8th Grade 3-Dimensional Value Letters

The 8th grade class recently completed their unit on value and drawing 3-dimensional letters! For this unit the students first practiced drawing scraps of paper with Shadows and Cast Shadows, which were also vocabulary words, then continued on to learn how to draw 3-dimensional letters that they folded from paper strips.

As the students progressed through the unit I witnessed lots of perseverance on the students' part. I was aware that this unit of study would be challenging to students but they met the challenge with continuous attempts to master value and an open mind.

Below are some of their completed drawings.

Note: Students' expectations were to complete a drawing of 3-5 paper letters and/or symbols with shadows and cast shadows.

8th Grade Rooms of Fear and Comfort

8th grade students were introduced to the art of Hollis Sigler as well as the idea of perspective and space; after students analyzed the art of Hollis Sigler they learned to create one-point perspective rooms that open up into a second, separate room. One of the rooms was meant to show their deepest, darkest fears while the other room was meant to be filled with comforting things that the student enjoys.

This unit ran for quite a few instructional hours longer than I had planned due to student interest in adding furniture and objects in one-point perspective; the time spent mastering one-point perspective was well worth it. I enjoyed watching the students grasp the concept of perspective in art as much as the students seemed to enjoy exploring the possibilities with perspective. 

 

8th Grade Genius Emojis

As an introductory unit, 8th grade students at Burr Elementary analyzed emojis in order to craft their own personal "'Genius' Emojis."

The big idea of this unit was expressing genius in the form of an Emoji.

8th grade students are very accustomed to communicating through text message and often send each other emojis, also known as emoticons, to let whoever they are communicating with know how they are feeling, what they are doing, etc. 8th grade students were challenged to create an emoji of their own which would communicate what they are good at, their personal "genius."

Students analyzed emojis for their communicative abilities in order to craft their own. After creating two sketches students chose one to make into an emoji using an "emoji-esque" shading technique.

At the end of the unit students wrote a reflective artist statement explaining their art.