Lines Lines Lines

Each of the lessons we do in the art room is based on the Elements of Art and are designed to start off simple and get more complex over time. The Kindergarten and First Grade students started off the year learning about all of the different lines that artists use to make art. We read the book Lines That Wiggle written by Candace Whitman, then we made a big list of all the lines from the story and looked for them around the classroom and the school. Next we explored making lines using different materials at centers; crayons, buttons, rocks, light boxes, paint and more!

Kindergarten Architecture

Currently in art the Kindergarten classes are learning about and exploring architecture. We started the unit off by reading the book, Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building written by Christy Hale. Each week we are going to pick a different type of building in the book to look at more closely and then use blocks and other materials to try our hand a designing like an architect! After creating buildings the students do observational drawings of their work.

Another really wonderful part of this project is that it has coincided with the Kindergarteners learning about 3D shapes in their math curriculum so the students have been able to practice identifying cubes, pyramids, rectangular prisms and spheres as they are building. 

Richard Buckminster Fuller's Montreal Biosphere

Frank Llyod Wright's Falling Water 

Junior Kindergarten Art by Melting

Recently I have worked in collaboration with the Junior Kindergarten class on a very exciting crayon melting project. Making cross curricular connections is always exciting, but when you see such a young student so excited about letters, colors and a touch of science, it makes for a very exciting teaching experience as well. 

For this project the students first work on their letter identification and with teacher help, create their first initial out of tape on canvas. Next we had centers setup in the art room where the students engaged in a variety of color mixing activities including painting, stamping, and as you saw in the previously mentioned first grade lesson, using light boxes. 

There was also a center where the students worked with a teacher to practice color identification and arranging the crayons the way they wanted them to be glued on their canvas above the letter they already taped. While the students were sorting and arranging colors, we had great conversations about their favorite colors and what kinds of things they find in the world that are their favorite colors. 

Lastly, for the exciting part! Using a hair dryer and working with a teacher, the students melt the crayons, again having great conversations and making fantastic observations about everything from why the crayons melt, what we notice about the crayons as they melt, what happens when the colors start to run together. Once the crayon cools the tape is peeled away leaving a white letter surrounded by all the melted colors. 

A few of the great things I heard students say include; 

"Wow! They're so shiny!"

"I see the red and green making brown!" 

"I know that snow and ice melt too!" 

"Which one is going to get to the bottom first?" 

"Wow! That air is hot!"

"The white makes colors lighter!" 

Kandinsky

Earlier this week the Google Doodle was in celebration of Wassily Kandinsky's 148th birthday.
So it seemed like the perfect time to share two projects that we have done this year inspired by his work.

First, way back in September the third graders learned about Kandinsky's life and art, noticing his use of lines and shapes. We also read The Noisy Paintbox which taught us that Kandinsky had a rare condition, synaesthesia, which means he could experience sounds as colors and colors as sounds.

For their project the third graders listened to music and drew lines and shapes inspired by those they saw in Kandinsky's work!

Currently the kindergarten has been learning about color mixing and honing their painting skills. For their project they tried their hand at creating their own version of Kandinsky's famous circle painting.