3rd Grade Keith Haring Figures

3rd Graders had a blast learning about figure drawing and exploring artists who portrayed the human body in different ways. During the first class, we learned how to accurately draw the human body in realistic proportions by using a scale. The next class, we learned how to draw more animated and cartoon like figures similar to Keith Haring. Here is another website for more information and lessons for kids based on his artwork.

After we drew figures in pencil, we then talked about complementary colors for our final project. Students drew their figure on one paper and line designs on another. They "hid" different objects or symbols within their lines like Keith Haring did. Then, we wrote the objects on the back and had a little "I Spy" game at the end of class!

 Students also collaborated together to make a class project based on one of Keith Haring's artworks below. 

They had a great time working together and the results were amazing!

4th Grade Radial Symmetry Kaleidoscopes

In 4th Grade, we learned about radial symmetry vs. linear symmetry. We looked at a few different images like a butterfly, beetle, and then an orange and a flower. Students each guessed which image had radial or linear symmetry before I gave them the definitions. Here is a picture below that shows radial vs. bilateral (or linear) symmetry fairly well.

Students also learned about the history of kaleidoscopes and that each image can never be repeated. We all agreed that each kaleidoscope image showed radial symmetry like this one below.

Then, we talked about geometric vs. organic shapes (a tricky concept!)  
Geometric shapes such as circles, triangles or squares have perfect, uniform measurements and don't often appear in nature.
Organic shapes are associated with things from the natural world, like plants and animals.

After students folded paper and cut out both geometric and organic shapes, they glued down the pieces to black paper. They came out beautiful! Can you find the radial symmetry below?

Principal's Selection November

Congratulations to the students who were chosen for the Principal's Gallery this month!!

Fourth Grade - Logan B.

Third Grade - Alyssa D.

Second Grade - Julia G.

First Grade - Ethan M.

Kindergarten - Samhita G.

2nd Grade Outer Space Collage

This week second graders had fun creating a space collage. We talked about how to add value and shadow to a circular object and learned about different techniques of shading. First we painted paper using different line designs. We talked about color families such as warm colors and cool colors while painting. Next we traced circles from that paper for our planets.

 After, we created stars in our galaxy by taking a pencil and tapping it against our paint brush

Then we glued down our planets to our black paper. After, we shaded one side of our planets with a black chalk pastel. Here are some results below!

3rd Grade Where the Wild Things Are

Third Graders read "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak this past week. We talked about the different types of implied textures he created using thin black pen lines. We then drew our own "Wild Things" and created implied texture on our paper using black sharpie lines. After, we painted our "Wild Things" with tempera paints. The students were very creative and drew their own background scenes as well!

Fall Leaf Prints with 1st grade

This week first graders studied fall foliage and learned about how leaves change color. We also talked about different types of trees and what leaves grow on them. I collected a few leaves from the maple trees outside Byam for each class. Then we made leaf rubbings with crayon and traced our leaves onto a Styrofoam piece of paper with pencil. Students looked at their leaf rubbings for reference to capture all of the details of the leaf.

Next, we used rubber brayers and our Styrofoam sheets to roll ink on and create a print. Here are some examples below! Each class used a different variety of red, yellow, orange, and gold ink.