4th Grade Jellyfish

I just love these jellies!!!

I taught and posted this lesson 3 years ago and originally found the project from the blog "Create Art with ME".  the only main difference this time around was that I made the paper 16x20 instead of 12x18".

Generally speaking, one of my main goals as an art teacher isn't to have my students create artwork that is "pretty".  For me, the process is just as, if not more, important than the product. But I'd also be lying if I said it wasn't important that teachers have artwork the want to display in their rooms, that parents want to hang in their homes (besides on the fridge), and that students are proud to show off.  Essentially, this boils down to having the conventional "pretty" or better yet, "beautiful" art. This project is one of those...sort of.

 It's fairly light on content and doesn't require a lot of higher order thinking, but does teach certain art vital art concepts such as value, tints, shades, opacity and transparency, and also although simple in nature, gives the kids the chance to work with two of the most fun materials in art: paint and chalk pastels.

It's the type of project where everyone ends up happy, and quite frankly, it's good to have a few projects like these in your repertoire, especially now that we're coming up of Spring Open house nights!

Here's how the project went down (each period is 40 minutes)
Day 1-Drawing the background by separating the white paper into about 7 shapes using either wavy , curving,  or straight lines and/or concentric circles. The paper can be held horizontal or vertical. After a demonstartion, the kids start painting tints of blue.
Day 2- Demonstrate mixing shades of blue and have the students complete the painting portion of the lesson.
Day 3- Practice day-Demonstrate how to draw jellyfish and color, keeping them semi-transparent, and then have the kids practice drawing and coloring with the chalks.
Day 4-5 Work on the good copy, drawing sand/rock for the bottom of the ocean  adding details like coral, seaweed, other types of underwater creatures, and at least 4 jellyfish.

The project could also tie in with something science based as it makes for a great jumping off point to learn about underwater sea life and jellyfish.  It sparked a few questions from my students I had to google to find the answer to!

4th Grade Henry Moore Unit-Part 2: Mixed Media Abstract Figures

I was a little apprehensive when beginning this lesson because of just how much higher order thinking it required. Not that my students aren't stellar, because they are, but I thought it might be too difficult a project for them to handle. But boy am I glad I gave it a try because the results were fantastic. After completing the Clay Henry Moore project, I showed the students a few examples of Moore's figure sketches and then the students took turns posing and sketching one another. They really got a big kick out of posing and drawing one another! After doing a few preliminary sketches and after I showed them how to break the body down into basic ovals or rectangular shapes, they then took their sketches and chose the one they liked the best to abstract. I demonstrated how to take the sketch and break it down into even more basic shapes and then add other features to make it look less like a figure and more interesting as shapes that create positive and negative space. Before drawing their finished abstract figure, I had them create a backing of collaged tissue paper and then watercolor.  Lastly, the students painted their final drawing larger using black temperature over the watercolor and collage background.

4th Grade Henry Moore Unit -Part 1: Clay Abstract Sculptures

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I stated the school year by having all of ky classes create abstract assemblage sculptures using a random assortment of things from my supply closet.  You can check out the details on the post I wrote about it by searching "First Week Activities" in my searchbar. Soory, but for some reason, I can't figure out how to make a hyperlink using this blogger app! 

Anyway, the first day activity acted as a lead-in for all the 3D projects I was doinf with all my classes. Ot was an especially effective introduction for my fourth graders because it really helped the kids understand the coxnept of abstraction, which is the cornerstone of Moore's work.  

For this project we viewed a PowerPoint on Moore's life and work, discissed abstraction and positive and negative space, and then, without a demonstration, I set em' loose.  The sculpting took 2 4 40 minute art sessions. On the second session I did use a demonstration where we looked at 3examples of Moore's sculpture and defined the characteristics we noticed, one of the key ones being the smooth texture, Whoch I showed them how to achieve on their clay by using a bit of water.  After The projects were fired, we glazed  them.

The glazes I used were Sax True Flow Cystal Magic in Sassy Orange, Pagoda Green, Royal Fantasy, and Black Onyx. The color quality is really nice, but be prepared to spend some time mixing them because the textured color granules settle and solidify at the bottom. I got quote the arm workout between all the shaking, squeezing and stirring I had to do to disperse the texture throughout the glaze. 

Year End Round-Up-Better late than never!

Here are a whole slew of lessons I didn't have time to post about during the school year.  This post has been sitting on my "to-do" list for a long time!!

 5th Grade Birch Trees

 For this lesson we tried our hands at homemade watercolors. The kids loved the idea of using materials they made from scratch to use in a painting, Unfortunately, the watercolors didn't come out half as vivid as the crayola standard sets so, I gave the kids the option of using them, and some did, but mostly the ended up using the palettes anyways.  At least they had fun making them! For the painting itself, we used masking tape to mask off the "tree's", painted the background first, and then after removing the tape, added thin Sharpie lines and watercolor strokes to give the trees its trademark texture.

5th Grade  Symbol Spoons

My fifth graders seriously blew my mind when making these spoons. The only requirement I gave them was to include at least 3 different symbols that represented themselves or their interests.  What they came up with was AMAZING! We used tempera paint with modge podge instead of glaze so I could give them as many options for color as possible. 

4th Grade Clay Looms and Weavings

 In retrospect I wish I had taken more photo's of these, because they really were beautiful but I was so darn frustrated with this project, by the time I got the case up, I wanted nothing more to do with it! 
If you ever have the kids make their own clay looms, be prepared to use A LOT of clay, and spend LOTS of time with the hot glue gun repairing cracks, chips, and breaks.  Oh and possible a drill and drill bit for all those pesky holes that shrunk too small in the firing process even though though you told the kids 1000 times to make the holes BIG.  OK, rant over!

3rd Grade Stacked Teacups

This was the last project of the school year.  I needed something fun, quick and gave the students enough freedom to stay engaged without giving them so much freedom that their summer jitters would create pandemonium during art!