3rd Grade

My Third Grade classes come to the Art Room for one hour a week. As often as possible I try to teach their Science and Social Studies through Art. Below are their creations from September to February.

Fall
Third Graders created fall trees and sunsets after looking at the work of Gustav Klimt an Austrian Artist who I was lucky enough to see his work in Austria. We discussed how trees cast different shadows during the day and that the also vary on the time of the year it is.

Michigan Animals

The Third Grade students learn a lot about the State of Michigan. I was inspired by the work of a native Michigan and native American artist Lois Beardslee. I saw her work in the Traverse City. Her are a few of her pieces I photographed.

Here is the work the Third Grade students made.

Egypt

Third Grader students did a unit on Egypt. Students made shadow puppets, learned the hieroglyphs, created mummy cases and created an Egyptian self portrait. Students created shadow puppets to help them understand how and why shadows exist. While students created their puppets they wanted to do a play with them. Below you will see some puppets, self portraits and mummy cases.

Family Tiles

Third Grade students studied the work of Frank Llyod Wright and saw his work in both Architecture as well as Art. We focused on his tiles which had great meaning to him. Students followed his thought process and created individual Family Tiles that meant something to them. I encouraged them to included family members, pets and other aspects of their life they thought were important. Students choose warm or cool colors. Below are some of their tiles.

Cat's Eye

I thought it would be important to include Art of Mexico to the Third Graders as they started taking Spanish this year. Students made tradition Huicholi Indian Cat's Eye weavings. The traditional art form was created by the Huicholi Indians to ward off evil spirits on children for the first five years of their lives. It is said that the center of the eye is woven by the father the first year of the child's life, the remaining four years are done by the child's mother or other females in their family. Each years has its on color. Below is the work of my Third Grade students.

Year of the Snake

The symbol for the Chinese New Year this year is the Snake. STudents in Third Grade made their own snakes, They were able to make them either poisonous or non-poisonous. They heads that are sharp or like a V are the non-poisonous (although please note that water snakes which can be poisonous have this shape and do not fit this category) while the poisonous snakes have a rounder head with cheeks that hold the poison.

African Moon and Sun Masks

Second Graders were allowed to choose to do either a Moon or Sun masks based on the work of the African Artist Salihu Ibrahim. He recreated the design from the Baule people of Côte d'Ivoire. "Such masks are used on the first day the moon appears, in celebration and gratitude." the artisan explains on the moon mask.