Clay owls

This was an extension to the Owl drawings we did previously. Second graders were learning how to use lines to create implied texture. When working with the clay, we rolled slabs of clay to build the body then used different objects/tools to impress into the clay to create actual (real) texture. Students then learned about the firing process and the glazing process. What a great learning experience!

Indian Shields

Students chose an animal that has a characteristic that they would like to have...such as the strength of a bear, or the eyes of a hawk. The feathers represent something about the artist. Three feathers could represent three siblings the student has or the three teeth they lost last week! Lacing is a skill that builds good eye-hand coordination along with those fine-motor skills. Great job 1st Graders!

Plains Indian Tepee

Kindergartners loved creating a Native American picture inspired by the book "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush". It was fun to learn how Native Americans told stories using pictures (pictograph) instead of words. Blending warm colors of yellow, orange, and red made a beautiful sunset sky!

"Frightening Facades"

4th grade had a spooktacular time creating the front view (facade) of a house. After viewing different architectural elements they choose the style of roof, form of house, window and door shapes, and setting for their house. We looked at sample houses and discovered that they were drawn using just basic shapes like squares, triangles, and rectangles. Looking for basic shapes in sample house allowed them to see how combining basic shapes allows you to create a more complex shape such as a house. We drew our houses on black paper and then outlined our lines with glue! Day 2 we learned some cool chalk techniques such as blending and layering to create a spooky feel to our art. The results were frightenly fantastic not to mention frameable!!!

"Dem Bones"

Third grade had a "bone-a-fied" good time learning about the skeletal system in art. We listened to the book "Dem Bones" which talked about each major bone in our body. While working, we enjoyed listening to a song you might remember...come on and sing it with us...the head bone's connected to the neck bone, the neck bone's connected with the shoulder bone.....thanks Marsha for sharing this great lesson with me!

Not so scarey SCARECROWS

1st Grade Students created a multi-media artwork of a scarecrow. On day one, we learned about warm colors and used them to create a sunset sky. We also learned about cool colors and used them to create the ground. Day two we discussed that a scarecrow's "job" was to scare away animals/birds from our crops and gardens. We brainstormed different vegetables and what we might see in a garden. Then we got out the paint shirts and got busy! On day three we got to design our scarecrow. We cut out shirts, pants, hats, and glued our scarecrow parts to popsicle sticks. Gluing "straw" (raffia) added a nice finishing touch. The students are very proud of their work!