Interactive Whiteboards, cont'd

Well, I have to say, the SMART board has been amazing so far!  I'm using it daily, even if just for simple things such as showing images and being able to "draw" on the pictures to point out certain parts.  I've also used it to put up the lesson directions and used the bottom portion of the screen to demonstrate drawing parts of the lessons.. or even have students come up and share their drawing ideas.  However, I then erase all the examples before students get to work to help curb some students' urge to copy.

Here's a lesson I just started with my 3rd graders.  Part of their art curriculum for the 1st quarter is drawing 3D shapes and demonstrating an understanding of foreground, middleground and background.  I combined the two objectives together:

I am excited about the drawings that they have started.  They've come up with great ideas on how to use the 3D shapes in their space scenes.  I will post pictures when they are finished!

2nd Grade - 3D Shape Drawings

2nd grade students learned about 3D shapes in math, so I did a drawing lesson with them go along with it.  In math, they call the forms "space shapes" or 3D shapes.  We discussed how those terms also mean "forms" in art.

They drew the six forms on separate pieces of paper using charcoal pencils.  They had a lot of fun using the charcoal to create shadows. They also used construction paper crayons to add designs onto their forms.

After cutting out the 6 drawings, they made a "pretend sculpture" by stacking them together.  As you can see below, there were many interpretations to this!  

5th Grade - Triangular Design Color Wheels

5th graders reviewed the color wheel, and with this, made a 6-color color wheel.  However, instead of just mixing colors and painting them in a circle, they created a line/shape design inside of a triangle template I gave them.  This design was then traced onto tracing paper and copied onto the larger white paper 6 times using the graphite transfer technique.  To do this, students colored the back of their design on the tracing paper with a graphite stick.  They then turned it back around and traced over their design with the pencil, leaving the graphite marks on the white paper.

Each section of the color wheel was colored with one crayon.  They made different values of the color depending on how hard they pressed with the crayon.

2nd Grade - Zoo Animal Drawings

Our 2nd graders recently went on a trip to the zoo because they were learning about animals, habitats and adaptations in science.  To go along with this unit, I decided to have them each draw a zoo animal.  I have many old "zoobook" magazines and I randomly chose students to each pick one, therefore everyone in each class was drawing a different animal.

They learned how to look at the pictures in the magazine and find the big shapes that make up the animal.  They drew the shape of the body first, then the head and legs/arms.  All the other smaller details go last.  They were asked to draw at least 3 different poses of the same animals.  Next, they added the animals habitat.  Horizon lines were reviewed in this step!  The practice drawings were then traced onto the nice white paper using the light box or a window. 

The animals and habitats were colored with oil pastels.  The skies were painted with a tempera wash. 

6th Grade - Rainforest Drawings

6th grade students had a great time drawing colorful birds as part of a rainforest scene.  They looked at various pictures of rainforest birds and animals and focused on a balanced composition for their artwork.  The drawings were colored with oil pastel and backgrounds painted with a tempera wash.

Doodle 4 Google entries

These are the Google Doodles that were entered into the Doodle 4 Google logo contest from Rumsey Station.

Elijah, 4th grade

Gabe, 6th grade

Michaela, 6th Grade

Spencer, 4th Grade

Nolan, 6th Grade

5th Grade - Tessellations

Students learned about MC Escher while creating these tessellations.  They made their own tessellation shape, traced it on the larger paper, and had to transform that shape into an image. 

 

2nd Grade - James Rizzi Cityscapes

2nd graders loved learning about James Rizzi's colorful and cartoon-like drawing style.  After looking at several of Rizzi's artwork, they were anxious to get to their own cityscape drawings.  They began with buildings in the background, then sidewalk/street/cars in the middle ground, and people in the foreground.  All drawing was done in pencil first, outlined, and colored in with markers.

2nd Grade - Complementary Portraits

There was a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, with this lesson.  First, students drew a portrait.  It could be realistic or more abstract - their choice.  Next, they chose just one color (of oil pastel) to color it in.  They got to also use white and black oil pastels to create different values of that one color.  Lastly, backgrounds were painted with it's complementary color.

5th Grade - Flowers with an "Ism" Twist

Students first put their still-life drawing skills to the test and drew a flower pot. Next, we discussed and looked at examples of three different styles or "isms" of art that they could use to transform their flower drawings; cubism, impressionism and pointillism. Some students chose to incorporate more than one style. Results were phenomenal!

2nd Grade - O'Keeffe Flower Drawings

Students learned about the artwork of Georgia O'Keeffe. They used a a viewfinder on a flower image of their choice in order to "zoom in" on a particular area for their drawing. They used chalk pastels to color their flower and tempera paint for the background.