Where did October go?!
This October was quite busy causing me to be so late on our monthly post. The kids have luckily been so flexible between all the assemblies and the holiday and even my absences. This month has really started the ball rolling on skills and knowledge that we will be using this year.
Kindergarten has probably had the biggest month. The month began with the story The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. This will not be the only book of his we look at this year. We look at one of our basics shapes a dot or a circle. We create a dot series just like Vashiti did in the story. We created a large dot by coloring a coffee filter with watercolor markers (Mr.Sketch) and spray it with water and watched how the colors ran into one another (or bled together). Another pieces had lots of dot in all sizes and colors. Our last dot was made by making a dot by not drawing a dot. Students colored the space around a dot so the 'negative' space was left us with a dot. This was many of the students first time using oil pastels!! Similar to crayons but with a little more oil in them making the finishing look more solid and smooth. The projects were finished off with a 'frame of swirly gold'. Students mounted their own artwork and decorated the frames with some swirls. We ended the month by looking at color. Identifying the color words and things that are those colors. This is leading us into November where we will be working on color exploration!!
1st grade has been working in the Element of Design sketchbooks. The have looked at line, revisited shape, and colors. We made a picture with lines and framed them in. Inside that frame lines were closed up to create different shapes (most organic or free form shapes). Students colored in those shapes with different colors. To accompany our work we also read Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman.
2nd grade explored a whole different way of creating a composition. We worked on landscapes. Although we used a collage techniques students were familiar with the material gave it a twist. The material was tissue paper. This was a unique thing to use because it is a bit transparent. It could be used as a positive or a negative way. Detail was able to be added underneath the tissue paper. The focus was not the details but how to work with this material. Whether they were successful or not it was an experience.
3rd grade was by far my most flexible group. We worked on many messy projects so they bounced between things when there was a substitute in the room. They were things we were going to do but typically not in such a jumbled order. We work on one big project, ninjas. We read Nighttime Ninja by Barbara DeCosta and illustrated by Ed Young. Students discussed how the body bends and moves, and even how someone would climb a rope. Their ninja were made out of tin foil that had a Alberto Giacometti look (who were also read about and looked at work from) and were suspended from a string (aka rope) the same way a real person would hold on to a rope. The hands grasped on to the string and the feet were wrapped around the string. Students were able to choose how this ninja would hang. From here we began the long process of paper mache. These are still in process.
In Nighttime Ninja our 'ninja' was on a mission to sneak some ice cream from the kitchen before he was caught by his mother. Every class wrote a short story about what mission their ninja was on. Some of their stories gave their imagination different outlet. A few even have me still laughing, they did amazing!!
Another half of the classes looked at Dale Chihuly. The students were very interested in him since he is one of our table artists and they saw his work at Phipps Conservatory during their visit this year. The interest and conversations on him and the glass making process was more extent then I ever imagined it would be. This prompted a projected to get moved up a little. We don't have the capability to create things with glass however we are in the process of using clay with glaze to give the glass effect.
Kindergarten has probably had the biggest month. The month began with the story The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. This will not be the only book of his we look at this year. We look at one of our basics shapes a dot or a circle. We create a dot series just like Vashiti did in the story. We created a large dot by coloring a coffee filter with watercolor markers (Mr.Sketch) and spray it with water and watched how the colors ran into one another (or bled together). Another pieces had lots of dot in all sizes and colors. Our last dot was made by making a dot by not drawing a dot. Students colored the space around a dot so the 'negative' space was left us with a dot. This was many of the students first time using oil pastels!! Similar to crayons but with a little more oil in them making the finishing look more solid and smooth. The projects were finished off with a 'frame of swirly gold'. Students mounted their own artwork and decorated the frames with some swirls. We ended the month by looking at color. Identifying the color words and things that are those colors. This is leading us into November where we will be working on color exploration!!
1st grade has been working in the Element of Design sketchbooks. The have looked at line, revisited shape, and colors. We made a picture with lines and framed them in. Inside that frame lines were closed up to create different shapes (most organic or free form shapes). Students colored in those shapes with different colors. To accompany our work we also read Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman.
2nd grade explored a whole different way of creating a composition. We worked on landscapes. Although we used a collage techniques students were familiar with the material gave it a twist. The material was tissue paper. This was a unique thing to use because it is a bit transparent. It could be used as a positive or a negative way. Detail was able to be added underneath the tissue paper. The focus was not the details but how to work with this material. Whether they were successful or not it was an experience.
3rd grade was by far my most flexible group. We worked on many messy projects so they bounced between things when there was a substitute in the room. They were things we were going to do but typically not in such a jumbled order. We work on one big project, ninjas. We read Nighttime Ninja by Barbara DeCosta and illustrated by Ed Young. Students discussed how the body bends and moves, and even how someone would climb a rope. Their ninja were made out of tin foil that had a Alberto Giacometti look (who were also read about and looked at work from) and were suspended from a string (aka rope) the same way a real person would hold on to a rope. The hands grasped on to the string and the feet were wrapped around the string. Students were able to choose how this ninja would hang. From here we began the long process of paper mache. These are still in process.
In Nighttime Ninja our 'ninja' was on a mission to sneak some ice cream from the kitchen before he was caught by his mother. Every class wrote a short story about what mission their ninja was on. Some of their stories gave their imagination different outlet. A few even have me still laughing, they did amazing!!
Another half of the classes looked at Dale Chihuly. The students were very interested in him since he is one of our table artists and they saw his work at Phipps Conservatory during their visit this year. The interest and conversations on him and the glass making process was more extent then I ever imagined it would be. This prompted a projected to get moved up a little. We don't have the capability to create things with glass however we are in the process of using clay with glaze to give the glass effect.
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