Art Curriculum - 1st 9 weeks

Kindergarten - We have been talking about the Elements of Art - Line, Shape, Color, Texture, Form, Space and Value. Our first project was about different types of lines such as straight, curly, wavy, zig-zag, etc. Students had to go for a walk with line showing me as many different types of lines as they could. For example: one student drew a picture of himself with his family going for a walk in the park. He drew zig-zag lines for his sun rays, he drew wavy lines for water, and staight lines in a tree. During our second project we talked about different types of shapes - circle, square, triangle, octagon, rectangle, heart, star, etc. Students had to create a collage using as many different shapes as they could think of using construction paper and glue. During our next project we continued learning how to properly use scissors and glue making a collage out of magazine pictures. We talked about our 5 senses and what they are used for. Students had to choose one of our senses and make a collage expressing their idea. Our next Element we discussed was color. I introduced to the students primary colors and secondary colors. Each student made their own color wheel using watercolor paint. A good time was had by all especially since it was our first time using paint! During our next lesson we talked about how colors can express feelings and emotions. We looked at several prints including two that were painted during Picasso's Blue Period. We talked about every color and what feeling they got from looking at that color. Students had to show me how they were feeling that day using one color. If a student was happy then they chose yellow and drew everything they could think of that was the color yellow. We then decorated our Portfolios so students can carry their artwork home. Students had to draw a portrait of themselves on the cover of their Portfolio.

1st Grade - We reviewed the Elements of Art. Our first project was about different types of lines. Students had to draw a picture of themselves when they felt the most special and they had to use different types of lines. We also discussed how lines can show emotions and feelings. Our next two lessons were about abstract art and about two different artists from Spain. The first artist we talked about was Joan Miro and how he created abstract looking people and animals in his paintings. Students learned that abstract art doesn't look real and it is made out of a lot of lines and shapes. We looked at several prints by Miro and even watched a short clip about his life and work on the computer. Each student then made an abstract person drawing it first with a pencil and then we colored them using markers. Our next lesson was about Pablo Picasso. We also looked at several of his prints and watched a clip about his life. I then showed them some pictures in a book and we reviewed his Blue Period and then we talked about more of his abstract style paintings and even his cubism style pictures. Students understood that cubism means the art is broken down into geometric shapes. We made abstract Picasso faces out of construction paper. Students had to mix up the facial features in the same way that Picasso did. One of our final projects of the 9 weeks involved texture. We talked about what is texture and what are some words used to describe texture. Students then drew a picture of their choice and then had to put a texture plate under their paper when it was time to color with crayons. They had to add as many types of textures as they could.

2nd Grade -We reviewed some of the Elements and Principles of Art. We reviewed different types of lines. Students had to show some type of movement in their pictures using different types of lines. Our mediums for this project were crayons and watercolor paint. Students learned that crayons are made from wax, so when you paint on top of wax crayons the crayon color will still shine through. For our next project we talked about a well-known artist Wayne Thiebaud. Thiebaud paints in the style of Van Gogh and uses a similar color palette, but he likes to paint common every day objects like food. We looked at a painting of pieces of pie and cake and how he showed repetition in his work of art. We then made a food collage out of a paper plate and construction paper. Students had to show me the major food groups, include a beverage, and silverware. The projects turned out really cute! On another day we discussed texture and how you can show texture using a paintbrush and paint. Students had a choose one animal and draw it large on their paper. They had to figure out how to show the animal's skin or fur using paint. The next lesson was about color. We reviewed primary and secondary colors. The primary colors are yellow, red, and blue and the secondary colors are orange, green, and purple. Then we looked at several art prints by Marc Chagall and Salvador Dali. We found strange animals and people and wild colors! They learned that this type of art is called Surrealism and it is strange like a dream. Students had to make their own Surreal collage using either the primary colors or secondary colors. I told them that their pictures are not supposed to make sense. When they were finished with their projects, they had to write a short story describing their artwork.

3rd Grade - Third grade also reviewed the Elements and Principles of Art. For our first project we talked about details.....what is a detail, how do artist show details in their work? We made detail detectors which are a piece of paper with a square cut out of the middle. Each student then chose a print either of a painting or a photograph and they moved the detail detector around until they found an area of the poster that they liked. Then then had to draw what they saw in their detail detector or viewfinder on a large piece of paper. They understood what I meant by "blow it up" or enlarge it! We then colored our art with either markers, crayons, or colored pencils.

Ms. Bonner and myself have been collaborating on an Austrailian lesson. She is making bull-roars with the children and I am making dreamtime paintings. Each of us have been discussing the Aboriginal culture. I talked about Austrailia being an island, a country, and a continent. We talked about who are the Aborigines and how did they come to Austrailia. We also discussed their culture and specifically "dreamtime." Dreamtime paintings usually have an Austrailian animal in the center of the painting, Aboriginal symbols, and a lot of dots. We painted dots with Q-tips and paint. When the project was complete, each student had to write a short story about their painting.

4th Grade - Our first project was about the Element of Art - Line. We drew an abstract style landscape. Some students chose to draw theirs from a birdseye perspective. Our second project was about color and more specifically primary and secondary colors. Students had to choose either a primary color scheme or a secondary color scheme to use in their project. We first drew still-lifes. I had objects set up on the table for students to compose their compositions. Next, we discussed the Principle of Art - Pattern. We talked about how patterns are everywhere are artists use them in their work. Students were given a lot of freedom to come up with their own pattern using a variety of colors and shapes. The final results were very interesting. Our last project of the 9 weeks was working with clay. I taught the students how to make a fish out of clay. We discussed various hand-building techniques and talked about terms like scoring, glazing, and firing. Some classes are still working on this project.

5th Grade - For our first project we talked about contour line drawing. Student had to draw their hands in several different positions to come up with an interesting composition. Our next project focused on Color. We reviewed certain terms like primary, secondary, warm, cool, and monochromatic. I discussed complementary colors - colors across from one another on the color wheel and they look good next to one another...in other words....they compliment one another. Students had to choose one pair - either yellow and purple, red and green, or orange and blue to paint their pictures. They could also use black and white to make things appear darker or lighter. We also reviewed tint and shade. 5th grade also did a still-life composition. Our last project of the 9 weeks was a warm/cool weaving. Students had to paint 2 pictures in an abstract design..one with the cool colors and one with the warm colors. After the paintings dried, I taught the students how to weave the two pictures together. This was a great lesson for them too because I taught a lot of them how to use a ruler and to measure.