American Symbols

The Kindergarten students have been looking at American Symbols- this is a classroom standard that I agreed to work into my plans over the next few weeks.  So, we drew one of 4 symbols (Flag, Eagle, Statue of Liberty or Liberty Bell).  I provided both color and outline images for students to see, to help in this process. We traced our drawings with sharpies-I think tracing the lines helps cement them in the students' heads, as lines to stay inside/around. I have no proof, but have just noticed that when the littles trace, they tend to paint a bit more carefully. After painting those using appropriate color schemes, we drew a mini-self portrait, which was cut out and attached into the picture.  I taught them how to draw stars, and after some practice, they used silver sharpies to draw stars around their painting, as a picture frame.  Our focus artist was Romare Bearden, and his work "Roots".  While we did not delve into the deeper issues within his work, we did discuss Freedom, and symbols which stand for it.  I think it was a great attempt by my students to paint in a more realistic way. 

Torn Paper Animals (And a spooky picture)

 If you follow my blog, you know I am in favor of a good Torn Paper Collage. I worked with my 1st graders on an animal unit, in collaboration with their Common Core lessons on animals.  We looked at both Realistic interpretations of animals, and unreal interpretations.   For this project, we looked at Henri Mattisse and his work "The Snail".  We talked about how it does not look like a real snail, but the animal is in the arrangement of the paper.  We had also looked at Durer and Rousseau by this point, so they had a way to compare animals in artwork.  No scissors or pencils were allowed, but I do have a nice collection of animal magazines that the librarian was getting rid of.  (ZooBooks is a wonderful series, that I highly recommend.)  They were allowed to refer to their animal magazine as they arranged their paper.  I think we had good results.  I love torn paper because it forces some problem solving, and students tend to work a little bigger.

 

I could not resist showing you my 4th grade project.  We were looking at color schemes, and how the colors used in a landscape gives a feeling to a work of art.  We steered clear of Halloween, but instead worked toward creating an eerie scene- I told the kids it was kind of like watching a scary movie- it's not the monster that's so scary, but that moment right before, when you know it's a bout to jump out.  My 4th graders are a bit low in their skills, but I was pleased with this one.  I gave each student Blue, Purple, Black and White, asking them to mix colors to create a variety of tints and shades.