Category Archives: Lesson plans

Observational Drawing with Sixth Grade

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Sixth graders drew succulent plants from observation. I emphasized drawing what they observed, not drawing from imagination or what they think the plant should look like. They should focus on shape.

Sixth graders made observational drawings of fresh cut succulents.

They used pencil and colored pencil on 6″x6″ squares of white paper.

After the students had a basic drawing, I asked them to look at the areas where the leaves overlapped. Each overlap creates the letter ‘Y’. I asked them to darken all the ‘Ys’, and then taper the pencil lines.

Darken the ‘Ys’ formed where the leaves overlap.

It was quiet in the art room as the sixth graders concentrated on their drawings. Most students enjoyed this activity, some loved it, and no one complained.

Earlier this fall we studied value and drawing and shading forms (thank you Pinterest!)  and I am happy to say that these exercises have increased student confidence: several students who have stated they ‘can’t draw’ are now turning out drawings with pride.

This is one of those times I wish I had more than 40 minutes a week to teach each class. I would love to start every class with a quick observational draw.

Regarding our plant cuttings:

We have many varieties of fleshy-leaved succulents here in Southern California. Succulents are similar to cactus, but do not have needles. Succulent cuttings are great for observational drawing: the cuttings do not need water and do not wilt. In fact, if your students do not pull off the leaves they will look great in a week, without any water or soil!

Succulents are super-easy to grow from cuttings. After class, I poked all the cuttings into the ground. They root in about three weeks.

All the succulents were fresh cut the day of class from our school garden and my  San Diego backyard.

Succulents in my San Diego backyard.

 

Snowmen Snapshots

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snowmen snapshots

 

Third grade just finished their snowmen ‘snapshots’. I found this great lesson at Mrs. Knight’s Smartest Artists.

snowmen

Third graders drew snowmen from four different points-of-view. Allow three 40-minutes classes.

Materials:

  • sketch paper
  • pencils and erasers
  • white construction paper, 12″x18″
  • Sharpie
  • viewfinders
  • colored markers, thin-tip and chisel-tip

Day 1:

We looked at all the student examples at Mrs. Knights’ blog. Students learned some new photography vocabulary to describe point-of-view:

  • zoom in/close up
  • zoom out
  • profile/side view
  • 3/4 view
  • viewfinder
  • crop

The third graders sketched their snowmen in all the points-of-view on a sheet of copy paper. Then they moved their viewfinders over the snowmen drawings to crop the picture.

snowman viewfinder

Days 2-3:

Students folded their white construction paper into quarters. Using pencil, they drew the snowmen from four different points-of-view, one in each quarter. They went over their lines with Sharpie, then erased.

Students had to pick a unique color  (or pattern) for each section. I modeled coloring with the markers, and emphasized neatness. This was a ‘no spaghetti’ (no scribbling) project. Some kids still need the reminder!

Third grade results:

snowmen snapshot

snowmen snapshots

 

This was a very successful project. I heard a couple of kids say they thought it was the best art project they ever did. Please check out Mrs. Knight’s fabulous post – her student examples are great.

 

Journey Through the City: Interactive Sculpture

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Journey Through the City Interactive Sculpture

It’s winter break here in San Diego, and I celebrated with a trip to the San Diego Museum of Art. I enjoyed a FABULOUS, fun, free exhibit that will definitely appeal to children: Beneath the Moon II: Journey through the City by Miquel Navarro. It is an interactive sculpture/game/artwork made of 1000+ pieces of cast metal, ready to be assembled by visitors of all ages.

Navarro created this artwork in 1994 for the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Since then, it has toured the world, delighting children in Europe, Asia and Mexico. Here is a video of French school children enjoying Beneath the Moon.

 

Discussion:

What can you do in the art room to tie into Beneath the Moon II: Journey Through the City? You may want to start with a discussion. What is a city? What do we see in the city? We might see houses, factories, roads, trains, freeways, rivers, bridges or skyscrapers. Swimming pools and skate parks! Do cities stay the same forever or do they change?

Lesson Ideas:

If you visit:

The exhibit is open during regular Museum hours through April 30, 2013. There is no charge for this special exhibition, located in the new Welcome Gallery on the first floor. For docent-led school tours and group visits, click here.

The San Diego Museum of Art is located in beautiful Balboa Park, home to 15 major museums, the world-famous San Diego Zoo, theaters, gardens and much more.

A final tip: allot some time….YOUR KID WON’T WANT TO LEAVE!!!

 

NOTE TO SAN DIEGO COUNTY TEACHERS/ART TEACHERS, K-12

Would you like to see your students’ artworks exhibited at the San Diego Museum of Art? Young Art, the Museum’s exhibition of local student art, opens April 13, 2013.  The theme is ‘The Story of Me’. This is a juried exhibition.  Click here for more information. The deadline for submission is February 9, 2013.

Cut Paper Snowflakes Designed on an iPad

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Cut Paper Snowflakes Designed on an iPad

 

It’s winter! Time for a snowflake project. Our sixth graders just finished their cut paper snowflake projects, with a special twist: all the snowflakes were designed on iPads.

 

Students designed snowflakes on iPads using the My Flake app, then cut paper snowflakes to match. Allow one 40-minute class.

Students designed snowflakes on iPads using the My Flake app, then cut paper snowflakes to match. Allow one 40-minute class.

Materials:

  • round coffee filters (I got a pack of 150 at my local dollar store)
  • protractor (optional)
  • scissors
  • pencil
  • iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone with FREE My Flake app
  • Optional: construction paper and glue stick or spray glue for mounting

Snowflakes and Symmetry:

We began class by viewing this excellent slideshow of magnified snowflakes from the book The Art of the Snowflake: A Photographic Album by Kenneth Libbrecht.

Magnified snowflake photo by Kenneth Libbrecht. Source: scientificamerican.com

Magnified snowflake photo by Kenneth Libbrecht.
Source: scientificamerican.com

This is a good time to discuss radial and bilateral symmetry. Just like real snowflakes, our iPad and cut paper snowflakes will have radial symmetry, with six identical branches.

symmetry in nature

 

Folding the Paper

Next we folded our coffee filters in sixths. Students folded the round coffee filters in half, then used a protractor to divide the semi-circle into thirds. See this post from the Heart of Wisdom blog for great directions on folding the coffee filters.

Cut paper snowflakes start with a round coffee filter folded in half, then into thirds. Then one more fold in half.

Cut paper snowflakes start with a round coffee filter folded in half, then into thirds. Then one more fold in half to create a skinny wedge.

 

Designing the Snowflake on the iPad

I demonstrated how to use the My Flake app, guiding my finger on the screen to make virtual cuts on the paper image.

 cut paper snowflakes designed on an iPad collage

Students spent the next five minutes exploring the My Flake app. The app allows them to test out different designs virtually by ‘cutting’ a folded paper image, then previewing the design. They can go back and undo or redo one ‘cut’ at a time, and preview the resulting changes.

Once the students settled on a final design,they copied their My Flake design on the folded paper, and finally cut the folded paper to match.

Tip: encourage students to try a simple design on their first snowflake, and draw pencil lines lightly.

cut paper to match iPad design

Sixth grade student work:

Matching paper and iPad snowflakes

Matching paper and iPad snowflakes

Mount cut paper snowflakes on construction paper.

Mount cut paper snowflakes on construction paper.

Our school is 1:1 iPads in grades 4-6. However, this project can be done collaboratively in pairs or in small groups. Several students can share an iPad, each adding a virtual cut or two. Then they can all cut the group design (U.S. art teachers – collaboration is a big part of new Common Core standards).

These two students collaborated on an iPad My Flake design, then both cut to match.

These two students collaborated on an iPad My Flake design, then both cut to match.

On its own, the My Flake app may also be an option for an inclusion activity. Students who cannot easily manipulate scissors may be able to design virtual snowflakes on My Flake and print them out for decorations.

More resources:

If you don’t have an iPad: use the Make a Flake website.

If you are looking for a book to accompany a snowflake project: our librarian likes Snowflake Bentley, the Caldecott-winning book by Jacqueline Briggs Martin about real-life snowflake photographer Wilson Bentley.

More fun snowflake resources on my cut paper Pinterest board.

Thanks to Dryden Art and Brunswick Acres Art for sharing My Flake and other resources on their blogs. Thanks to N.T., one of our awesome sixth grade teachers, for support on this project.

Do you use iPads in the art room?

Do you have a favorite app?

Clay Self-Portraits for First Grade

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clay self portraits for first grade

Self-portraits are awesome. Clay is awesome. Put them together and you get a fun projects kids love and parents treasure forever.

Multi-slab cutter easily slices clay into identical tiles.

Multi-slab cutter easily slices clay into identical tiles.

I used a multi-slab clay cutter to slice the clay into tiles. The first graders used bamboo skewers and old glue caps to draw faces on the slabs. Remind students to draw on the clay but not too deeply – don’t cut all the way through!

First graders created self-portraits using clay slabs. Allow two 40-minutes sessions plus drying time.

First graders created self-portraits using clay slabs. Allow two 40-minutes sessions plus drying time.

I let the clay dry for 12 days, then bisque fired.

Now for color!

I saw a fabulous post on no-fire glazing techniques on the Art Smudge blog. The authors used watercolor, chalk pastel, colored pencil and more to finish bisque-fired clay (note: if you work with clay, please check out this post – it is amazing!).

We used Crayola Washable Paint In Multicultural Colors for the skin, and colored pencil and construction paper crayon for other details. A few students used colored chalk for their hair (note: the chalk was messy and will have to sprayed with a fixative – I won’t use chalk next year).

After bisque firing, clay was painted with tempera, then colored with crayons and colored pencil.

After bisque firing, clay was painted with tempera, then colored with crayons and colored pencil.

We had a range of skin tones to match – the Crayola eight bottle set of skin-tone paints matched pretty well. If anyone can recommend a set of multicultural glazes/underglazes please leave a comment!

clay portrait tiles painted with tempera

clay self portraits

 

Great job first graders!

Do you use glazes or cold finishes for clay?

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