January 2016 art blog

Transitional Kindergarten

Zigzag Doll

ZIGZAG by Robert D. San Souci, a story about a doll maker who created Zigzag and placed him on the shelf for the night.  After the doll maker left, Zigzag got pushed off the shelf by the other dolls. Zigzag ultimately ended up outside in the trash bin and had to climb his way out. The book does have a happy ending, as three mice found him a nice home with a happy little girl, and his zigzagged mouth turned into a happy smile.

The beginning of the story reveals that ZIGZAG was made from scraps of fabrics. TK students created their own doll.  Students picked out  fabrics, used fabric scissors for cutting, and glued their fabrics where they wanted. Some dolls ended up with four legs, tails, and hats and hair hanging off the edges, but that’s what makes these dolls so special!

Kindergarten

Recycled Robots

The Kindergarten students studied basic geometric shapes and used the shapes to sketch a whimsical robot. Using the sketches as their guides, students cut out geometric shapes out of recycled materials to build and collage the structural parts of their robots. Recycled metal and plastic washers were added for details such as eyes, wheels and buttons. To finish off the robot piece, students created a fancy frame out of recycled materials. 

1st GRADE        
Three-Dimensional Clouds 

This art project correlated with the first grade science curriculum “weather unit”. After reading the story “Little Cloud” by Eric Carle, first grade students created a variety of different shaped clouds (i.e. sheep clouds, little clouds, big clouds, airplane clouds, cat clouds, etc.) The clouds were crafted out of large paper and stuffed with shredded newspaper to create a three-dimensional look.

2nd GRADE 
Kandinsky Abstract Art: Painting Music Fast and Slow

One of the first modern abstract artists, Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), who was also an accomplished musician, hoped people would ‘hear’ his art, rather then appreciate it solely with their eyes.

In this project, students were introduce to Kandinsky’s concept of painting not what the artist saw, but what he or she heard and felt. While listening to the rhythms of both fast and slow music, students were encouraged to mix new colors, overlap shapes and designs. They closed their eyes and let their brushes and pens move freely to capture the music they heard.

3rd GRADE                 
Cityscapes 

A Cityscape is the urban equivalent of a landscape. Students were introduced to the concept of cityscapes in the visual arts by looking at paintings, drawings, prints and photographs of different artists depicting an urban scene. 

The visual concepts of the horizon line, foreground, middle ground, and background were introduced to students. With tempera paint students painted a background, experimenting with brushes and sponges to create textures.  Using a collection of recycled materials, such as: calendars, maps, packaging materials and wrapping paper, students designed their unique city skylines. 

4th GRADE  

California Watercolor Books

This lesson connects with the 4th grade studies on California. Fourth grade students experimented with four different watercolor techniques: sea salt, plastic wrap, wash with texture, and oil pastel resist. 

Students created an accordion fold book out of watercolor paper and practiced each technique on one page of the book. Students worked with simple bookbinding techniques to create a front and back cover for their books. 

On the back side of the accordion book, students painted a California landscape representing one of the four California regions (coast, mountains, desert, central valley). Students applied the watercolor techniques to the landscapes. As a finishing touch students wrote a thoughtful quote/poem in their books. The quote informs the viewer about an idea, emotion, or connection to the landscape that cannot be seen.