2015-16 in review-5th grade

My Blue Art Room has had quite a hiatus! When last I blogged here I was just starting my 3rd year of teaching and beginning a new position of middle school art teacher. Now, here I am finishing my 4th year of teaching and 2nd in middle school. I'd like to get back into the habit of reflection and sharing here. Technology changes and social media changes, and I've spent much more time interacting with other art teachers on Facebook than doing the long, slow practice of writing about my work.

So, here we go.

The end of the school year is when I pass out the portfolio of work back to students and ask them what was their best piece and worst piece. It gives me an idea of which projects are worth doing again or not. My school's art curriculum is structured strongly around art history, and I try to connect with contemporary art and artists whenever possible. I've also tried to develop lessons for my middle schoolers that will have a significant level of choice and individual expression. 

5th grade

• My museum: Our 5th graders were lucky to have the chance to visit the Barnes Foundation at the beginning of the school year. To prepare them for their trip we learned about Barnes'symmetrical ensembles, the job of a curator, and the different genre of art. They arranged their own museum galleries using printouts of some of the images from the Barnes collection, and drawing a 1 pt perspective room with museum details like lighting, signs, visitors, and guards. When complete, they critiqued them by deciding which museum they would most want to visit and why.
  
• Masterpiece Mashup: Delving in further into the collections at the Barnes, my students talked about what art they liked best, and selected 2 images from postcards from the Barnes to mashup into their own unique masterpiece. Although.. it appears that this one was sparked by arms and armor and a George Segal from the PMA-my postcard collection must have been a little mixed up. hen complete, the students decided how to display their masterpieces in a Barnsian ensemble. (ps-I hate oil pastel.)
  
• Hex signs: Taking one last inspiration from the Barnes, we explored hex signs. When Barnes couldn't import art from abroad during WWII he turned to local handicrafts for his collection. Since our state standards require us to introduce PA art and artists, this hex sign project was perfect. These symbols are found all over Southeastern Pennsylvania on the barns of PA Dutch farmers. My students were eager to share their experiences seeing them on trips out into Lancaster county. We were also able to learn radial design, geometric shapes, and color symbolism.

• Self-portrait monoprints: This is one of my favorite projects in 5th grade, because printmaking is so much fun. We combined monoprinting (markers on plexiglass laid over photo printouts, traced, and printed)and texture rubbings for the backgrounds) We talk about emotional color and mood. Some students enjoy utilizing more than one of their prints to express different sides of their personality.
  
• Still-life relief prints: our printmaking adventure continued with foam relief prints. I let students choose to draw their own object or use a magazine image for inspiration. They carved their foam and printed. Those who were ambitious carved for a reduction print or cut out part of the foam for a puzzle block color effect. I liked how the process allowed for differentiation. It was simple enough for my lower students with levels of progressive difficulty for my higher students. Some chose to alter their prints by coloring them with colored pencils as well.
  
• National Parks landscape stamp design: I've done similar versions of this project before. Sometimes it's famous landmarks, or state symbols. In honor of the anniversary of the National Park system this year, I assigned each student a different National Park to research. We went to the computer lab and researched images of the landscape, the animals, and the plant life to use in a stamp design. This was an opportunity to connect with science and ecology, as well as with social studies and geography. One class did this project as a watercolor pencil painting, and another did it as a photoshop collage. The digital versions were much more successful and related with the concept of design.
• Face jugs: I found an excellent video on PBS History detectives on Edgemont, SC pottery to introduce my students to the tradition of face jugs. I also shared a video read-along of the story of Dave the Potter. Our face jug project even tied back into the Barnes collection and his African Masks. (I love it when I can tie together all sorts of connections in a project!!!) I taught my students to make a pinch-pot base and coiled body for a simple pot, then scoring, slipping, smoothing clay to attach the features. This is the first time in K-8 our students get to work with real clay, since there is no kiln in our elementary building. When complete we used our jugs for a cereal or OJ breakfast and talked about what forms are better for which purpose.
  
• Narrative Collage: For a literacy connection, my students learned about storytelling in art. We looked to Pieter Breughel for inspiration, then created a magazine collage with a setting, character, and action.Once complete, students chose to write a story to accompany their picture or to draw a before or after picture to show sequence, cause and effect, or problem/solution. My students really struggled with the collage aspect. I think next year I should try it as a cartooning unit instead,
  
• Art History Zine: I don't get to see my 5th graders during PSSA testing due to rescheduling, so while they were with my sub I assigned each student an artist throughout at history to research. They had to find an image, 3 biographical facts, and a quote. I tried to select a range of women and men of a variety of cultures fora diverse selection. Students then drew a comic book-like bio page using their research for reference. Once I got them back I photocopied each student's page, and had them choose up to 5 pages they would like to use to make a small zine. They origami-folded each pamphlet and glued them together into a book with covers. They made a title page and book review on the covers, as a final touch. I also sent home permission slips to see if my students could have their work donated to our local zine library- the Soapbox. I created one big 20 page zine using the images they drew to donate. I liked how this project involved research, cartooning, book arts, and public art ideas.
  
• My Philadelphia Story: My students were invited to participate in a public art project that will be installed at the Philadelphia International Airport. I visited the studios of Matthew Alden Price and Won Kyoung Lee to learn more about it. Then had my students draw pictures and bring objects to donate that reflected their experience of the city of Philadelphia. The Phillies, The Eagles, the Mummers, softball, skateboarding, bike life, and dance are the things my students love the best about their city.
• My favorite genre: to conclude our study of various genre of art and techniques this year,I challenged my students to select what type of picture they preferred (portrait, still life, landscape, narrative, abstract, or public) and the 2D medium they preferred (pencil, marker, paint, pastel) to create a final personal work of art. This one started as a still-life of a duck decoy, but then he added the pond and reflection around it. I was so proud of my students and their engagement in this final project. Many reported this as being their favorite project because they really felt like artists making decisions.
  

I'm pleased with how the 5th grade curriculum has developed. I understand the big picture and purpose of how the projects to together and use an essential question to drive the learning. I believe we will continue to work with these themes next year. I would like to do more observational drawing practice with next year's 5th graders to bridge the awkward middle school belief in drawing ability. They don't THINK they know how to draw. They need more opportunities to try. I've shared 10 of the 13 projects we did together in 5th grade this year. Two years ago I lamented how little work we'd accomplished in one year. In comparison, this year 5th grade art was a brilliant success!

5th grader Abstract Me

 You know those projects you think are going to be really quick and easy? And then they're not. Well, it's partly my own fault because I've been trying to build sketchbook work and extra skills into my 5th grade lessons. Only problem with that is then projects take forever. This looks pretty simple, but students did measuring and compass use practice before drawing their compositions.

 They did a written brainstorm to develop text to put into their artwork and practiced some different letter styles.

 They did a color wheel exercise and chose analogous color harmonies for their paintings.

 And of course, there was the drawing, sharpie outlining, and painting.

 Kids were very invested, despite the lengthy process, because these explored their favorite subject matter- themselves! It was also low-risk art skills-wise as using ruler and compass helped them make bold abstract compositions, and using analogous colors minimized muddy painting.

 I highly recommend this kind of art project for middle school and up. Most of my 5th grade curriculum centers on self-expression in some form or other. As pre-teens, they are trying to figure themselves out and developing their personalities. Art can be a great catalyst for helping them emerge as adolescents, and it is crucial that their fragile egos are supported.

 This kind of project also reveals a great deal about students. They discover they have things in common, and it gives insight into their interests. These can then be mined for future projects.

 I find it curious how some went more curvilinear and other more geometric. Some are bold, others are quiet.

Now if I can only get them to stop being so chatty and get some work done!

2nd grade abstractions

My second graders loved getting to use compass and rulers to draw shapes for their abstract drawing. We reviewed geometric and organic shapes and practiced drawing them. Then students were asked to use 4 geometric and 3 organic shapes to make a composition, allowing some to overlap, playing with scale, and making sure there were no empty areas leftover.

 Then they got to use oil pastels to fill in their shapes. When shapes overlapped they had to make a choice- to blend for a transparent shape or not to keep shapes opaque. They also were encouraged to make some tints by blending white on top. They love seeing what happens when colors blend together

 It's a real challenge to students' persistence trying to blend oil pastels on a 12x18 sheet of paper. I kep encouraging them to keep going back and make their color look smooth.

 We looked at Kandinsky for some inspiration (of course). We talked a bit about how in abstraction sometimes our brains make us see real things even if the artist didn't intend to draw or paint them that way. Some kids made more face-like images (and I have one absolute pumpkin: hello pre-Halloween project!) I like the one random fish in the picture below:

 The awesome part of this project is how easy it is to make an interesting composition of random shapes and colors. Kids aren't caught up in what it looks like, and they are confident about their results. I hope they can hold on to that feeling as we move forward.

 There were some interesting adaptations that came up as my special needs kids worked. One boy got very caught up in the oil pastel texture and would color thickly, then scratch away at the surface. He might have been better off using crayons. Another boy got distracted by all the shapes and kept getting stuck- so I brought over a scrap paper to cover most of his composition, outlined a single shape in the same color he'd started with and then he was able to focus on coloring shape by shape.

We held off using black pastels til the very end to prevent smudging. I asked kids to outline the shapes that they wanted to stand out to add emphasis. We compared emphasis in a picture with an exclamation point on a sentence. It was interesting to see what they chose to emphasize. For several students, before they handed it in as complete I held their picture back for them to see and check if anything was missing or needed more emphasis. I'm fascinated with how kids seem to have an intuitive sense of visual balance. They nearly always pointed out the same place I would have told them to add to. This project is a legacy from the former art teacher at the school. Why mess with a winner?

The Elements of Art according to 4th grade

Last year I had 4th grade do a hidden name project with lines, colors, and patterns. It took way too long due to using colored pencils and 12x18 paper. So I decided to revamp the project. It's still a hidden word (possibly a name) but this time with an emphasis on the elements of art.

 Students studies the elements through examples on my bulletin board and also through videos on "The Artist's Toolkit". They wrote a short word (name, favorite activity, or some onomatopoeia), then divided the space into 6 sections. Each section was supposed to illustrate or emphasize a different element of art (Line, color, shape, value,pattern, shape).

 We used marker, crayon, or colored pencil on 9x12 paper. Was the project any shorter? NO!!! ARGHH!! I think it's just 4th grade. They're either too chatty and distracted, or on the flip side they're too detailed and slow. I need balance!

For the most part, they finally got it and the resulting abstract works are visually exciting. We've moved on to OP ART, and the kids are loving it.

Fancy letters

Although I have a ton of super creative students, there are also those who doubt their creative abilities. I like using name and text-based art as a way to start the year for 2 reasons. First- I need to remember names!! Second- EVERYONE should be able to write their name, and if they can't yet, they need practice. Using letters to make art makes it easy for those who feel like they can't draw, and the beautiful results of seeing their gorgeously colorful names up on the walls makes them feel like they can be good at art too.

 My first graders were given 6x18 inch paper, and after reviewing primary colors and watching the OK!GO! primary color video, they wrote their names across the paper in red, yellow, and blue crayon and then made the letters 'FAT" Kids with long names had a big challenge! Then we painted 2 areas with yellow watercolor, overlapped one with red to get orange, and painted a third area red. Finally a red and a yellow area were overlapped with blue to make purple and green. The final product shows a whole rainbow! The kids love painting- but it stresses me out!! Getting 24 first graders set up, working, and cleaned up for painting makes my hair turn gray.

 My second graders also made name art, partially inspired by zentangles and partially inspired by Jean Dubuffet's abstract shape jumbles. Dubuffet only used stripes to enliven his shapes, but I challenged the second grade to make theirs even more patterned.

 We started by sketching the letters of our name- big at the bottom for a strong foundation for our towers- and smaller as they stacked up to the top of the page. I did a similar project with last year's class, except changed it from random placement of letters to a more vertical stack. Since they are used to a linear arrangement of letters, the vertical stack was far more successful than the random ones. After practicing many patterns on whiteboards, we started filling each letter with a different pattern. They are so vibrant!!

It's nice to get some projects finished up. 2nd graders who finished early got to make a zentangle on a square of paper- some kids made a ton of squares and decided to mount them together on a piece of construction paper. It was very exciting to see them determine their creative process that way!

5th grade positive/negative bicycles

Way back in September I saw this project over on Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists and it's been stewing in the back of my memory all year. Since my 5th graders finally finished up their portraits and were familiar with the enlarging process, I thought they could handle this bicycle composition project.

 We started looking at artists who have depicted or used bicycles in their work- like Duchamp and Ai WeiWei to think about what bicycles represent (freedom, youth, speed, independence, "green" transportation, etc.). The noted how bicycles create very interesting positive and negative space thanks to their interesting forms and construction. Students selected a copy of a bicycle photograph to work from and then cropped it down so that at least one part of the bicycle was touching 2 edges of the paper. Most of the students selected the wheel for their compositions, but the most successful compositions were those that focused on the gears and frame. After cropping they were left with images about 3x4 inches and they had to enlarge their pictures and draw them on a 12x 18 inch paper.

 Once their drawings were complete, they painted the positive bicycle shapes in black tempera, trying to make a bold, graphic effect with smooth edges to the lines and shapes.

 Finally we reviewed color harmonies, and students selected either monochrome, complements, or analogous colors to paint their negative spaces in watercolor. Analogous harmonies were the most popular- especially blue/purple/red for some reason!

We finished these up just in time for the end of the marking period! I'm debating about what to next with them. I want to display these in a way that makes connections from picture to picture, and it might be fun to have them decide how they should be arranged. Understanding the importance of exhibition is a part of the state standards, and making them decide how to display it would be an interesting collaborative process. The challenge is just to do it in a way that involves all students.

Update: So, faced with the reality of how few weeks are left I couldn't bear to lose time on an activity that might not be totally successful. I found a happy medium to my display problem by pulling a student helper out from the class to help hang the work and make choices on the arrangements. I've gotten sooo many compliments from the teachers and students on how great this project was. Here's the display:

1st grade bouquets

My first graders have just finished some beautiful still-life bouquets. We started by looking at a sunflower still-life by Vincent Van Gogh, but noted that it was a little plain looking- the colors were all similar, the vase was simple, and the background was very plain. I thought it would be more fun to add pattern to our still-life project.

 We started by making a symmetrical vase. Students chose either orange or yellow construction paper, folded it in half "hotdog style", and drew a wavy line that started and ended on the fold. After cutting it out they opened it up and discovered some very interesting shapes. It's fun to see how different all the vases turned out! I told the kids to pretend they were potters who had to glaze their vase, and they added lots of colors and patterns in crayon.

 Next we made our table and wallpaper backgrounds. We looked at the wood grain on our classroom tables and tried to copy the swirls and knots of the wood. Some students chose to make a tablecloth pattern instead. When the background was finished, we glued the vases down, trying to leave enough room for the bouquet. Guess what? Glue stick doesn't really stick to crayon! After my first class glue stick failure, the others used elmers and dot,dot, not alotted. Some interesting composition problems occurred along the way. One student, below, had drawn a table with the paper in horizontal format, but had a super tall vase. So she cut it in half and had 2 bowls instead!

 Finally, it was time to print our flowers. We used large and small wooden spools as stamps with red and yellow tempera paint. It's interesting to see how different their flowers all look depending on how they printed the flowers. Some look more like daisies, others like hydrangea. Some just made on flower per stem they drew, others made a cloud of flowers.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out. Even though this project seemed very straightforward, it still lots of little opportunities for students to make artistic choices. It also had a lot of review of art element concepts from the beginning of the year (line type, pattern, primary colors, cutting and gluing technique).

Next up we're having a review of genres. We've done a landscape, a portrait, and a still-life, and so as a review we're going to do a collaborative "1st grade museum".



4th grade shell variety

The 4th graders tried out their observational skills and learned about variety in this shell-drawing project. Students had to do 3 versions a contour line drawing, a value-shaded drawing, and a color drawing in colored pencil. The great thing about the shells is that they hold the kids' interest and curiosity longer than a bottle would have, and the irregular shapes of the shells were very forgiving to those whose drawing skills were not very developed.

 It's very interesting to see from the pictures who REALLY LOOKED at their shells and who just drew from imagination.

 I was also impressed with how many kids based their drawings off of the ellipse-sketching style they had used in their previous project. (Hey! They learned and remembered something!!)

 At the end of the project I had the kids write about which style was their favorite. The overwhelming response was COLOR because it made the drawing "pop out".

 Only a few chose value or contour. My very favorite of all is this sweetly simple spiral of a shell with some  speckles and stripes. It is so sensitively drawn:

I'm proud of my fourth graders for willingly trying to see and draw in some different ways. It was wonderful to talk with them individually, point out details, and help them SEE. It's about seeing more than about drawing. I saw lots of little light bulbs go off in their heads. I hope they're ready for their next challenge: we're entering the National Wildlife Refuge Jr. duck stamp contest!

Still Life projects

We're working through genres in art class. The second and fourth grades just completed still life projects with water-color resist. 

Second graders drew an animal toy from observation and added a shadow, a table line, and a wall pattern. They colored their animal by blending oil pastels then painted the backgrounds in watercolor.

The 4th grader made an imaginary still-life by stacking ellipses to make a "crazy vase" shape. They shaded the sides to make the vase look rounder and colored in a shadow. Afterwards, they painted their wall and table with watercolor.

My favorite ones were when the students blended colors on the paper, blue over red... green over blue... purple over orange. The layered colors made moodier paintings.

Next up we'll expand our drawing skills with some observational drawing.

And I'd better come up with some more still-life ideas for 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades.