Kinder Color Mixing

Today we read "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh. Then we mixed our own mouse paint. I plopped 2 primary colors on a paper per child. They mixed and stirred until a secondary color appeared. It is always so fun as kinders think magic is happening right before their eyes! We mixed yellow and red to make orange, red and blue to make purple, and yellow and blue to make green. They were painting as fast as I could dollop out paint, so I only  got a photo of all the papers drying on the floor! Come back to see how we use these colorful painted papers.

First Grade Skies

Today we painted a crayon resist and of blue skies. Our color wheels will  eventually appear here so check back!

Third Grade Inventions

After our gears projects, students were still obsessed with machines. So we drew some ideas of inventions that would help people. We viewed slides and discussed Art vs. Design. Children formed pairs or groups of 3 to share ideas and formulate a combination invention using everyone's ideas.
Next they received a planning paper. They named and drew their team invention. They listed possible parts they might need, keeping my box of recycled "stuff" in mind. We discussed ways to attach items without glue, tape or staples. These I represented on a poster for them. They included lashing, sewing, inserting, notching and connecting, wrapping, holes and brass fasteners. They had to plan which methods they wanted to use to secure items. After my approval, they selected a box, and "stuff" to start constructing a model of their invention. We have many ingenious engineers! Then students made the design into art. They are adding paint to the machines. The final step will involve a written reflection on the process, what worked and didn't work. Then an oral presentation to the class. The buzz in the room is amazing. Everyone is super engaged and excited! Here are just a few examples.
 

Second Grade Monet Water Gardens

We are continuing to read stories about Monet in second Grade. Today we used Q Tips to mimic Monet's short brush strokes while painting our ponds. The effect is lovely. We will paint lilies, and trees next. The final step will be to paint a Japanese style  arched bridge over the pond, with a surprise on the bridge. Keep checking back!




Today we added trees, bushes and lily pads, still using Q tips.

Fifth grade Degas 3-D figures

Fifth grade saw a short movie on the life and artwork of Edgar Degas. They learned how he painted pictures of people in everyday life. Students then drew figures doing a variety of actions.
Their favorite pose was then made into a 3-D figure using foil.  Next children drew a place where their figure will be. We discussed how artists show space and depth in a picture with perspective, overlapping, placement on the page, and size. These place drawings will be redrawn or scratched onto multi color scratchboard. The figure will get glued on at the completion. These will be posted soon!

Second Grade Monet Lily Pads

Second graders listened to a story about  the famous artist Claude Monet. They saw an award winning children's  animated movie about his life and his art. They drew a picture that they remembered from the book and movie. Then the super fun part: CLAY! The children received 2 chunks of clay. One they pressed into a round slab. That became the lily pad. The other chunk was shaped into a ball, made into a pinch pot, and sliced with a clay tool to make petals. They used the score and slip method to attach the flower to the leaf. Tools were used to draw lines for texture. They will dry, get fired in the kiln, and  be painted. The students love clay and are really proud of their sculptures!