This January, we reviewed Chinese New Year and the significance of this holiday.  Students designed their own paper lanterns that were hung in the hallway just in time to celebrate.  On the last day of Chinese New Year, there is a lantern festival, where wishes for the upcoming year are sent up to the sky with the lanterns.  

Second grade students read the popular book, "Snowmen at Night" by Carolyn Buehner and used the illustrations by Mark Buehner as inspiration for their own snowmen at night, specifically working on creating the illusion of depth using value for shadows.  Supplies for this project included oil pastels and crayons.  Students really enjoyed this fun project just in time for winter!

Second grade students were introduced to warm and cool colors.  Red, yellow, and orange are considered warm colors because they are warm like the sun.  Blue, green, and purple are cool like the ocean.  Students then learned how to draw a leaf, and next decided to use either warm or cool colors to decorate the inside of their leaf.  Finally, students used the opposite of warm or cool for the outside of their leaf.  

Second grade students were taught how to draw and paint pumpkins realistically just in time for halloween.  After cutting out their pumpkins, students then had a choice on how to create the background of their artwork, using oil pastels, collage, paint, or drawing.  

Students were introduced to a living artist, Wayne Thiebaud.  Thiebaud likes to create paintings of food, specifically cakes, pies, ice cream, and other delicious desserts.  After discussing and describing the paintings in depth, students created their own giant desserts using paper, paint, crayons, and oil pastels.  Students had a choice on the type of dessert they would like to create, as well as what materials they would like to use.  The results were fabulous!! Be sure to check out these these delicious works of art on display in the hallways the next time you are visiting school!

Here is a link to a short informative video on Wayne Thiebaud, or click here for a slide show of his paintings.

Second grade students started the year out in art by reading the book, "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds.  This inspirational book reminds readers that sometimes we just need to start by making a mark and seeing where it takes us.  Students created their own dot using paint, markers, crayons and watercolors.  It was a quick introductory lesson that allowed the second grade students to quickly get engaged in an art making lesson while reminding them of the expectations in the art room.  

For the last few weeks in art, first grade students have been given the choice to create whatever they desired in art at set stations.  These stations included:

Drawing: Students were encouraged to draw things you see, you remember, from your imagination, from a how to draw book, or anything you can find to put in front of you using pencil, colored pencil, crayons and makers.

Collage: Students could use found cut paper or create their own cut paper, arrange and glue it to another piece of paper. 

Paint: Students were using watercolor paints to create any type of painting to their liking. 

This type of choice in the art room is about PROCESS over PRODUCT.  By giving the students ownership of what they are creating allows them to further their problem solving skills, creative abilities, and personal growth and satisfaction.  Take some time to ask your student WHAT they created, but more importantly, ask them about their PROCESS, DECISION MAKING, and WHY they created what they did.  

Here are some visuals of what it looks like in the art room during first grade art.

First grade students have just completed a unit of study on the artist Vincent Van Gogh.  Specifically, they studied two of his more well known paintings, Starry Night, and The Sunflowers.  We discussed the types of lines and shapes Van Gogh used to create these paintings.  Students then used that information to create their own version of either The Starry Night or The Sunflowers using oil pastels and watercolor paints. Below are some examples of their work!

When Students were finished making their artwork on paper, they were introduced to the Color Mix app on the iPad and created Cezanne inspired artwork by mixing their own colors and creating circles with shadows.  Below you will find the links to each class.