Preschool Hand Turkeys

Last Tuesday, right before Thanksgiving break, Preschool students began their hand animals unit.

Just in time for the holidays the preschool students were able to create turkeys by tracing one of their hands.

Prior to the creation of the hand turkeys I led the students in a tracing demonstration and facilitated a discussion with the students in order to brainstorm what details the students would have to add to their hand tracings in order to make them truly look as though they are turkeys. Students were introduced to the vocabulary word Wattle, which is the red flesh under the turkey's neck.

Preschool Leaf Portraits

The preschool students studied leaves and Fall around October, so I decided to read Leafman by Lois Ehlert to the students in art class. After the reading the students spent the next two classes creating their own "Leaf Faces," below are some of their completed creations!

Students traced leaf stencils made out of construction paper to create two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. After the students traced the leaf stencils they were able to add details such as pupils and an oval outline around their "Leaf Faces." Students spent their second class period using marker to trace every pencil line, discuss Fall colors (red, orange, yellow, and brown), and paint their "Leaf Faces" with Fall colors.

 

2nd/3rd Grade Earthship Display

The 2nd/3rd grade split class created their own miniature Earthships that are currently on display on the first floor across from the main office!

Here are some pictures of the current display; students' work that is not on display will be put on display next week.

In short: Students discussed/reflected on Earthships, the idea of upcycling, and recycling. To create their Earthships students used recycled cardboard and assorted found objects to stay true to how actual Earthships are made.

Vocabulary:

Earthship - a unique type of solar house that is made of both natural and recycled materials (such as earth filled tires).

Recycle - to change garbage (waste) into something that can be used again.

Upcycle - to reuse garbage (waste) and make it into something better. 

5th Grade One-Point Perspective Home Street

The 5th grade students have been mastering one-point perspective, and the culmination of their practice with one-point perspective boxes and a street led to students delving into portraying their own street/neighborhood as a one-point perspective drawing!

As students worked towards mastery they also experimented with different materials such as marker, colored pencils, and crayons. After students used multiple mediums to create their artwork they reflected on why certain materials are better to use to create certain textures than others.

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.

Kindergarten and 1st Grade Family Trees

As an introduction to portraiture students learned to draw their family members, make realistic facial features, use markers to darken lines, and color using realistic colors.

As students completed their portraits they cut them out and glued them on to trees which they cut out.

Kindergarten and 1st Grade Mandalas

This school year, as an introductory unit, Kindergarten and 1st grade students analyzed Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni to learn about color mixing and warm/cool colors. After students completed color mixing practice activities they delved into shapes and creating images with shapes, which led into using symmetry with shapes to create mandalas!

Students were given various shape manipulatives and taught to fold paper to create a Mandala which would be symmetrical whether you folded the paper "hamburger style" or "hotdog style."

Once students completed their drawings using pencil they chose warm or cool colors to use on inner shapes, then they used the opposite color family on the shapes on the exterior of their mandala. (i.e. warm on the inside, cool on the outside, and vice versa.)