Ghost Eye Tree, Tint and Shade

I really like to teach at least one color lesson per grade level. For third grade I always create a lesson on value. This lesson I found on http://kids-finelines.blogspot.com/2010/10/ghost-eye-tree.html. It it great for this time of year. It is based on the story "Ghost Eye Tree" by Bill Martin. I actually read the entire book to my third graders, but had to replace certain words like stupid and dumb with silly and crazy.

The first day I read the story and then we experimented with color. I gave each table a palette of blue and white. Students painted a circle white for the moon first.

Then I added blue to the white students mixed to create a light tint. This tint went around the moon.

Next more blue was added to make a darker tint. This went around the moon again.

The original "True" blue was added around and around the moon after the tints.

For the first shade I added a little black to the blue in the palette. Students mixed. This was painted next.

Finally I added more black to make the blue the darkest shade. This was used on the rest of the paper.

On the second day we created the tree with black construction paper. I actually have no photos for this step. You can follow the above blog for more directions on how to teach the tree.

These turned out really great. Quick,easy, fun two day lesson. Next nine weeks I have a different set of third graders and will need to teach value to them. I'm planning a different lesson for them, since this one to me is more seasonal.

Ancient Greek Pottery

With this lesson we discussed how these pots were an important part of the life of ancient Greeks. Not only were they used functionally, but they were beautifully decorated with patterns and stories of mythology, Olympic games, etc.

We looked at examples of the Krater, Amphora, and Klix. Students were to chose one and draw half the shape on a brown paper bag folded in half. When they cut out the shape it would be symmetrical. The handles were a difficult concept with the hole inside. I really had to demonstrate that carefully.

Patterns of shapes and lines were drawn across pot and in the handle. Some students also drew figures moving to tell a story. We also saw and discussed black and red style pottery and how both were achieved.

We used black markers for our decorations and patterns. These were mounted on construction paper.

Roy G Biv, Roller Coasters and Shapes

These are a few art lessons we have done this nine weeks in Kindergarten. All have been successful.

Lesson: Roy G Biv
Objectives:

• Student's will learn about the spectrum colors (rainbow) and their order.
• student's will each create their own ROY G BIV.
• Student's will understand and Follow a step by step presentation of the activity using the document camera.
• They will use art tools safely and appropriately. Scissors and glue (just a dot not a lot)
• Learn how to carry their art work to drying rack.

Supplies

• 12x18 white paper
• tan paper with circle traced on it
• Strips of spectrum colors
• glue
• scissors
• ROY G BIV name tags
• CD by Greg percy "ROY G BIV"
• Markers

This is a one day lesson. My class time is 40 minutes. I am booking it to get finished. I thought about taking the song out, but it is so cute. A great way to teach a concept!

1. Introduce colors in the rainbow and ROY G BIV. Explain the he lives in a rainbow and sometimes we see him in our and other works of art.
2. Sing song by Greg Percy "ROY G BIV"
3. Demonstrate how cut circle from tan paper and where to glue it on white paper. Also demonstrate where to glue his ears.
4. Discuss the order of the spectrum colors and demonstrate how to glue to rainbow colors as his hair.
5. name tag goes at bottom or somewhere
6. Demonstrate how to draw his face with a great big smile!

Closure: review names of spectrum colors.

The Roy G Biv lesson above I borrowed from a kindergarten teachers blog. I did this lesson after the roller coaster and shape lesson. Super cute.

This roller coaster lesson is an all time must for kindergarten. I've been doing this for years. This is usually my third lesson with kindergarten, after an introduction to line. It is a great lesson to teach how to open, use and close a glue bottle. The total lesson can be found in last years post.

"Castle and Sun' This lesson came after the roller coaster lesson. I wanted to continue with using the glue bottle and introduce cutting in art. I showed the students Paul Klee's "Castle and Sun" and we discussed the shapes he used in his castle.

I had rectangles, squares, triangles pre cut for them to sort through and build their own castle. Building from the bottom up was a hard concept for most. They orignally wanted to slap shapes on their paper just anywhere. I had to really encourage them to build.

The last thing they did was cut a circle drawn for them on an orange sheet of paper. I walked around the room and really just watched who could cut.

I really need to post more of these. I was really inpressed with alot.

I am going to do this lesson next nine weeks again with my other set of Kindergarteners and may chose a different color background and incorporate some different kinds of paper. ie scrap book, painted paper, etc.

One Point Perspective Interiors

A couple of weeks ago I posted a video from U tube on one point perspective. This is the lesson that went along with the video. It was one of the hardest things I've taught but I think the students really enjoyed its complexity. Most of the results were great like the ones posted. Excellent lesson on space and how to draw a three dimensional space on a two dimensional sheet of paper. I showed the classed "School of Athens" for an example of one point perspective.

After we watched the video I used my document camera and step by step we did the directions from the video. Using a direction point (vanishing point) the rooms were set up. This took two days. The first day, after the video, we drew the back wall, two side walls, floor and ceiling. We also added two doors, windows, and frames, etc on the wall.

The next week we added details to the floor and lights on the ceiling. Then it was traced in sharpie. The creativity came next. Students needed to decide what kind of room they wanted to create using details inside the frames, outside the windows, textures on ceiling, walls, what was on the back wall. I did show the classes how to write a word or their name on the wall in perspective. All this was also drawn in sharpie.

The third day on a separate paper they drew a self portrait from elbows up with sharpie and colored it in with crayon, colored pencils. A large size was needed because we were to be the biggest part in our room because we were in the foreground.

The last day the rooms were colored in with crayons and colored pencils and self portraits were glued in the foreground.

Furniture was not added except if it were on the back wall.

This project took about any where from 4-6 class times to finish. Some students still need to finish, but will have to make it up later. We have already moved on to our NC lighthouse collages.

I got this idea from another art teacher on her blog, but can not remember what site.

Crazy Quilt

This second grade project is inspired from Gustav Klimts "The Baby" painting. We actually discussed the life and work of Klimt, and paintings such as The Kiss, Tree and Life, and self portrait of "Adele Bloch-bauer ". We talked about how he used shapes and patterns in his paintings and how he went through a gold phase.

Student's quilts are colorful and show contrast through the use of pattern shapes.

This lesson was done with sharpie, markers, and crayons. Gold paint was added to back ground to compliment the great and fabulous Klimt.

This project was also taken from the "Dynamic Book of Art Projects"mentioned in my last blog. However I changed the materials a little to be more appropriate for second grade.

Ocean Treasures

The art lesson is fabulous! My fifth graders did such an amazing job at the contour line drawing of the shells and the chalk blending.

This lesson did take several weeks to complete, but totally worth it.

The complete lesson can be found in the below book Dynamic Art Projects for Students.

Drawing Bulletin Board

It has been almost a month since my last post. I want so much to do better! We are busy in the art room this nine weeks wrapping up some great art works. I will post soon. Here is a great bulletin board photo from September.