Venetian Architecture

Venice, Italy.  Second grade students took a little trip to Italy to discover the beauty of Venice. Venice is actually composed of 118 small islands that are not strong enough to support the architecture.  The architecture there is actually supported by wooden platforms that are kept together by millions of wooden piles entrenched in the sea bed.  Venice has  416 bridges and 177 canals that help residents and tourists navigate this unique city.

After a discussion of Venice, students began by drawing a line across their papers and drawing several rectangles of various sizes along the line.  Students added arches and other details characteristic of Italian architecture.  Students then drew the wavy reflections below the line, thus creating symmetry.  Color was added using oil pastels, vividly to the buildings above the line and somewhat more faint below the line.  To finish the lesson students added watercolor to help create the illusion of water.  I borrowed this lesson from Artsonia.

Surrealistic Birds

Surrealism can be a fun style to tackle with elementary students.  Who could be better to discuss when thinking about Surrealism than the king of Surrealism, Salvador Dali?  We started out by looking at a photo of Dali.  The kids giggled when they saw his wild eyes and mustache.  Do you remember the first time you saw a photo of him?

Next, we looked and analyzed The Persistence of Memory, and the students were very insightful I must add. We then looked at and discussed The Elephants.  In deciding what to draw, I made the decision to draw birds instead of elephants.  (We live in a college football loving state and the elephant just happens to be the mascot of one of those schools.  Those students that were fans of the rival school were thankful that we drew birds instead.)

Students carefully drew their birds using a pen Sharpie and then added patterns.  Next we painted the backgrounds using watercolor washes.  The following week students added color to their birds using markers.  I think Salvador Dali would be impressed!

Primary Popsicles!

Kindergarten students read the book, The Color Tree, by Denise Bennett Minnerly.  Primary color were painted on to paper.  On day two, we reviewed the primary colors and students used secondary colors to paint lines on their paper, which was divided into three parts.  Popsicle templates were traced, paper was cut and glued to the prepared background.  Sticks were added as a finishing touch. This lesson was borrowed from We Heart Art.

Heather Galler Landscapes

Heather Galler is an interesting Folk Artist.  Fifth grade students were challenged to create a landscape in the style of Heather Galler.  Students considered use of pattern and color choices as they completed these beautiful works of heART.

Sea Turtles

We studied sea turtles in the fourth grade, including various species, their habitats and habits. Many students were concerned that many of the baby turtles face many obstacles in their trek to the water after birth. 

Students then drew an up close view of a sea turtle, adding details such as texture and pattern.  We tied in a little bit of math by using hexagons on our shells.  Students then added color using oil pastels, blending colors as they went to create the illusion of shadows.  Students finished the picture by painting the background using watercolors and adding salt for a unique effect.  

Fourth Grade Value Study

Fourth grade students reviewed and discussed the difference between shapes and forms.  Next we traced our shapes and added value to each of them.  We decided to make the imaginary light source come from the left side so that the left of each object appeared to be lightest.  We prepared a surface on which our shapes would sit and then cut and glued our shapes to the surface.  Black was added to the right side of the shapes and underneath.  The end product turned out great!  

I found this wonderful lesson from another art teacher on line, but sadly can't remember where.