Starry Night over Nebraska

Time for one of my FAVORITE projects in the 4th grade! Starry Night (in Nebraska)! We start this project by looking at the original VanGogh starry night. Then we compare this starry night to two similar paintings: Burning with Cosmic Rhythm by T. F. Chen, and The Dark Starry Night by James Hance. Students discuss the similarities and differences of the three paintings. We talk about how artists use famous works like Starry Night to learn how to paint in different ways and because they are recognizable by a lot of people. We even watched a video by an artist who created starry night out of dominoes!

We talked about how the "composition" of all three is the same. They all have tall objects on the left side, a moon on the right, and a smaller object and a city in the center. They all have the swirl of color in the sky as well. But each is a picture of a different location. We talked about what objects might become part of a "Nebraska" composition. Good tall objects were trees, flag poles, windmills, silos, Chimney Rock, our city water tower, etc. Then we talked about what small landmark could take the place of the center. After we drew our pictures, we painted in an impressionist style so you could see our brush strokes like the style of Vincent VanGogh!

 Top: A student's backyard with a tree and tomato towers in the garden.

Bottom: A flagpole and our school building.

 

Top: Nebraska State Capital building and Memorial stadium (home of the Huskers!).

Bottom: A windmill and barn with a silo on a farm.

 

 

Top: Chimney Rock and a covered wagon on the prarie.

Bottom: City water tower and the school building.

Symmetrical Crayon "Batik"

The fourth grade students created these eye catching designs using regular wax crayons. The first step was to find all the lines of symmetry for their square and fold the paper along each line. They then drew a simple design in one of the eight "slices" of their square created by the folds. After the design was done, they folded it along ONE of the lines of symmetry, and rubbed the back of the paper with a hard object (we used the handle of our scissors) to transfer the wax to the facing slice of paper. We then repeated the tracing-folding-rubbing sequence until the whole square was full. The students chose 4-5 colors of crayons to color their design. Once finished, we crumpled up the paper to create cracks in the wax. They then brushed thin black paint over the design and wiped it clean with a damp paper towel. The result looks and even feels like fabric!

Something's Fishy in the Art Room

Why no October entries?? Well, for the last few weeks, the elementary students have been hard at work making "fishy" art work to decorate the lobby of our auditorium. The middle school put on the play "Little Mermaid Jr." and asked us to help decorate. Each class made a different project, and all were hung on the walls, windows, and doors of the lobby and down the halls. It's amazing how much space 400 pieces of art can take up!

These beautiful fish rainbow fish were created by each kindergarten class. After reading about author Marcus Pfister's "Rainbow Fish" had to share his shiny scales to make friends, each student made a scale from a paper plate and covered it in shiny glitter. We attached all the scales together to make a huge rainbow fish for each class!

The first grade students read the book "I am the Best Artist in the Ocean" about a very confident giant squid. Each student made their own squid, complete with long tentacles, and wrote a quote about what they are best at.










Second graders used liquid watercolors and white crayons to make these amazing underwater jellyfish scenes. We were inspired by this project I discovered on pinterest.

In third grade, we have been talking about unity and variety. To make these coral reef pictures, we used opposites: big and small, near and far, high and low, in front and behind, etc. The water effect was done with plastic garbage bags and liquid watercolor.

These beautiful fish were made by 4th grade students who first used glue to design their fish, and then colored with analagous and complementary colored chalk.

Finally, the 5th grade used watercolors to complete these colorful fish.

The display was hung by parent volunteers. What a great show of teamwork to show off our schools' talented artists, musicians, and actors!

Patriotic Designs

For this lesson, which happened to coincide with classroom discussions of 9/11, the fourth grade students discussed the word "patriotism." We talked about what it meant to be proud of where you come from, and how we can show respect to our country and its symbols. The most recognizable symbol of our country is our flag. We discussed how the design of the flag has changed since its original creation, but its meaning remains the same. We also looked at paintings and drawings from Pop Artist Jasper Johns of the American Flag. It may look different the way he painted it, but we recognize parts of it, and we remember our country every time we see that symbol. The goal here was to "re-imagine" the symbols in the flag into something patriotic that still represented our stars and stripes, and red, white and blue! We used stencils and permanent markers to create the designs, and used washable markers and water to fill in the spaces. The kids had so many great ideas!

Keith Haring inspired dancers

Fourth graders spent this week finishing up a couple of projects. The first one was a project inspired by artist Keith Haring. You can find some great information about his life here: http://www.haringkids.com/lesson_plans/keith-haring-biography

Haring's figures are "universal." They could be anyone: rich or poor, young or old, boys or girls. It doesn't matter who they are or where they come from, because everyone likes to dance! We started out by making some figures on paper that could bend and move like Haring's. We made some practice poses with our own bodies to see where the joints should be. We then cut the figures out to create both positive and negative space figures. They were glued down to a different colored background. Then we outlined the figures and added "wiggle" lines with black paint!

Bad Hair Days!

I always like to start the year with a review of lines. Every grade level does a project that reintroduces all the different ways to make lines. By 4th and 5th grade, we are ready to turn those lines into something really amazing! These projects are partially inspired by the many "zentangle" lessons out there, but I don't actually teach the zentangle method. I have the students start with a line pattern and then fill it with doodles. We focused on contrast-making some areas dark, and some light. I love when I look around the room and tongues are hanging out. That's how you KNOW the kids are concentrating!

 We started this project by taking a digital picture of each student, then cutting off the hair and attaching it to a piece of cardboard. These long pieces of poster board were donated to my classroom last year, so we put them to good use! The kids used eraser and pencil to plan the shape of their hair, then used thick and thin sharpies to divide into sections and create the patterns. We used colored markers to create the background and help the line designs stand out.

4th/5th Grade Bad Hair Days

 You guys, my students are amazing. They seriously impress me and surprise me every day. We began this project in art class, and I sent them to their classroom with the expectation that they would finish their black and white patterns on their own in their classroom. Not only did they finish them, but they came back BRILLIANT! We finished the marker background today in the art room.