Dancing Skeletons

El Dia de los Muertos (DAY OF THE DEAD) is a tradition that has been celebrated in Mexico for over 500 years. It is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd. This is a time to remember and honor loved ones who have passed away. It is not supposed to be sad or scary; it’s a time to celebrate life itself. In Mexico on these two days people create altars that are filled with food, photographs, candles, skulls, flowers, etc. to remember all the great memories from those who have passed away. Some Mexicans decorate and set up altars at the grave sites as well. The calavera, or skeleton is an important symbol during Dia del los Muertos. On these two special days there are many types of toys, food, masks and miniatures made to look like skulls or skeletons. Students were able to create skeleton from scrap white paper on a background they colored in using construction paper crayons.

Victorian Houses

4^th graders talked about architecture and what an architect does. Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing, and construction, usually of buildings and other physical structures. An architect is someone who designs or does all the planning of the design of the building.

Victorian style homes have many levels in them, are very geometric in shape, have lots of windows, a porch, and usually a balcony. 4^th graders then looked at several examples of spooky houses. We discussed what makes a house look spooky. The spooky aspect usually comes from the landscape around the house, and the lack of the grounds around the house.

Students drew their house on black paper, outlined it in white pencil, then cut it out and glued it to a colored background. They then added the landscape around the house.

2/3 Fall Birch Trees

 

Second and third graders learned how to identify and create  foreground, middleground, background in artworks and their own art. Students also learned how to identify positive/ negative space.  Second and third graders used different width masking tape to make trees on their paper. They paid close attention to placement of trees in foreground, middleground, and background. They created a horizon line and water, this line divides artwork into sky and ground. Students used liquid water colors to paint in landscape around the masking tape. Once paint dried students removed the tape to see a negative space (the tree). Third graders used Sharpie to add horizontal lines for birch tree markings. Lastly, students used black water color paint to create a shadow effect on the trees.

Silly Pumpkin Patch

Abstract Movement Paintings

4^th graders learned about abstract art. Artists create abstract art in many different ways, often they create artworks using only lines, shapes, and colors painted in an interesting way.

On the first day of their art project, students were given a paint tray, a large piece of white paper, and listened to many different styles of music, and I just told them to paint. They painted the entire sheet of paper in any way they chose, as long as the entire paper was covered and they used more than one color.
On the second day of their project, we discussed how artists create visual movement in their paintings. Visual movement is how the artist wants the viewer’s eye to travel through the painting. This is done by using line, shapes, colors, patterns, and use of space.
4^th graders created movement in their abstract paintings by outlining all the color changes they originally painted. In each color space, they then created a pattern to keep your eye moving throughout the painting.

5th Grade Square 1 Art- Implied Texture Landscapes

4th Grade Square 1 Art- Aztec Suns

3rd Grade Square 1 Art- Pete Cat Rockin in his School Shoes

2nd Grade Square 1 Art- Micro Sunflowers

1st grade Square 1 Art- Paul Klee Abstractions