Last week, we said "goodbye" to Mrs. Borchert, our awesome student teacher! She will be moving on to her second student teaching placement at Hickory Creek Middle School in Frankfort. We wish her well! Also, thank you to all of the families who helped send her off with an amazing goodie basket of fiber art materials! She is well on her way to having the biggest supply of yarn of any art teacher! (BTW, this tub only held about a HALF of what was donated!) She was shocked and wanted to make sure all of the families knew how much she appreciated this gesture! :)
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Kindergarteners, 2nd graders, and 3rd graders have all just completed some pretty awesome self portraits! I am always amazed at how well these turn out. It is also such a confidence booster when students realize that they can draw themselves realistically! So here is what we did: Kindergarten: NO MORE STICK FIGURES! We learned that our bodies are made up of shapes, not lines. We began withan oval for the head, and then used a series of other shapes to draw the rest of our bodies. Students were also asked to come up with one thing that made them unique and special. I used a pencil to put their sentence in their drawing. They Sharpie-d over their drawings and sentence before they practiced neat crayon coloring. Finally, they used the book "The Dot" as inspiration for their fun painted backgrounds. LOVE THESE! Second Grade: These students took more time to think about the sizing, shapes, and placement (PROPORTION) of their facial features. Every time I tell second grade students that their eyes are in the center of their heads, they doubt me. It is fun to see the moment when they finally realize "Wait, hey! My eyes ARE in the center of my head..." :) 3rd Grade: These students learned about the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. They used mirrors to look more closely at their facial features as well as portrait drawing packets that showed a variety of different eye, nose, and mouth shapes. They then used construction paper, construction paper crayons, and ink stamps to create a Mexican-inspired decorative frame for their portrait. Kindergarteners practiced tracing, coloring, cutting, and gluing as they created their first still life in the art room. The kindergarteners picked out their own apple or gourd, found a matching tracer, and traced the shape. They were told to "look closely" at the colors and patterns on their object. Students practiced "driving their cars on the road" (cutting neatly on the line) and using "just a dot, not a lot" with their glue. I love these!
When Mrs. Borchert noticed one of her 2nd grade classes was ahead of the rest, she had a great opportunity to test out one of my sub plans as a potential future sub plan in her own classroom. I cannot remember where I found this idea, but I love it! Students use old erasers to blend oil pastels in the style of tie-dye fabric. They must choose their pattern (bulls eye, stripe, or spiral) and plan out their colors. They are then encourage to color with heavy pressure, leaving no white space. They then use the erasers to make long blending streaks that go against the grain of the pattern. This is a nice and easy lesson to leave in a sub tub for a rainy day. :)
Mrs. Borchert's last lesson with kindergarteners was an oil pastel resist. Students designed their own city scene by drawing or tracing geometric shapes. The buildings were colored with large Crayola oil pastels. In the next class, she read Peter H. Reynold's "Sky Color" (one of my favorites). In the story, the main character faces the problem of having to paint the sky in a mural without any blue paint. She solves the issue by creating a unique, dream-like sky. Students used tempera discs to paint over their scene and add their own colorful skies.
First graders used construction paper to weave some awesome designs. "AB patterns" were the focus. After students wove straight strips of paper into their paper loom, they used "fancy" scissors to strips with interesting edges. These were used to add more detail to their designs.
Kindergartners thought about reflections and mirror imagery as they created a fall scene of trees and a lake. They were introduced to "symmetry" and printing. They all look so beautiful!
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AuthorI am a K - 5th grade art teacher at Wilson Creek Elementary and Anna McDonald School in Manhattan, IL. I am also a mother of two little girls (who share my love of art)! Archives
February 2019
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