3rd Grade- End of the Year

Well I have decided that I had better put up the work from last year before school starts. So here is the work of Carpenter's 3rd Graders. There was a lot of reflection and modifying lessons based on students' abilities. In 3rd Grade more lessons are open ended and students have to make a lot of design choices. As they build their confidence I can see it in their work.

Pablo Picasso's Old Guitarist (1904) was the inspiration for the students Blue Guitars. During Picasso's Blue Period of paintings he used the color blue to express the state of poverty that he was in along with the state of many people in Italy at the time. My students discussed his work using Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). I thought we had a very healthy conversation about poverty and homelessness. Students got to choose if they wanted to do an acoustic guitar or electric.

The Senufu cloths that they made were based on the large cloth I was given when I started working at Carpenter Elementary. I loved explaining that the cloth tells a story and since it is made of natural fibers the paint is actually different shades of mud. Students like the idea of mud but we used oil pastels and chalk instead. 

Alex Beard's Peacock has been an inspiration for students since I started teaching Art. My students seem to enjoy the zen-ness of the design and the rhythm of the design. I generally go over the elements of design with this project.

Students created images to compliment their poems. These were on display for all those who attended the 3rd Grade Performance could read and admire after the event was over. Students work stayed up until the end of the year. Younger students were very interested in the work. Students had access to many library books as well as the computer to help them with their work.

3rd Grade students also made biome landscapes for their clay animals. I will be updating with photos soon.

2nd Grade- End of the Year

Again I am behind in the posts but they are worth postings. My students are very talented and their work is amazing.

Students learned about the Aboriginals of Australian and their legend of the Sea Serpent. Students created a snake that had native symbols on the serpent's body. These symbols are a pictograph of a map. Students were able to create a story about the travel of their serpent or person.

Second Graders have a Sound Unit they do in conjunction with Music. I have included this concept in Art. Students created a Turtle Rattle as part of a Humanities Art Lesson. The concept behind the Turtle Rattle was inspired by the book Thirteen Moons on the Back of Turtle which I used earlier in the year. Below is an example of a real turtle rattle and of the students' work. And, they do rattle!

We discussed what a still life is and I showed them work by Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne and VanGogh. Students drew the still life on their table. I allowed them to add their mom's favorite colors for their Mother's Day Gift.

The 3D flower were inspired by the work of the Abstract Artist Georgia O'Keefe.

Georges Rodrigue's Blue Dog inspired the work below.

Wayne Thiebaud's inspired cakes were a combination of collage, balance and pattern. Students' work is below.

We will start next year with Vincent VanGogh's Starry Night  and the Solar System.

1st Grade- End of the Year

Again the end of the year has passed by and we are half way through Summer Vacation. I apologize for the delay as some are due to technical problems unavoidable as well as overall uncertainty of the continuation of the Blog in this form.

My First Grade Students were very eager to learn about art as well as experimenting and discovering new talents in the Art room.

Charlie Harper is a great American Artist who used simple shapes and designs to create interesting animals. Below you will find work by students using his principles.

Chameleon's Colors by Chisato Tashiro and A Color of My Own by Leo Lioni were great inspiration for the work below. Students had to create an environment or habitat that the chameleons could blend in. They applied the words camouflage and habitat to describe their work.

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The painted elephants of India and the book Horton Hatches and Egg by Dr. Seuss were inspiration for the elephant art. Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andrea and Guy Parker-Rees inspired our giraffes. These two projects were very successful and made the 1st Grade hallway look like the Africa jungle. Unfortunately I can not seem to find photos. I will update when possible.

When we discussed weather and clouds I used the book It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G Shaw to inspire the paint blotted images.

The Chinese Year of the Snake allowed us to make our Snake Charmers that twirled in the wind. One student thought it would be a great weather predictor. We used opposite colors to show texture and depth.

I wanted to teach them about landscapes and we looked at work by Georgia O'Keefe and Wolf Kahn. I read the book Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus to my students and they had to create a landscape with 2 animals and a background with foreground, middle ground and back ground. The were able to choose day or night.

We discussed what a still life is and I showed them work by Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne and VanGogh. Students drew the still life on their table. I allowed them to add their mom's favorite colors for their Mother's Day Gift.

The images below were created by my students following an Art Deco design I found in a Interior Design book. I was trying to explain some of the Elements of Design. We went over line, shape, form, color, texture, space and value.

Every year their is a duck couple that has baby ducklings in the pond located in the school courtyard. This year they had 9. I read the book Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Students did a great job.

At the end of the year students did another self portrait. They looked at work of many different artist as well as different styles.

I can not wait to see their work next year.