Dec. 2013 Paul Klee Inspired Castles: 5th Grade

Paul Klee

Coolest 5th Graders, Ever...

Everything takes time. When dealing with 30 kids a period, many students will finish a lesson quick, some a little slower and some will take the rest of the year if you let them. This lesson was a geometric shape lesson that dealt with tone and shade using watercolors. The students studied Paul Klee's painting Castle and the Sun, then got to work with a black marker and pattern blocks. The first lesson they were able to complete the structure and patterns, (most I should say) then the next period I gave a demonstration of how to produce tone and shades of each color. The painting took around 2 periods to complete for most, then the 4th they outlined areas that became muddy. They were asked to use light crayon patterns over certain shapes to add details. I originally thought this lesson would be quick, but it took up most of my Dec with the 5th grade! We will be making unity dolls this week for Kwanzza to celebrate the second principle of this holiday...photos to come soon! Thanks for checking these out!

December: Color Theory PK-2nd

For the month of December, I focused on two main concepts throughout the grades. The first was color theory which is  primary color mixing for PK-K. They go slow and steady throughout this month, focusing on only one secondary color per day (purple,green,orange). The books that I read all have to do with color mixing such as Little Blue and Little Yellow, Mouse Paint, The Color Tree and Is it red?Is it yellow?Is it Blue? The idea is just to expose them to the concepts and make sure they adhere to painting rules of clean brush and not mixing everything! They learn to separate the piles of primary between mixable and leave it alone! This will give them more colors to choose from during paint time. We focused on putting shapes together to make a city scape, much like a puzzle now. They were given a demonstration, then examples are left on the table during work time. The first day not too great, but by the third and final period they were really starting to get it!
The 1st and 2nd Grade worked with the color wheel and mixing all 3 primary colors at the same time. They were asked to create the pizza with templates and rulers, then fill in the correct colors on the color wheel. I have 5th graders now that still remember doing this 4 years ago. The color wheel is referenced often for lessons on complementary colors, warm and cool colors and mixing primary colors. It is useful for them to learn this early! They also began cityscapes, focused more on overlapping the buildings to produce depth. They had to use all 6 colors on the plate while of course washing the brush.Enjoy!

Nov. Pk-K Collage Techniques: Funny Faces and artist Eric Carle!

For the month of Nov., the youngest students in PK-K were taught basic collage techniques. They used scissors and glue to arrange the shapes into realistic pictures. The first project was about the features of the face. The students were taught to overlap and layer the pieces so create the face, then add a pattern using lines around their artwork. This lesson had many priciples of design, elements of art and important techniques that will serve them well for their artistic careers!
The next lesson was using Eric Carle's book The Very Hungry Cattepillar. They used precut shapes to arrange the cattepillar on the tree limb, being sure to create a pattern again for reinforcement of previous lessons. The students saw a video on several Eric Carle stories, then I read the book to them. They sure enjoyed it! Mr. Mac

Nov. 2013, 5th Grade: Grant Wood Inspired Landscape Collage

This Grant Wood inspired Landscape unit took a bit longer than expected, in fact it took around 7-8 45 min periods! The results were excellent though, and the students truly understood the concepts of foreground, middleground and background. They understood how a horizon line separates the sky from the earth, and how to create depth and space in a landscape artwork.
We started by drawing a landscape with an example of Woods painting at each table. They learned that the objects in the foreground are largest, middleground smaller and the background they become the smallest to produce depth. Next, they used paint scrapers to create painted paper that they would use for the landforms in the collage.
The demonstration of how to overlap from the horizon line down was effective, and the students used their creative instincts to create the layered landforms to the bottom (foreground) of the page. Next, the details such as trees, houses and bushes were applied. The final class, the students were asked to write about thier experience and recall how they used the elements of landscape to create the beautiful work. Hope you all enjoy the fruits of thier hard work! Mr. Mac