HOOVER CITY SCHOOLS

FIRE SAFETY POSTER CONTEST

Every year students are urged to participate in a poster contest sponsored by our local fire department. The goal of the project id to promote fire safety. We begin in class and discuss the importance of having a plan, having working batteries in smoke dectors as well as other important aspects involving fire safety. I am hopeful that this might begin conversations at home. This year one of our students won first place in the district! His art was chosen from over 250 entries. Way to go, friend!

GVES HOLIDAY 

CARD

OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL 

HOLIDAY CARD DESIGN WINNERS

PATTERNED OWLS

We talk about and use patterns a lot during the first grade year. Here is a fun example of pattern combined with painting skills. We used metallic markers to add some pizazz.

KOI FISH

Part of our art curriculum involves a focus on other continents and countries within. It's always interesting to "visit" other cultures and investigate various styles of art. Our fifth grade students looked at Asian art and specifically looked at Koi fish.I like the idea of the koi because of the symbolism involved. Koi fish represent perseverance in adversity, strength of purpose, and courage.

We did a directed drawing on day one and then began color. We used chalk pastel and water to create gradations of color. Water lilies, which symbolize rebirth and optimism, and cherry blossoms were added.  The cherry trees in Washington D.C. were a gift from Japan to celebrate the friendship between the two countries.

Eloise Renouf: Fun Autumn Trees 

Fourth grade students were asked to think outside the box and create an autumn collage in the style of Eloise Renouf, a British artist. They are exhibited in such a way that it feels like a cool, autumn day in our hallway.  

PETER DIEM 

COWS

Peter Diem is a Dutch artist known for his amazing cows.

First grade students had fun drawing Diem inspired cows.  We used marker, oil pastel, watercolor, and Do-A-Dots to complete our work. 

I believe you can see a little bit of each child's personality within each piece. These will be framed and for sale at our upcoming Art Show fundraiser this month.

SEA TURTLES

I'm loving these mixed-media sea turtles. It blows my students' minds when I say we're going to do a little math, science, and geography today. We discussed fun sea turtle facts and that they are an endangered species, which made this a work of art for a cause. 

We began with a template, because you know, or maybe you don't, that kids draw so small.  This is our art for an upcoming school-wide fundraiser, so we needed them to look especially nice. Next we drew arms, legs, the head. Next came the shell.  Hexagons, cue ominus music here, duh da dum. As usual, even though it sounded impossible, they didn't disappoint and powered through.

Patterns were added with chisel pointed Sharpies and the background with Do-A-Dot markers.  Wow, I love those things!  Ta-dah! Beautiful sea turtles.

CENTRAL OFFICE

ART EXHIBIT

PAUL KLEE: 

CAT & BIRD

Here are some facts about Paul Klee, the famous painter.

·                 His style doesn’t fall into just one artistic movement. He borrows from  Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism.

·         Paul Klee was involved in World War 1, but he never served on the front line. He continued to paint abstract art during the war and was gaining popularity.

·         Klee taught art at the Bauhaus school in Germany but he was forced to leave by the Nazi party after his house was searched by the Gestapo.

·         He produced the work Ad Parnassum  in 1932, one of his most well-known paintings.

·         In 1933 he completed more than 500 pieces of work, and in 1939, he completed 1200. He finished more than 9000 pieces of art in his lifetime.

·         In the latter years of his life, Klee suffered from scleroderma, a wasting disease. He died on 29th June 1940. He is buried at Schlosshaldenfriedhof in Switzerland.

  Students studied Cat & Bird for our upcoming Art Sale.

STATE SUPERINTENDENT'S ART SHOW

ROUND LOOM WEAVING

I wanted to do a weaving with my fourth grade students, but I wanted it to be more exciting to look at.  Well, I stumbled upon a lesson by Cassie Stephens and presto: round loom weaving. 

Step one was to watch this short clip about the history of weaving, (oh how I love You Tube!)  After watching, we prepared what would become our looms.  We used Do a Dot paint markers to create concentric circles on Chinet paper plates.  Details were added using gel crayons....sniff, sniff/yummmm.

  

The next class was spent stringing the loom.  Each student was given a bowl with marks they then used to makes notches for the string.  Easy peasy, right? You need to make sure they actually mark where they should or they'll end up with seventy-five marks vs. nineteen. Each student then used thin cotton string, (I selfishly chose cotton because synthetic yarn gives me the chills! Weird, I know.) We all worked together to string our looms, using an X pattern.  Any leftover thread became the beginning of the weaving.

The next class we continued where we stopped, tying on new threads as needed.  I asked each student to stop before reaching the edge of the plate because I wanted some of the design from the plate to show.  

Enjoy!

CHARLEY HARPER

CARDINALS

Charley Harper is an illustrator known for his love of animals. His images are simple, clean and modern.

He is especially known for his cardinals. 

We viewed several examples of his work before we set out on our own.

HEAR US ROAR!

This was a fun lesson in which to reinforce some basic skills and elements.  We started the lesson by putting geometric shapes together. Kindergartners can always use some practice with cutting and gluing. (A dot, dot, dot, does a lot, lot, lot!) Details were drawn with sharpie. Lines and color were added with gel crayons, which by the way, are very fun to work with.  The kids love using these and are amazed by the wonderful smells! 

ROAR!

HEART to HEART