Places to PLAY!

During our first semester this school year, Kindergarten through Second Grade excitedly explored the possibilities of paper sculpture as they constructed these whimsical structures, inspired by playgrounds, theme parks, and other fun places to play!

We began this unit by discussing the difference between 2-dimensional (2D) art and 3-dimensional (3D) art.  Due to space limitations, we did not have the opportunity to do much of anything sculptural last year, so this was a very exciting topic for my students!  We talked about all different kinds of sculptures (and the materials used to make them) and looked for examples in the classroom.

In the weeks before to this unit, students had been exploring line in different ways through drawing and painting (click here to see an example of some of the ways we have done this in the past.)  Students were introduced to some starting-point ideas for how to manipulate the flat paper strips to transform them into three-dimensional lines - zigzags, wavy lines, spirals and more!  We referenced the art of origami, and how paper has a physical memory that helps it hold it's shape when you fold or bend it. 

  To attach the lines to their card-stock base paper, students used paintbrushes and cups of glue to paint the glue onto any surface that touched another.  The students shared glue cups and brushes in pairs, which worked out perfectly.  Whenever a new line was glued, we practiced counting slowly from 1-5 Mississippi while holding the ends of each line to help it secure in place.  We worked on these for two class periods so that the students could add details or build on dry secure lines from the day before.

 I originally did this unit with Kinder and First Grade only.  The other students were so excited when they saw them drying in the art room that I decided to try it with Second Grade as well.  For their unit, I added a few specific challenges - overlapping lines, repetition of a particular element, and the use of smaller line segments.

I enjoyed listening to students explain different parts of their sculpture - "this is the long, curly water slide" or "this is the triple loop roller coaster!"  There were also segments that represented cars, people, signs, lights, and more.  I love how naturally young minds understand and utilize abstract symbolism.

A few students chose to make their sculptures symmetrical.  Those compositions stood out in particular - that challenge could be another level of concept/skill to add for an older grade level!

The best part for many students  - they got take their dried sculptures home on the third day.  They were ecstatic!  What a fun, imaginative introduction to sculpture!

Pattern and Texture Journals

Last year, 2nd-5th graders made texture and pattern journals to take home, sketch in, and bring back to school to use for inspiration for corresponding art units.  Students were instructed to draw their patterns and textures from observation, not memory or imagination.

Emphasis on "drawing from observation" and labeling each sketch with important information.

 

Journal covers

We started by doing a few practice sketches in the art studio at the end of class before the students took them home for the week.  After drawing a close up of the pattern or texture they saw around them, students were instructed to label the sketch with the object they had observed the pattern on, and the place where the object was found.  

3rd grade: patterns found at home

2nd grade: patterns found in the art studio

4th grade: patterns and textures found in images of animals in a book from home

These journals provided lots of inspiration for art units throughout the year.  (In keeping with this recent trend of catching up on posts from last school year, I will be following up on this post later on with how the students used their journals for art units.)  Students were encouraged to take them home again or keep adding to them in the classroom whenever inspiration struck.

3rd grade: observations from home

The more specific the labels, the better!

5th grade: patterns and textures from the classroom

We have not had journals in the past (since there are about 900 students at Briargrove) but it was quite successful!  Anyone who lost or wanted to purchase a new journal could trade me one brand new pencil (which we all agreed was a fair cost!)  A section like this in any art journal would be useful to an artist of any age!

Hand Monster Collages

 This is a unit 2nd-5th grade students worked on at the beginning of last school year after we moved from the old art room to the pod area "studio" spaces.  We had worked on these hand monster drawings collaboratively as a warm-up the week before our move, so this was a nice transition into a more complex individual art challenge.

 

The first step was for students to select a color family to use to create their collage.  The color families the students could chose from were a review of those they had learned in previous years; the older the grade level, the more choices there were given.  Color pallets included: primary (red, yellow, blue), secondary (purple, green, orange), warm (red, orange, yellow), cool (blue, purple, green), neutral (brown, black, grey, white), gray scale, earth tones (browns and greens), complimentary (students chose one pair, such as orange and blue), or analogous (all shades of one color, such as blue.) 

After selecting their color family, students traced their hands and cut the shapes from construction paper to create all the parts of their monster.  Heads, legs, bodies, tails, wings and more - all made from different positions of fingers and hands!   Students tried all sorts of hand gestures, bent and stretched fingers, traced wrists and fingertips and more to get the shapes they wanted.  Such fascinating problem-solving!  One student creatively decided to trace his hand not with a straight line, but with a zig-zag line which gave it a spiky texture.  What a great idea!

Once the collage was complete, students used crayons to add texture, pattern, and small body parts or other details on their monster.  We discussed ideas for elements like pattern and texture by looking at examples of different animal body coverings (scales, fur, spikes, etc.) to think about how their animal might look and feel.  Students chose a second color family for drawing their details.  For example, a student might have chosen primary colors for their collage, then drawn on top of it with neutral colors.  It was so interesting to watch students decide which color families to use for each step so that they could have the colors they wanted available.  We kept track of their choices by making a detailed list on the back of their paper.  Some students took it to another level by asking to chose a third color family to include in their background around the monster!  Very complex thinking.

The students thoroughly enjoyed this unit and often had fun coming back to this idea in their free-time.  I love the simple challenge of having to use your hands to create a shape - this concept could be applied to a drawing, collage, or sculpture of any subject!

Celebrate!

There are so many moments worth celebrating - the simple joys of a pleasant afternoon outdoors or a cherished dinner with loved ones, the annual rejoicing in another birthday, anniversary or a beloved holiday, the accomplishment of a large task completed or a hard-won victory, the joyous addition of new family members and friendships, the excitement of doing something new or going somewhere for the first time, the surprise and elation of an unexpected gift or surprise, and so much more.  Second graders remembered and imagined a multitude of events worth celebrating and told their stories with great detail and enthusiasm in this lively drawing unit. 

left: "Celebrating My Aunt's Wedding!" right: "Celebrating The Fourth of July!"

left: "Celebrating Marti Gras at School!" center: "Celebrating A Home Run!" right: "Celebrating Christmas!"

left: "Celebrating Swimming with Dolphins in the Bahamas!" right: "Celebrating Winning the Lotto!"

 Brainstorming for this unit involved practicing drawing the figure, and lots of creative writing and pre-visualizing.  Students learned about the proportions of the human body and practiced drawing people moving in lots of different dynamic poses - dancing, jumping, playing, running, and more.  We wanted to be able to draw a person IN ACTION!  This unit was ultimately about story-telling, and we all agreed that it was helpful to know how to draw the body in lots of different poses in order to better convey what was happening. 

left: "Celebrating Getting in the Guinness Book of World Records!"; right: "Celebrating Winter!"

left: "Celebrating Winning the Super Bowl!"; center: "Celebrating the Last Day of School!"; right: "Celebrating Christmas!"

left: "Celebrating My Birthday at the Skating Rink!"; right "Celebrating My First Time on an Airplane!"

The conversations regarding celebrations - what we celebrate and why we celebrate - were quite interesting.  Each class could hardly fit all their ideas on our little dry-erase board!  We covered the gamut from special but small everyday moments all the way to grand, uncommon, once-in-a-lifetime events.  My students imagined celebrations that they hoped would be part of their futures - places they wanted to go, goals they wanted to achieve, events they eagerly anticipated, and other exciting moments that they hoped might lie ahead.  There were even touching mentions about celebrations that come with a complex mixture of emotions - like celebrating the life of a lost loved one at a funeral, wake, or memorial service.  The conversations were so engaging and genuine - it was hard to stop and move on to the next step!

left: "Celebrating My Friend Mary at Gymnastics!"; right: "Celebrating My High School Graduation!"

left: "Celebrating the First Day of Summer!"; center: "Celebrating a Trip to Galveston!"; right: "Celebrating Winning the Lotto!"

left: "Celebrating Chinese New Year!"; right: "Celebrating Valentine's Day with My Dad!"

After refining their skills at drawing figures in motion and brainstorming on the subject of celebration, students were asked to chose one celebration (or moment worth celebrating) that they remembered from personal experience, were looking forward to, or enjoyed imagining.  Students wrote about and sketched the different elements of the story before beginning their final drawing.  They listed what was being celebrated, where the event was happening (the setting,) who would be there, what the people would be doing (the action,) and lots of other details including time of day, possible decorations, clothing, or other elements to emphasize the main idea.

left: "Celebrating My Sister's Ballet Recital!"; right: "Celebrating Depavali!"

left: "Celebrating Trick-or-Treating!"; center: "Celebrating a Touchdown!"; right: "Celebrating Summertime!"

left: "Celebrating My Birthday at the Paintball Park!"; right: "Celebrating My Birthday!"

Once students had completed the brainstorming process, they used a light colored crayon to sketch out the composition of the drawing on an 11x16" sheet of colored construction paper.  The goal was to include all of the important parts of the celebration story, and to clearly communicate that story to the viewer just as a talented writer would.  Yellow, pink, tan, and white crayons worked perfectly for mapping out compositions, allowing for corrections or changes that could easily be covered and hidden under a later of oil pastels.  We discussed ways to make the compositions more dynamic, create a sense of space in an indoor or outdoor space, and about utilizing the entire page as part of the story.

left: "Celebrating the First Snow!"; right: "Celebrating the Green Bay Packers!"

left: "Celebrating New Year's Eve!"; center: "Celebrating Baseball!"; right: "Celebrating Valentine's Day at Home!"

left: "Celebrating My Friend's Birthday!"; right "Celebrating Second Place in the Pine Wood Derby!"

Then students worked diligently to add vibrant color to their compositions using oil pastels; they were highly encouraged, though not required, to try to add color to the whole page.  You can especially see how vibrant and lovely these are in person - the students did an amazing job bringing their stories to life!  Towards the end of the unit, students worked with partners to help each another analyze whether or not the different elements in the picture were conveying the celebration story clearly.   They gave one another pointers about adding more detail to areas in further need of specificity, about emphasizing the most important focal points (the main idea) and confirmed the parts of the visual story that were communicated clearly.

left: "Celebrating Valentine's Day!"; right: "Celebrating a Trip to Kemah!"

left: "Celebrating My Birthday!"; center: "Celebrating the Last Day of School!"; right: "Celebrating New Year's Eve!"

left: "Celebrating My Birthday!"; right: "Celebrating Winning the Lottery!"

Once finished, we celebrated all the wonderful art and hard work by having a gallery walk and writing compliments to each student about their drawing.  We often take time in the year to reflect on giving thoughtful and useful compliments; "I like it" is nice, but it doesn't really offer much to think or feel good about.  When giving compliments, students considered the goals of the art unit as well as personal taste, and were guided on using descriptive language.  Students practiced giving compliments that identified what they appreciated or enjoyed about the artwork and why; this helped not only the artist to think deeper about their artwork, but also the viewers.  Every student had fun reading what others liked about their art. 

left: "Celebrating My First Swim in the Ocean!"; right: "Celebrating a Slumber Party with Friends!"

left: "Celebrating Recess!"; center "Celebrating Winning the Lotto!"; right: "Celebrating Christmas Eve!"

left: "Celebrating Making a Goal!"; right: "Celebrating the New Year!"

This unit definitely left us all with BIG SMILES on our faces.  We are all so blessed to have so many things to celebrate!

What makes you want to celebrate?!