4th grade collaborative Solar Systems

4th graders worked on a collaborative art project to create their own solar system.   This system could be real or imaginary.  Students were introduced to shading a form and sphere and also wet on wet watercolor techniques. They used oil pastel, colored pencil, watercolor paint and tempera paint to complete their projects.

2nd grade Cardboard Challenge

We began this unit reading Barney Saltzberg's wonderful and inspiring book, Beautiful Oops!  Students love this book and are constantly amazed at how the author turns rips, spills, and tears into new creations!   Before reading the book, each student was prompted to make a "mistake" on their paper.  After reading and discussing the book, students were given someone else's "oops" and had the challenge to turn it into something new!

This was a springboard for our final project, in which students created a painting inspired by a scrap of cardboard.  Each student began with a scrap of cardboard, brainstormed ideas, and used tempera paint to complete their ideas.  Students experimented with color mixing and using various brushes.   Pretty cool how the kids used their imagination and creativity to transform what would be considered trash to most into a beautiful work of art.

4th grade Endangered Species

Each child chose an endangered animal to research and use for this art project.  Students started with sketches and completed their final piece using their choice of medium color.

3rd grade transparent landscapes

1st grade Mad Science Artists!

First graders learned the difference between a form and a shape.  They learned how to turn a shape into a form.  Geometric shapes become geometric forms. Circles become spheres, triangles become cones, pyramids or triangular prisms.  We used observation to draw various science beakers.  We talked about  transparent and translucent.  I added the color-mixing/wet-on-wet painting portion to add more science to the mix. Students drew lines for their liquid which we then filled in with secondary colors learning to mix the primary colors.  The next part of the project involved creating bubbles for our backgrounds using chalk pastel.  I found this project idea online, the kids did a great job.  This was more of a lesson on skill and technique (observational drawing, color mixing, and watercolor paints) rather than creativity