpener- I've liked X-acto sharpeners in the past, but they can be kind of pricey.  I ordered this big mama version on Amazon for $30.  About what they go for in the stores, but this thing is HUGE, and it has a strong motor, a big shavings cup, and can be adjusted for different pencils.  My kids are not getting their hands on it.  I'll let them finish killing my old one.  And me, I am not sure what I'll do with all the extra time I'm not spending sharpening on the old, tired pencil sharpener.  But, I'm sure I'll fill that time up with hanging art, pouring paint, or one of the other jobs I just don't seem to have enough time for.