Week 5 in Review

K-3 DAILY "BELL WORK" FOR WEEK FIVE

Paul Gauguin  
Tahitian Landscape (1891)

Paul Gauguin 
Fleurs dans un vase 

Painted in 1886-1887 and 1893-1895

Paul Gauguin

The Beautiful Angèle (1889)

K-3 DAILY "BELL WORK" FOR WEEK SIX

Pablo Picasso

Le Gourmet (1901)

Pablo Picasso

Guitar (1913)

Pablo Picasso

Guitar (1912-1913)

All students complete "bell work" at the start of each class before any other instructions are given.  As soon as students are seated, they are to immediately put pencil to paper and begin drawing the image projected before them;  no questions, no comments; no distractions.  

****(Kinder will begin doing bell work near the end of second quarter)

All attention is focused on looking carefully and recording what students SEE.

This is SILENT work time.  Students are working independently, although I often interject with some guidance and state simple parameters.  Students are graded primarily on their efforts and participation, not entirely on the outcome of their drawing.

After drawing, we have a brief class discussion to learn more about the artwork.  We make some guesses at to what the work may be about; what the story may be behind the work.  We THINK about how the artist used line, color, shapes, etc. to communicate meaning and emotion.  We discuss how we may not all respond to the art work in the same way.  

The final step in our Bell Work exercise is to ask ourselves more questions about the art work.  We WONDER what the artist intended to communicate.  This is where Ms. Northway may need to do some research to share what she learned about the artist and her/his life experiences.  

 I typically show students three artworks by the same artist.  In this way, they become familiar with the style of a particular artist, and often can recall the artist's name. All of the children's drawings will be glued into small weekly/bi-weekly books to bring home.

PLEASE KEEP YOUR CHILD'S WEEKLY BOOKS IN A SAFE PLACE (and ordered in a BIG 3 RING BINDER) SO YOU CAN SEE GROWTH THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.  

K-3  PROJECTS:  WEEK 5

After bell work, students use sketchbooks for more extensive, ongoing projects.

KINDER

Elements of Art - Line, Shape, Color

• Discussion/Review of Shapes from our project last week.  
• Matisse story
• Organic/ Geometric Shape Review
• Finished cutting out stars
• Students traced around four different organic shaped templates in their sketchbooks.  
• Once the shapes were traced with a pencil, students used markers to make a more bold line....this time, not using a template.  They were instructed to work very slowly and trace their own pencil line with the marker.
• In learning how to cut out these complex forms, they were shown how to trim off all extra paper surrounding the form; continuing to use only straight cuts to come closer and closer to the shape.  
• Finally....students were allowed to cut out the "curvy lines" with "careful cutting".  
• I instructed students to make their scissors holding hand "heavy like a rock" on the table and allow only the hand holding onto the paper to move.  

They all did a great job with taking this cutting project slowly and methodically to achieve a cleanly cut out form.  

 The kinder students from all four classes will combine their cut out shapes to create a collaborative wall collage painting after Matisse's "La Gerbe." (below)

I am looking forward to having them paint these and put up for a room display next week. 

FIRST

Elements of Art - Line, Shape, Color 

• Students are now finished with their Roman Mosaic Tiles. 

• These will be on display throughout the year as a border for our classroom bulletin boards. 
• We celebrated by taking some time to visit with neighbors and work on coloring sheets while some other friends finished up their tiles.

• In my Friday class, we drew hexagons to create a honeycomb pattern.  Afterwords, we cut out a pre-printed equilateral triangle and then continued to fold it into a hexagon.  This was then glued into the students' "bell work books" to bring home. 

GRADE 2

Elements of Art - Line, Shape, Form, Value, Color, Texture, Space

Each second grade class was assigned a butterfly to draw using black acrylic paint for the outline areas and oil pastels for the colors.  

The initial pencil drawing of the shape is made symmetrical by a simple monotype technique of painting over the lines from one side of paper, with black acrylic paint and then folding and pressing the paint onto the opposite side.

In the coming week, we will complete the black paint outline and begin filling with oil pastels.

We chose the following butterflies: 

-  Pipevine Swallowtail

-  Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

-  Painted Lady

-  Monarch 

GRADE 3

Elements of Art - Line, Shape, Form, Value, Color, Texture, Space

Students continued to work on Blind Contour Drawings of their hand, face and neighbor's facial features.


I am really taking this drawing exercise slowly this year to ensure that students really grasp this concept of blind contour drawing.  It requires a lot of trust in their teacher and self-discipline.  Students are learning the meaning of making a "drawing study" and how practice is necessary to "warm up" as if playing an instrument. 


{ I have witnessed quite a few "light bulbs" start to flicker and turn on.....very satisfying :) }


A seriousness and focus is beginning to develop with each small successful line study, as well as a sense of accomplishment..........as I continue to talk on and on of the beauty in imperfection and the sensitivity and thoughtfulness of a delicate line.  

A more lengthy "partner portrait" continuous line drawing will be made this coming week, and it is my hope that students will be up for the challenge and have matured in their understanding of their own artistic and personal development.