Background and Horizon Line

Students learned where a horizon line in a picture/landscape falls. (Where the sky and the ground meet are the words I used to describe horizon line) students looked at various landscapes and we discussed how objects in the background of a picture get smaller because they are far away, behind another object or in the back of the picture. 

Students drew a horizon line on their paper and painted by practicing the correct way to hold a paintbrush and take care of the brush by noticing when it started to get dry and needing a "drink" of paint. 

Cave Art

Students had to crawl through a cave (created by me with lots of brown roll paper, a table and lots of staples and tape) to enter the art room. Once students gathered on the learning carpet, I introduced Lascaux Cave and we discussed the pictures in the cave. We talked about symbols and how they were used 40,000 years ago and how we still use symbols today. We talked about weather, sports, animal, etc. symbols. Students also watched a virtual tour of the cave on the smart board.

Students used chalk pastel to make their cave on paper. They used their hand to blend colors and then drew a weather symbol and animal symbol with oil pastel. They finished by painting their hand and making a handprint symbol to represent them as an artist. 

Our district's superintendent, Dr. Kist-Kline made a visit and crawled through the cave along with talking to students and taking pictures. 

Fall Pumpkins

Artists this week are being introduced to Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama. Yayoi Kusama, (born March 22, 1929, Matsumoto, Japan) Japanese artist who was a self-described “obsessional artist.” She employed painting, sculpture, performance art, and installations in a variety of styles, including Pop art and Minimalism. 

I told students that She is 83 years old and lives in Tokyo, Japan. Kusama draws dots and lots of them!  She creates spaces/rooms and paints/draws dots on the ceiling, walls and floors. Some of the dots flash. 

Secondary Colors

Last week, students learned how the PRIMARY COLORS mix together and make the SECONDARY COLORS. Students listened to the book, "White Rabbits Color Book" and also watched a quick video on the Smart Board: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu44JRTIxSQ&feature=results_main&lr=1&ob=4&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active


Students received 3 pieces of white paper. Each paper they made one of the secondary colors. When the paper is dry, they will create a Fall Pumpkin picture.

Mondrian Inspired Art

Last week, students were introduced to famous artist, Piet Mondrian, a Dutch painter from Holland. We discussed the simplicity of his art: use of straight lines to create squares and rectangles and the PRIMARY COLORS. Students learned that the primary colors are: red, yellow and blue. They know that the primary colors make the other colors of the rainbow. Students compared Mondrian's art to Kandinsky's art too. They thought Kandinsky's art was "crazy" compared to Mondrian's. 

For this lesson, students had to:

1. Draw 4 up and down lines 

2. Draw 3 side to side lines

(By drawing these, students created lots of squares and rectangles)

3. Paint one shape red, one yellow and one blue making sure none of their colors touched. 

4. Paint one shape black. 

This coming week, students will glue black construction paper lines to the top of their pencil lines. 

Fall Leaves, Monday Rotations

Monday rotation classes are starting to learn about HOT colors (red, orange, yellow) and will color a color diffused leaf. The leaves are similar to coffee filter material, but stronger. Students will learn the different parts of a leaf: stem and veins. Students will draw the veins with a brown marker and color the rest of the leaf with the hot colors. When done, students will paint water over the top and watch all of the colors blend. Once dry, I plan to hang these up in the hallway windows leading to library. If you feel like helping, please email me! 

My family...

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a few pictures with you of my family so you can get to know me a little more. Of course, if you see me around, make sure you say hi! :-)

The first picture was taken over Labor Day weekend. My daughters are 6 months and 3 years old. My 6 month old just started crawling yesterday!!! She's been working on it for a couple of weeks and she's now mastered it...my 3 year old is a great helper and loves going to preschool. My husband is a teacher, but in Lakota. We love going to Xavier basketball games (husband went there and played on the team for a couple years), Keeneland in the fall, the zoo and anything outside. I also have a side business in the direct sales world as a Designer for KEEP Collective, which is a sister company to Stella & Dot. I won't be making any posts about that, but if you are ever interested in some amazing jewelry, contact me or go to my website: www.keepcollective.com/with/sarahvarda

Kandinsky Line Paintings

This week, students are learning more about famous artist, Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) and his use of LINE in paintings. Kandinsky said, "music is the ultimate teacher." We discussed how Kandinsky let the music he listened to tell him how to paint. If the music was slow, he would paint slowly. If the music was fast, he would paint quickly. If the music was loud, he might paint sharp or straight lines. If the music was high pitched or soft, he might paint thin, curvy lines. On the carpet, students learned about different goes of line and practiced "drawing" the lines with their pointer finger in the air. 


Students learned and drew 8 types of line:
  -Up and down (straight line)
  -Side to Side  (straight line)
  -Diagonal (straight line but can also be a different type of line since this is a directional line)
   -Dotted
   -Zig zag
   -Bumpy
   -Curvy
   -Loopy


After students drew these line on their paper, they used liquid watercolors and painted the paper. If a student didn't finish this week, they will finish on their extra art day.

                          

Art to Remember Aztec Suns

Kindergartners for the past two weeks have been creating and learning about Mexican Aztec Suns. Week 1, students looked at examples of Aztec Suns on the smart board and we discussed shapes and different ways to draw the rays of the sun. Students used black Sharpie marker to draw their Aztec Sun. I provided a circle shape tracer for students to use, then they drew a face, added the rays and finished by writing their name on the front. If students had time (most did), they painted their suns with Red, Orange and/or Yellow liquid watercolor paint.
Week 2, students finished painting their sun and started painting the background of their art with Green, Blue and/or Purple liquid watercolor paint.


Students also learned about art CENTERS. Art centers are available to students who finish early with their art. Each week, I will have options of centers that are open. Centers can include: Tangrams, Unifix Cubes, Colored Blocks, Popsicle Stick art, 3D foam Shapes, Drawing, Reading Books, and Pattern Clips.


We discussed how only 3 friends can be at a center at a time and some weeks there won't be time for an art center. It will depend how long it takes for everyone to get finished with his/her work after trying their best, following directions and taking their time.