Week of April 30th and May 7th

 

Here are pictures of the projects from the last 2 weeks.

Kindergarten and Mrs. Gersten’s class: The students continued working on their lion piece by painting the lion mane.  The students learned the difference between blending and mixing colors. The students made long, straight strokes with a paintbrush.

On the week of May 7th, we started a new art project inspired by the artist, Claude Monet.  We learned about his career and his water lily paintings.  The students used oil pastels to draw a bridge, water lilies, and plants.  Then they used a technique called “wet on wet” where they painted water over their paper first and then applied the watercolors.  The students used blue and green paint.

First Grade: The first grade classes started a new art project inspired by Jim Dine.  We discussed his Pop Art and his use of texture.  On the first week, the students added heart shapes on a piece of cardboard using white glue and yarn.  On the second day, the students added colored tissue squares on top of the heart with liquid starch.  The art pieces are amazing.

2nd grade: The students worked on a new art project involving recyclable art.  We looked at several professional art pieces made with recyclable materials.  The students had a fun time guessing what the materials were.  The recyclable materials we used for our art projects were cardboard and magazines. The students cut magazine strips and glued them onto cardstock.  Then they designed a “window” with construction paper by cutting out a shape in the middle of the paper. Then they attached with window with cardboard squares.  The cardboard squares made the window paper sit higher and “pop out”.

3rd grade: On the week of April 30th, the students completed their snake projects by completing a background and attaching their snakes it.

On the week of May 7th, third grade got 2 art sessions in week to accommodate their testing schedule.  For this next project, the students learned about Japanese art and focused on the symbol of the Koi.  The students designed a 3 dimensional koi with paper and painted it with watercolors.

4th grade:  The 4th graders did not have art due to standardized testing.

5th grade and Mrs. Simmons’ class:  The students started a new art project as well.  We read about the art of M.C. Escher and his use of mathematics and art.  He was best known for his optical art and tessellations.  The students designed their own tessellation art.  They started with a rectangular card.  They made cuts and taped the pieces together.  This gave them a new shape to work with.  They had to be very creative with designing their shape and turning it into an animal, a monster, etc.

6th grade:  It’s drawing time!  The students worked on an observational drawing of a mannequin.  They used “view finders” to decide on which part of the mannequin they wanted to draw.  They used their knowledge of gesture and contour drawing to complete this project.  Afterwards they used brand NEW Crayola oil pastels (which in my opinion at the BEST) to add color.  They focused on value.  For darker values, they added black to the hue, and for lighter values they added white.

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Week of April 23rd

Kindergarten:  We will return to our lion project next week.  This week the students drew an ostrich.  We learned many interesting facts about Ostriches including their diet, their powerful legs, how big they are, how fast they run, etc.  Then the students made a colorful face and neck using crayons.  They had to use a lot of pressure on their crayon to get the brightest colors.  Then they added a neck, eyes, and a beak.

Mrs. Gersten’s class:  Today the 1st graders, painted their lion’s mane using white, brown, and yellow tempera paint.  The students used long, straight, diagonal brush strokes.  We discussed the beauty of the blended colors.

First Grade: This week the students completed their cherry blossom vases.  Using a variety of painting tools (cotton balls, Q tips, pencil erasers, and a flat brush), students painted a brown branch, and white and pink flowers with tempera paint.

Second Grade: The students learned about the work of Romero Britto.  They read a biography about his life and career.  They created a cat drawing inspired by his style of art.  The students used markers for this project.

Mr. Thomas’ class: The clay birds are complete!  The students colored the birds with permanent marker and added feathers and glitter.

Third Grade: It’s decorating time!  The students were very excited to decorate their yarn-coiled snakes.  The students were given a buffet of various decorating materials such as beads, foam shapes, foil, scrapbook paper, pom poms, colored sharpies, just to name a few.  Their objective was to enhance their snake symbols with these items. They had to select colors and shapes that matched their theme.

Fourth Grade and Mrs. Simmons’ class:  The students learned about the life and career of Romero Britto.  They read a biographical text.  They planned out a design with a central image of their choice.  They followed the Britto style using thick black outlines, a background with a broken plane, and various patterns and colors.

Fifth Grade: This week was the final day for the abstract art.  We had a gallery walk at the end of art class.  The students also titled their art pieces and wrote short descriptions of their art.

Sixth Grade:  The students completed their kaleidoscope name art!

Week of April 16th

Kindergarten and Mrs. Gersten’s class: This week we started a new art lesson about symbols in art.  The students looked at several art pieces with lions.  They discussed what they saw in the art and what they thought each lion represented. Then the students drew a “ferocious” lion.  Geometric vocabulary (triangle, semi-circle, rectangle, oval, etc.) and different types of lines (curved, diagonal, straight, jagged, vertical, and horizontal) were used as the students were drawing their lions.  Next week the students will use tempera paint to add the mane.

 

1st Grade: The students were introduced to Japanese art this week.  We also talked about the importance of symbols in Japanese art.  We watched a video about the history of the Cherry Blossoms.  The students designed a Japanese inspired vase.  They selected symbols from a handout and a class chart.  The symbols included the chrysanthemum, crane, mountains, water, clouds, butterflies, dragonflies, frogs, spiders, sakura and Japanese characters. Next week the students will paint a cherry blossom branch.

2nd grade: The 2nd grade musical was a success!  Check out some of the art pieces created by our talented art club, 4th-6th grade, and 1st grade classes.

3rd Grade: The students continued the yarn coiling process for their snakes.

Mr. Thomas’ class: We completed sculpting all the parts for the tropical bird. Next week we will color and decorate.

4th Grade: This was the last week to finish coloring the optical art project.  The next step will be to cut, “fan” out, and glue the art.

5th Grade and Mrs. Simmons’ class: Abstract away!  These students are still working on this fun project.

6th Grade: This is the 2nd art session for the kaleidoscope names.  The students will need one more week to complete this artwork.

Week of April 9th

Thank you to the families who have donated art supplies!

We are still in need of baby wipes.  🙂

Kindergarten and Mrs. Gersten’s class:  This week the students completed their favorite memory project.  Check out these flying kids!

First Grade:  The Garden Patch Cats are complete!  I absolutely love the colors in this project.

Second Grade:  The 2nd graders are continuing to rehearse for their musical.  Thank you to the art club for setting up the stage and props.  And a special thank you to my 3 stage crew students.

Mr. Thomas’ class: It was sculpting day for Mr. Thomas’ class.  We began the lesson by discussing the difference between 2 dimensional art and 3 dimensional art.  The students then sorted out items into the 2D group or the 3D group.  Then the students began sculpting Model Magic Clay into a bird.  This week we made the body, eyes, and beak.  We will continue this project next week.

Third Grade: This week the students began the yarn coiling technique to their snake art.  They students used tape, yarn, and white Elmer’s glue for this process.

 Fourth Grade:  The students continued coloring their optical art piece with markers.

Fifth Grade and Mrs. Simmons’ class: This week was the 2nd art session for the abstract art project.  It is neat to see their students use a variety of media and materials to create their abstract object.

 

6th Grade:  We had to divert from our drawing unit because the wooden mannequins did not get delivered on time.  So, the students worked on a symmetry project inspired by Islamic Art.  The students learned about the math and complexity involved with radial symmetry.  The students designed a symmetrical art piece using their name.  They created a grid using a ruler and had to strategically plan out how they were going to place the letters in their name.  They also had to write their name backwards and the letters in their name backwards for a part of the kaleidoscope.

 

Week of April 2nd

Welcome to the last quarter of school!

Mrs. Gersten’s class did not meet due to the modified schedule.

Kindergarten:  The kindergarteners continued their favorite memory art based on the text, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. They added their pictures, a drawing of their favorite memory, and cotton ball clouds. They will need one more art session to complete this project.

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First Grade: The first graders continued their Garden Patch Cats.  Here are a few completed projects.  We will need one more week to complete the project.

Second Grade: The second graders were busy rehearsing for their musical.

Third Grade: We started a new art unit discussing symbols in art.  The students were divided into groups to discuss 5 different art pieces with snakes as symbols.  This week the students created a snake shape out of cardstock. The objective of the project is to create a snake symbol. The students will select colors to match the meaning of their snake symbols.  Next week the students will use yarn in a process called yarn coiling.

Fourth Grade:  For this new art unit, the students read an article about the life and art of M.C. Escher.  We discussed how he incorporated math with art to create optical illusions.  The students began their art piece by drawing parallel diagonal lines on a piece of construction paper.  They used a ruler to ensure that the lines were neat and straight.  For the next 2 weeks, the students will colors in the lines with marker.  The last step is to cut vertical lines and “fan” out each cut section to give the illusion that the lines are curved.

Fifth Grade:  Our focus for our next art project in 5th grade is abstract art.  The students read a text about the history of abstract art.

Lesson Objective: Students will create an abstract art piece of an everyday object.

Requirements:

1.Must be abstract

2.Students must incorporate water colors

Subject must be an everyday object

4.Art must be completed in 3 art sessions

5.Has to fit on a 9 X 12 paper

The students were given a variety of media and materials to use for this project.

Sixth Grade:  We are beginning a drawing unit.  We reviewed the drawing techniques taught in 5th grade, such as gesture drawing,  contour drawing, and shading. The students drew an observational sketch of marshmallows.  They focused on shape and value.

 

Mr. Thomas’ class:  The students completed their aboriginal dot paintings this week.

Mrs. Simmons’ class:  The students helped with a special collaborative project for the 2nd grade musical.  They added black straws to animal silhouettes.

 

Week of March 5th

Here are pictures from the Art Exhibit.

 

Kindergarten:  Due to the modified schedule, only Mrs. Yalamanchi’s class and Mrs. Snyder’s class had art this week.  We read the story, Crazy Hair Day by: Barney Saltzburg. As the story was read, the students made predictions about what would happen next.  For their art project, the students created a self-portrait with crazy hair.  They used various lines to express “craziness”.  They used Play Color Sticks to add color to their crazy do.

 

First Grade:  I had a great opportunity to meet with Ms. Margaret.  Ms. Margaret is a proud grandmother of 2 Wolf Canyon Students.  Ms. Margaret repurposes men’s silk ties for her projects.  She shared her beautiful quilts inspired by the art work of Helene Knott. Knott designs Story Quilts of cats which she cleverly titled, the Garden Patch Cats.  The cats are transformed into fun vegetables and fruits. The students enjoyed the quilts and “guessing” what fruit or vegetable the cats were.

Here are a few examples of art work by the artist Helene Knott:

The students started  an art piece inspired by this lovely art work.  They used chalk pastels to color a background on white construction paper.  Then they cut out squares from magazine pages to create a quilt border.  Next week, they will design a cat but turn it into a vegetable or fruit.  They are very excited to start their cat.

Second grade: The students learned about the art of George Seurat and the art technique of Pointillism. Pointillism is a technique using small dots to “color” an art piece.  Using markers, students added small dots to a butterfly.   This process involves a LOT of patience.

Third grade: The students continued their aboriginal art projects by also adding dots  using tempera paint and a pencil (as their painting tool). Prior to starting this project, we watched a video of how this Folk Art is made.  We discussed the patience and precision involved with this art process.

Fourth Grade and Mrs. Simmons’ class: It’s Design Time!  The students used their prior knowledge of California History to design a postal stamp.  They had to include landmarks, historical events, or symbols of California to their design.

Fifth Grade:  The students continued working on their Raven art pieces.  They enjoyed the process of creating the”scratch” paper. 

Sixth Grade:  The value mapping projects are complete!  They are amazing!  The students also worked collaboratively to create a mural of famous artists (this mural was designed by Jenny K.) The students colored a section of the mural.  The mural is hanging in front of the Art Exhibit.

Mr. Thomas’ class did not meet this week.

Mrs. Gersten’s class:  In class we read the story, Tar Beach by: faith Ringgold.

For this art project, I took a  photo of the students in a “flying” pose.  This photo will be glued onto their art piece.  The students started the project, by designing a border with various shapes and patterns. They drew the patterns on paper strips.  We will continue the project next week.

 

Art Exhibit!!!