The Line that Connects Us All

It has been a great start to the year! Our opening project that all of out students collaborated on is "The Line that Connects Us All." We are all unique but when we come together, at school, our lives touch and we are all connected.

Each student was asked to create an artwork that represents themselves. In order to make it collaborative, the students were asked to draw a line between 2 dots on their papers (3 inches up from the bottom). When placed directly side by side each student's art connects with all the other students' art! The line that runs through all of the artworks is "The Line that Connects us All." We are all unique but when we come together at school our lives touch and we are all connected.



Once students bring these home they can connect their artworks at home with their siblings' art and a new collaborative work is born. In this case, the line illustrates their family connection.

The book I used to kick off this project was Andrew Drew and Drew which I give a whole hearted 5 stars for creativity and artistic encouragement!

Kindergarten Color Studies

Because color and groups of color are so important in art, we start kindergarten art with the color families. Older kids revisit these families often!

Rainbow Colors: We started this year with "Rainbow Turtles." This project helped us learn rainbow order which gives us the context for all of the following color families! (The warm colors are the first part of the rainbow the cool colors are the last one.  Once students know their primary colors they can figure out how to make the secondary colors because the secondaries are sandwiched in between the primaries!)

Warm Colors: The "Warm Sun" projects helps kids to visualize which colors are the warm colors. We also talk about that if we were able to "magically" go into the painting the temperature (created by the colors) looks like it would feel warm in the picture.

Cool Colors: The "Cool Landscape" project gives us the opportunity to link cool colors with the cool temperature of mountains, grass and water.

Neutral Colors: "Neutral Night Owls" focuses on the colors that are missing from the rainbow: Brown, grey, white and black!

Primary Colors: The "Primary Popsicles" project is the project were we start talking about what colors

Secondary Colors: "Mouse Paint" is a great story for color mixing! I use this story to focus on the the secondary colors!

Primary Popsicles

Kindergarteners learned about the most important colors of all... the primary colors!

Ask your kiddo if they know how the rhyme goes... (we will be practicing this throughout the year!)

"The primary colors ARE: red, yellow, blue!"

Some important facts about red, yellow and blue are:
- They can be mixed together to make other colors
- They must be bought from the store! There is no way to mix to make them!

I can't think of a more delicious way to remember the primary colors...

Learning Goals: I can...

- Name the primary colors

- "Hop" my paint brush to create dots

- Cut carefully

- Use a glue bottle

Rainbow Turtles

The kindergarteners created these rainbow turtles...

We watched this awesome They Might Be Giants clip about how to remember the rainbow color order as Roy G. Biv!

We also noticed that the color wheel in the back of the art room is also in rainbow order! We practiced our marker technique as we colored our turtle shells to look like a color wheel!

Learning goals: I can...

- Use a marker to create thick or thin lines (chisel tip markers)

- Color sides first and then the middle

- Use a crayon to create a texture rubbing

This project idea came from Teach and Shoot!

Art at Home

Here is a 3 minute clip with some suggestions for supporting art at home! Enjoy!

Owl Texture

Kindergarteners made these cute texture owls!  We talked about texture (the way something feels or looks like it would feel) and the neutral color family (black, white, brown and grey).

Owl Babies a great story book that I like to use to point out texture in the art!

Learning Goals: I can...

- Tear paper to create texture (fine motor, hand strengthening activity)

- Tell about the neutral color family

- Tell about texture

Irregular Shape Monsters

Kindergarteners learned about more shapes... some of the most important art shapes... irregular (organic) shapes! We talked about the difference between regular and irregular shapes.  Regular shapes are mathematical shapes with specific names such as circles and squares.  These are mostly found in manmade objects. Irregular shapes on the other hand have sides that are far less predictable.  They are often found in nature (organic). Students find that they can't agree on a name for a particular irregular shape instead they are only able to try and describe it. 

First, students chose a neon color to paint their irregular shape body. We painted the sides first with plenty of paint on our brushes so that we could get smooth outlines.  Then we used lawnmower lines to carefully fill in the middle.

After letting the little monster bodies dry we practiced cutting regular shapes for eyes (circles and ovals from squares and rectangles). Though this challenge may seem easy for an adult, it helps students develop conceptual skills (understanding where a corner is and why it needs to go away), fine motor skills (brain to finger tip communication and control) and spacial skills (how much to cut off and where to place the scissors in order to achieve the goal, where to place the shape on the paper).  Art certainly helps develop connectedness in the brain!

We also learned to curl paper around a pencil and zig-zag fold paper for antennas!  These are tricky techniques that are great for developing fine motor skills (small movements with fingers)!  We might have a few brain surgeons here in the future!

Learning Goals: I can...

- Tell the difference between regular and irregular shapes

- Cut out circles and ovals from squares and rectangles by cutting the corners off (conceptual, fine motor and spacial skills)

- Fold paper to create a spiral or zig-zag pattern (conceptual, fine motor and spacial skills)

Mouse Paint

Kindergarteners read the story "Mouse Paint" which is a fun kids book about color mixing! You can check it out here:

First we sponge painted our backgrounds mixing the 3 primary colors (red, yellow, blue) to make the secondary colors (orange, green and purple).  We learned a little rhyme to help us remember these two color families.

Next, we cut circles from squares and ovals from rectangles to create our mice.  We learned that cutting the corners off these shapes is the best way to get the biggest circles and ovals possible!

When gluing one of our goals is to use "just a dot, not a lot!" I found some old paint brushes in the cabinet that we won't be using (they are too thin or in some cases scraggly) and each child glued one on so that their mouse could paint the background! 

Learning goals: I can...

- Sponge paint by hopping the sponge

- Mix primary colors to make secondary colors

- Name the primary and secondary colors

- Glue using just a dot

- Cut corners (not sides) off squares and rectangles to create circles and ovals

Klee Shape Faces

Kindergarteners created art in the style of Paul Klee.  We read "The Cat and the Bird: A Children's Book inspired by Paul Klee" and we looked at the actual painting by Klee titled "The Cat and the Bird."  We talked about abstract art (art that doesn't look as real as a photograph) and how some abstract artists like Klee like to use lots of shapes in their artwork.  For this project we focused on learning the difference between a line and a shape.  Then we moved on to the difference between regular (geometric) and irregular (organic) shapes.

On the first day, we drew and sharpied dog or cat faces.  Since I'm a real dog lover I couldn't help but give the kids a choice.  When I have done this project in the past, I have focused on the painting "Senecio" by Klee but I must admit drawing animals is a little more fun!

The next day, we painted using warm colors since Klee focused on the warm colors in his paintings. When we paint with the warm colors, we start with the lightest warm colors and work our way to the darkest colors so that the water doesn't get to dirty for the yellow right away.  I try to pick the yellow up early on so that it doesn't get too messy! Students were challenged to avoid painting shapes that were touching (sharing sides) with the same color.  Some exceptions had to be made at the end when we ran out of colors.

Learning Goals: I can...
- Create abstract artwork in the style of Klee
- Tell the difference between a regular and irregular shape
- Balance colors throughout my artwork
- Use good craftsmanship when drawing and painting

Square One Art Fundraiser 2014

Square 1 Art order forms are on their way home now through the beginning of next week!  The grade level that has the most students participate will win an extra clay project at Forest Grove and a chance to help paint the teacher's chair at Bauer!

Here are some examples of books that were bought this year for the art room with Square One Art fundraiser money! When you purchase products from Square 1 Art, a portion of the proceeds comes back to the art room! Our current supply budget covers the cost of all the basic consumable supplies (paint and paper, etc) that we need to create thousands of pieces of art each year.  Square 1 Art funds help the art room to add non-consumable teaching tools (like books, paint rollers, storage solutions etc).  

When you order from Square 1 Art please order online if at all possible! (This makes keeping track of the paperwork easier and more accurate!)

Order Deadline at Forest Grove: November 12, 2014 (if you can get it in by Friday 7th that's even better :) )
Order Deadline at Bauer Elementary: November 11, 2014

Here is a sneak peek at what each grade level has done this year!

Kindergarten: Kids learned about the warm color family and watercolor painting techniques!

First Grade: Read the book "Hands: Growing up to Be an Artist" by author and illustrator Lois Ehlert. Each student created their own unique artwork using their hand as inspiration!

Second Grade: Created artwork inspired by Henry Rousseau. A great book about Rousseau was purchased this year with Square One Art funds! 

Third Grade: Kids learned about and created radial symmetry!

Fourth Grade: Learned about Edgar Degas and created action figures! 

Fifth Grade: Was given the opportunity to take this graphic designer job seriously and create artwork of their choice!