Owls

All of my K-6 students worked on owls this week using different mediums and focusing on different media and/or concepts.  Take a look at what my kiddos have been learning.....

GRADE 6:  We focused on REALISM.  I gave my students photographs of owls and they chose one to draw in pencil.  We talked about how to create the feathers using hatching and cross hatching with a black sharpie.  We used vine charcoal to create the gray values.  Drawing is just "seeing" and I encouraged them to really look at the lines and shapes in the photographs.  They were amazed at what they actually could see and record!

GRADE 5:  Here we talked about the concept of STYLIZING.  An image that is stylized looks like the object (an owl), but is designed using interesting ideas with shapes and lines.  We drew the contour of the owl and designed the interior of the owl.  Watercolor pencils were used over the black sharpie work, and a little water gave these that "painterly" look!

GRADE 4:  These owls were done on black paper with oil pastels.  Our focus with this lesson was layering the colors and VISUAL TEXTURE.  I challenged them to use lines to create the "feathery" look on the owl.  The layering off the oil pastels produces such a rich, yummy color!

GRADE 3:  We drew simple owls and used a texture plate in the background to create the cool patterns.  We used the educational watercolors which has 18 beautiful colors to choose from.  The colors in these were student's choice.

GRADE 2:  We used some of the painted papers we did on the first day of school for these backgrounds and students drew and cut out there owls, branches and leaves.  This mixed media project ended with a paint treatment using the end of a brush to create the white dots.

GRADE 1:  Letter Owls!  Again, we used some of the fun painted papers we made and used the letter U to make the owls body.  The letter B was for the eyes, the letter D for the wings, and the letter O for the whites of the eyes.  We used black marker to outline and construction paper crayons for the color on our dark backgrounds.  Cutting and gluing was a skill we practiced on these collages.  Collage is a french word which means to "paste".  Cute, cute, cute!!

GRADE K:  These owls were done as a directed drawing.  I asked my kindies to look and "see" all the shapes and lines that were used to build this drawing.  They did an amazing job of "seeing"!  We also worked on filling the entire page with color and I showed them how to do a little blending with colors.  They loved using the texture plates in the background!

Lines Everywhere!

Students in grades 3-4-5 created these beginning of the year line projects.  Grade 3:  We personalized the work by using our own hands as inspiration.

The 4th graders chose a letter and they created beautiful line designs in the background.

And my 5th graders stacked words that described them, hobbies or their name and created gorgeous backgrounds with black sharpie.

Painted Papers

As I begin my 37th year teaching ART, I realize that this love I have of students and art is really the only life I have every known!  Each year I stretch myself by trying new projects, and new ways to inspire kiddos!  I feel like I have grown tremendously in the last 37 years!  I was fortunate enough to hear an inspiring message by our Teacher of the Year, and it really put things in perspective for me. She told us to not forget about taking care of ourselves!  We need to put ourselves first so we can be there for students.  She also said what most of us already know, but usually forget.... and that is.... kids don't remember how your room is decorated or the posters you have up.  They remember YOU.  That got me thinking about my favorite teachers and why I like them SO  much.  It was because they made a personal connection with me!    Teaching over 550 students makes that a daunting challenge to say the least!  But my goal is to get to know my students through their art and art experiences!  Making art that is personal to them is my vision for all students!  With that said, on with the planning of art lessons!

The first thing we did this year grades 1-6 was to spend a day painting papers!  What fun!!  We will have a great stash for projects this year.  I even pulled some of the papers back out to layer more paint on with the next class.

Going Fishin'

We looked at the colorful work of Sandra Silberzweig before we began this lesson.  You can find her work HERE.  This is a mixed media lesson and the students enjoyed working with all the different mediums.
Here is my example with the steps to create these.

1.  Divide your 9 x 12 white paper into 6-7 sections with pencil, then paint them different colors.  I used the Alpha Biggie Tempera Blocks, but any paint would work.

2.  The second class we outlined the colored areas with black marker and created simple designs in each with the black marker.  I told students to think about what they would see under the ocean to come up with some of their patterns.

3.  They used oil pastels to accent the black patterns and add even more color and detail.

4.  The last class we drew the fish on black construction paper and outlined them with Crayola sticks (wood-less colored pencils)  You could use oil pastels for this as well.  We kept the shape of the fish and details simple as there is a lot going on in the backgrounds.  The black is used to contrast all the colors!

Here is the student's work.

Sub Lesson

So I really hate being gone from my classroom.  Partly because it's a lot more work being gone, and partly because I really want students to have a quality lesson, not just a "filler" sub lesson.  I had to be gone for one morning to a collaboration and I found this awesome lesson HERE  at Mrs. Knights Smartest Artists on symmetrical monoprinting.  We used the alpha biggie tempera blocks and folded our papers in half to create these.  I took it a step further and when I returned, we added black marker for contrast.  Students from K-5 did this lesson and they were all successful and beautiful!  Some students chose to do abstract and some chose realistic images.  All in all, a work they were proud of!

Monochromatic Paintings

Students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades created monochromatic paintings using tempera paint.  They soon realized how difficult painting details can be.  Each grade level had a different theme.  Using a black marker when the painting was done to add details and provide a cleaner edge to the painting was essential to the final look.

Grade 3:  Choice of subject matter
Grade 4:  Guitars
Grade 5:  Portraits

We learned how to mix different values of one color by using the neutrals of white, black and gray, ALWAYS adding the darker color to the lighter color when mixing.

Tints:  Add the color to white one drop at a time.
Shades:  Add black to the color one drop at a time.
Tones:  Add the color to different grays one drop at a time.

Here are some of the paintings in progress.....

Here are some of our finished fifth grade portraits.

Here are some of our finished third grade choice projects.

I was really pleased with the 4th grade guitars.  We used tempera on the guitars and watercolors for the backgrounds.

And here is one close to my heart....I was born and raised in Nebraska!  GO BIG RED!!!!