Week of October 22nd updates

Kindergarten and Mrs. Gersten’s class: Last week the students completed their painted city project. These art pieces were inspired by the work of Russian artist, Leonid Afromov.  The students learned about blending paint.  We also identified buildings in our community of Otay Ranch.  Students created these beautiful cityscapes using tempera paint and construction paper.

 

This week, we read an informative text about owls and the students started a “tear art” collage of an owl.

First Grade and Mr. Thomas’ class:  Check out these Spooky Cats!  We looked at several art pieces and discussed what the different cats symbolized in each piece.  The students then painted with black water color and used a straw to spread the fur. Then they added details with construction paper and a fun background using chalk pastels.

 

Second Grade: The project we are currently working on is inspired by the still life flowers of Vincent Van Gogh.  In class, we viewed several of his flower paintings.  The students drew a flower vase with flowers using oil pastels.  The next step in this process is to give the art an “antique look”.  Next week the students will crumple their art into a ball, open it up, and give it a watercolor wash with black paint.

Third Grade: Check out these completed Starry Night projects.

Last week, we started a new project.  The students learned about organic and geometric shapes in art.  The students began their project by drawing an organic design and outlining the lines with white glue and yarn.  Next week the students will cover the cardstock with aluminum foil and color the sections with colored sharpie.

Fourth Grade: It’s weaving time!  The next project was introduced with a lesson on how the Early California Indians used weaving in their everyday lives.  We discussed the different uses for baskets.  The 4th graders also learned about the artwork of local Kumeyaay basket weaver, Eva Salazar. The materials used for this project were burlap, a plastic tapestry needle, and yarn.

Fifth Graders: The students started a new project as well.  We read the art of Tony smith’s Gracehoper (Left) and Frank Stella’s St. Michaels Counterguard (right).

 

We discussed the Element of Art of Form.  For this project the students are designing a word sculpture. The students selected an adjective or noun to describe themselves.  They  drew the word on cardstock in block letters.  Then they colored to words with Playcolor sticks.  This project will continue for about 2 more weeks.

Mrs. Simmon’s Class: The monochromatic trees are complete. On the painted background and tree, the students added abstract leaves using oil pastels.

Sixth Grade:  The sixth graders worked on a piece for the ArtBox Fundraiser.  They painted with string!  First they colored a background using chalk pastels to represent the sky.  Then they dipped their string in tempera paint.  Next, they placed the paint covered string onto their colored background and folded it in half.  Last they held the paper down with cardboard and pulled the strong.  Viola!  A beautiful flower!

 

Advertisements

Art from the last 2 weeks of 1st quarter

Kindergarten:  We read the story I Spy Shapes in Art by: Lucy Micklethwait. We looked for shapes in famous art pieces. For this art project, the students made a paper pizza and used various shapes for their toppings.

 

Mrs. Gertsens’ class and the kinder students also made a fall tree inspired by the Autumn Landscape of Vincent Van Gogh. Using tempera paint, oil pastels, and aluminum foil as a painting tool, students create a beautiful fall tree.

First Grade: The next art lesson was on actual texture and implied texture. We looked at the work of Pop Artist, Jim Dine.  Jim Dine used texture in many of his Heart art pieces.  The students created hearts with white glue and yarn.  The following week, the students added colored tissues with liquid starch.

Second Grade:  The students learned about the work of Jackson Pollack.  The students created their version on drip art using white glue and salt.  The following week, the students added watercolors.  We discussed the chemical reaction that occurred when they added watercolors to the salt.

 

Third Grade and Mr. Thomas’ class:  The Japanese inspired Koi art pieces are complete!

Fourth grade and Mrs. Simmons’ class:  The students completed their metal insects.  They are phenomenal!

 

Fifth Grade:  Check out these awesome portraits!

Sixth grade: The 6th grade classes completed their personalized symbols on scratch board.  They etched out a design using a dull pencil onto styrofoam “scratch board” .  They will print this design onto a colorful background when they return from fall break.  The colorful background will be created with oil pastels.

Week of August 20th

PTA Reflections Art Contest Reminder:

If students need specific materials for their art project, please notify Mrs. Adamos by this Friday, August 31st!

Kindergarten: This week was the 2nd session for the Hungry Caterpillar art project.  The students made a leaf using oil pastels and cut with “fancy” edged scissors.  They also sponge painted a blue background.

 

Mrs. Gersten’s class:  We read the story White Rabbit’s Color BookWe discussed the process of mixing primary colors together to make secondary colors.  Using transparent math manipulatives, the students layered 2 primary colors and observed the secondary color it made. Then, students sculpted a rabbit out of Model Magic Clay.  For the next art session,  we will paint the rabbit and add a background.

First Grade: This week we turned those color wheels into a fun rainy day scene.  The 1st graders transformed their wheel into an umbrella and added a raincoat and rain boots.  Then using their pinky their added raindrops with blue tempera paint.

Mr. Thomas’ class: The students continued their Jackson Pollack inspired art piece. Using Water Colors, students added paint to their salt and glue lines.  We discussed the Science behind the process.  The Science vocabulary for this STEAM project was “absorption” and “reaction.”  They had a great time seeing their paint spread along their paper.

Second Grade: For our next art lesson, we focused on the Element of Art, Space.  We looked at the art work of Claude Monet and talked about Foreground, Middle ground, and Background.  The students painted a poppy field.  They had to make the flowers in the foreground larger and more detailed. The flowers in the middle ground had to be painted smaller. For the background the students used chalk pastels, and for the middle ground and foreground they used oil pastels to make the grass.

Third Grade: We traveled around to Japan this week.  The students learned about the significance of the Koi Symbol in Japanese culture and it’s influence on art.  In 2nd grade, the students made a Koinobori Wind Sock also inspired by the Koi.  So they were excited to do another Koi inspired art piece.  We focused primarily on movement.  We looked at several art pieces of Koi and observed the lines made by the brushstrokes, and the lines of the koi’s body to demonstrate movement.

 

Fourth Grade: AHHHHHHHH!  These scream portraits just make me scream for excitement!

Fifth Grade and Mrs. Simmons’ class: Here are some completed Tape Resist art pieces.

 

Sixth Grade: Doesn’t this just look amazing!

 

Week of August 13th

Kindergarten:  The kindergarteners started  a project this week inspired by the text, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  We looked at how Carle, used shapes and put them together to draw.  For example, the Caterpillar is made up of several ovals and circles. The students drew a caterpillar, outlined it with marker and then colored with crayon. We will continue the 2nd step of this project next week.

Mrs. Gerstens’ class: It’s pizza time.  In class we read the text, Shapes in Art.As a group we talked about different toppings on a pizza and what shape they were.  Using construction paper, the students created a pizza collage. Red oil pastel was used to color in the sauce. These look delicious!

Mr. Thomas’ class: We started a new art project inspired by the abstract art of Jackson Pollack. Pollack was best known for his unconventional painting tools and his drip painting method.  This is a fun STEAM project. Using white glue, the students created a drip design on cardstock.  Then they added salt.   next week we will add watercolors to the salt.

1st Grade: This week’s lesson was about primary and secondary colors.  The students were introduced to a color wheel.  We also looked at famous art pieces and discussed how the artists’ used color to express mood. The students painted their own color by mixing tempera paint. We will turn the color wheel into a rainy day scene next week.

2nd Grade: 2nd grade classes continued working on their Hello-Goodbye Window portraits.

3rd Grade: Cubism at it’s best!

4th grade: Check out some Scream portraits.  The students will need one more week to complete this project.

5th Grade and Mrs. Simmon’s class: Check out these completed projects.

6th Grade:  The 6th graders are still working hard on their Kaleidoscope names. (Pictures to come next week).

Week of August 6th

This week in Art, all grade levels continued working on the projects started last week. Check out these picture updates.

Kindergarten:

Mrs. Gertsten’s class:

 

First Grade:

2nd Grade and Mr. Thomas’ class:

3rd grade:

4th Grade:

5th Grade and Mrs, Simmons’ class:

 

6th Grade:

Welcome back to a new school year!

Does your child enjoy art, music and dance or have an interest in writing, producing films and taking photos? Then join us and have fun unleashing your child’s inner artist with PTA Reflections! This art contest is open to ALL grades.  This year’s theme is “Heroes Around Me.”

Pick up submission guidelines and an entry form from Mrs. Adamos in room 706.

All this week students were introduced to Art rules, classroom procedures, and having a growth mindset in art or “Thinking like an Artist.”  The students watched a video to help inspire them to learn and accept mistakes and to preserve.

Kindergarten: We read a story called It’s Okay to be Different by Todd Parr. We discussed the various shapes in the art work.  We did a shape hunt and the students were given a short introduction about how artists use shapes in art pieces to covey meaning.  The students created a self-portrait inspired by the art work of Parr.  They used a black marker for the outline and colored with Play Color Sticks.

Mrs. Gersten’ class: The art this week was inspired by the artwork of Eric Carle.  We read the story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

We discussed how shapes were used to create many of drawings in the story. The students drew circles and ovals for the body of the caterpillar. Students used black marker and crayons for this art piece.

First Grade: The first graders learned about the abstract artwork of Pablo Picasso.  We started the lesson by “reading” the art titled, The Weeping Woman. We discussed the elements that made it abstract and the meaning of the art piece. The students also learned about Picasso’s trademark of breaking up the face and body into different planes.

 The students created an abstract self-portrait using black markers, Play Color sticks, and crayons.

Second grade and Mr. Thomas’ class: Our focus for art this week was one of the “Elements of Art”, space.  We looked at various art pieces demonstrating how artists use the technique of overlapping.  The students created a self-portrait collage  inspired by the story, The Hello Good-bye Window by: Norton Juster.  They had to use the overlapping technique to create their hands and the illusion that they were inside a window. Mirrors were provided to the students to help them with their collage.

Third grade: The 3rd graders began their lesson with an text about Cubism.  We focused on the artwork of Pablo Picasso.  Students created an abstract self-portrait inspired the  Cubist art movement.  The students used construction paper and brand NEW construction paper crayons! Pictures will be posted next week.

Fourth Grade: For this lesson, the students read the art by: Edvard Munch called, The Scream.

 We focused on Munch’s use of lines to express mood and movement. The students incorporated this Element of Art into their art work by making a self-portrait inspired by this art piece.

Fifth Grade and Mrs. Simmons’ class:  For our very first art lesson in 5th grade, the students were introduced to the artwork of Elizabeth Catlett titled, The Sharecropper. This artwork demonstrated value through the use of hatching and cross-hatching.

  For their art project, the students first masked their name on a white construction paper with tape.  We called this the Positive Space.  Then for the background, or Negative Space, the students used watercolor pencils and drew various lines.  They used various techniques to demonstrate value, such as hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, scrumbling, and blending.

Sixth Grade: The first 6th grade lesson of the year was inspired by Islamic art.  The students watched a video explaining the math involved to create symmetrical patterns found in Islamic Artwork. The students will be creating a kaleidoscope view of their name.  The art must demonstrate radial symmetry.  Pictures will be posted next week.

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.