The Principal's Selection October

This year at Byam, Mr. Fredette and I have started a gallery in the conference room titled "The Principal's Selection." We will select 1 piece of artwork from each grade to hang on the walls. The students that are selected for this gallery must be role models for their classmates and show PRIDE (Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Dedication, and Empathy) in the art room.

Congratulations to the five students chosen for this month!

Kindergarten - Prudence C.

First Grade - Sabah C.

Second Grade - Lauren F.

Third Grade - Michael B.

Fourth Grade - Jack R.

Grade 1 Wayne Thiebaud Gumball Machines

In First grade this week, we talked about Wayne Thiebaud and his painting called Three Machines. Students learned how to make an object look round by adding curved lines. We also talked about how to add designs and different types of designs for decoration. For this project, we used rounded paint markers for the gumballs. Students loved using the paints like stamps!

 

 Students were very proud of their artwork so we hung them on the board and talked about what we liked in each artwork. We then talked about the different colors, shapes, and lines we saw in both our artwork and Wayne Thiebaud's.

4th Grade Still Life Pumpkins

In 4th grade, we have been talking about the value scale. We also talked about how to make a round object appear three-dimensional by adding curved lines and by also adding shadow. Students learned how to add darker value areas by applying more pressure with their pencils. We started with a pencil drawing and then moved onto chalk pastels on black paper. I was amazed by the results! 

 

Kindergarten Piet Mondrian inspired collage

This week in Art we studied the primary colors and an artist named Piet Mondrian (see artwork below). We talked about the different geometric shapes we saw like squares and rectangles and also the straight lines and primary colors he used in his artwork. Then we created our own version with tissue paper and glue. I recommend hanging these against a window. They look beautiful in the sunlight! If your child did not receive their artwork back, I have kept it to hang on my windows so feel free to come and take a look in my class!

Piet Mondrian Composition C (No.III)

Piet Mondrian Broadway Boogie Woogie

2nd grade Wayne Thiebaud Ice Cream Cones

Second grade has been learning about Wayne Thiebaud, an American painter who specializes in painting cakes, ice cream, and other bakery goods. We learned about his style of painting and talked about the bright colors he uses. We also explored the use of shadow and value. Wayne Thiebaud uses cool colors for his shadows like blues and purples. Students then worked on creating their own ice cream cones (the flavors were very imaginative!) and drew their own using curved lines to make the ice cream cone appear more three-dimensional.

We started with a pencil drawing and then went over our lines with oil pastel. Students added lots of details for their imaginative flavors. 

Next we used watercolor pencils to create a background. We talked about complementary colors (colors that are across from each other on the color wheel for example blue and orange, green and red, and yellow and purple) and then colored onto our background. Watercolor pencils are fun because after you color on, all you need is water. The students loved seeing their drawings turn into paintings right before their eyes.

Here are the final results below!!

Welcome to the art room!

This year, I made a few changes to the set-up of the art room. I changed the rows of tables into table groups separated by different colors. I also am now able to take advantage of my smart board which is also my white board.

Each week I will have different learning goals for my students. I will write about what each grade will accomplish that week.

If you walk into the classroom from the door, this is what you will see!

I have wind chimes which I ring when I am looking for the students' attention. Once students hear the wind chimes, they will stop and "Give me Five" which means that eyes are on the speaker, mouths are quiet, ears are listening, hands are free, and bodies are still.

 Each student also has an art room job. There are numbers at each table spot so that the tables can work as a team to gather supplies for the day, collect supplies, clean tables, and help with directions. The teacher helper at each table will listen extra carefully because if someone has a question about the directions, they will first ask the teacher helper before asking me.

 Here are some art classroom rules! These are posted on the white board for all students to see.

I also have an art room voice level chart which I use for different noise levels I want in my classroom depending on which project we are working on. Recess voice in the art room is never okay!

Here is the sink area and drying rack. I have a sign that helps students understand how to wash their hands and how to place brushes back where they belong.

 Here is the view from the sink looking at the door! I have a lot of supplies which I keep in shelves around the classroom.

First Grade Eric Carle Seahorses

In First grade, we talked about an artist named Eric Carle. We learned about the collage technique he uses when creating pictures for his books. He first creates hand-painted paper and then cuts different shapes from that paper to create an image. In our class, we read his book called Mr. Seahorse and talked about the different colors and shapes we saw. Then we used warm colored pastels and tempera paints to create paper we would use for our collage. After we finished our warm colored paper, we moved onto cool colors for our sea background.

The next class, we learned how to draw seahorses free-hand onto our paper. Then we cut out our seahorses from the warm colored paper and glued them onto our cool colored paper. We also added coral and different sea creatures.

Next we used tissue paper that we ripped to create seaweed and light blue paint to create bubbles. I gave each table a plate and several stamps to create bubbles of different sizes.

 

Here are some final results below!