Prehistoric Art and a Cave out of Gym Mats!

The Grade 1's are finishing up a unit on Change.  This was a perfect opportunity to talk about how art has changed over the years and where the concept of art began.  Two useful links include a virtual tour of Lascaux and great cave art related ideas from another blogger,

My students' faux prehistoric art was displayed in a cave created entirely out of gym mats.  The kids went nuts over it.  Click the photo below to see the video:

Costumes from nature

Can't take credit for this gem, it was from an Early Years teacher here at my school.  I can't wait to use this idea with my older kids.  A few easy steps: self portrait in an interesting pose, paint some clothes directly onto the photo, add collage materials.  Simple yet so striking!

an ipad trial in the art room

I now have 5 ipads in my classroom for a trial which is very exciting but quite challenging classroom management-wise and "I've been teaching for twelve years and it feels like I'm a first year teacher again-wise".  Figuring out how to calm the rest of the kids down (and keep them occupied and not rushing through their work) while the iPadders are doing their thing has been pretty frustrating for the first two classes I've had.

Right now the Grade 1 classes are finishing a How We Organize Ourselves unit on Safety, with the central idea: 

Health and safety systems promote awareness.

In their regular classrooms, they were divided into groups to research a safety issue in our community and when they came to the last art class, each group had a slogan and a sketch of a symbol for their Safety Poster.  When each group completed their symbol, they got to use the iPad to take a photo of it.  After cropping and enhancing colors a bit, they put the photo into a poster of their choice using the app Phoster.  Then they added the slogan.  For a trial run, it went well. 

Eric Carle style butterflies

The kindergarten artists had a great time looking at Eric Carle's books and trying to figure out how he created his illustrations.  Once the children cracked the collage code, we set to work with lots of textured sponges and other random objects and painted large sheets of paper.  I took away the chairs and squeezed a few colors of paint directly on the paper.  When the bell rang, the "team" at one table put down their supplies and moved to the next table, finishing up with the other teams had done or getting a new paper.  They had a blast.

Next class was a review of symmetry and a demonstration on folding a paper and making one cut to create a butterfly shape.  Lots of oohs and aahs.  They cut and glued the basic large shapes during that class and got fancy with the finer details for the last 45 minute class.  All in all, a successful mini-unit. 

One point perspective

Once again, my Grade 2's proved that they can rise to the occasion when high standards are set in the art room.  We did a brief introduction to perspective with a few of the relevant terms (vanishing point, horizon lines, orthagonal lines) and also some skill building with using rulers and shading.  

Once they practiced using a ruler to connect a simple shape to a vanishing point, they set off on their own to create their pieces.  Once the drawings were done, they used liquid watercolor to fill in the negative space.  I am so proud of these kids!

Matisse Hands

Ever since a book called "When Pigasso Met Matisse" came into my life I am unable to do a Picasso artist study without a subsequent Matisse unit.  The Grade 1 students are finishing up their Matisse Collages featuring organic and geometric shapes.

I love to introduce those organic/geometric using a little TPR.

Kinder Blue dogs

Kindergarten artists were entertained and inspired by George Rodrigue's various Blue Dog paintings and the book, "Why Is Blue Dog Blue?"  They created their own "blue dogs" and came up with some very creative ideas to explain why their blue dogs turned various colors.  The original source for this lesson is Arts and Activities magazine.

...he loves blueberries

...she likes link flowers

...she's a fan of Valentine's Day

...he eats way too many green apples

... and he has a thing for oranges