3rd & 4th Grade Sewing Unit

Most third and fourth graders worked very hard to master stitching and applique work. Their bears are coming along nicely and even when stitches have to be redone, students have been taking it in stride. This not only teaches them patience, but also resilience.

Creative Stick Puppets

Fine motor skills are something we embed into the lessons and if we get a fun little object or drawing afterward, that is just icing on the cake. Skills embedded in this lesson were tracing shapes, cutting out shapes, gluing shapes to a stick, sorting colors and shapes of foam pieces, adding embellishments to the stick puppet, and using the stick puppets to interact with classmates. There were lots of directions to follow along with these basic skills and not all children are developmentally capable of all of the skills to complete the task successfully but adding embellishments usually can cover up for that fact. Everyone was successful in their own way and got a chance to practice skills not always taught in the classroom anymore.

Stippled Drawing Work

Students were introduced to the technique of stippling this week. I played the video Hero using the Vimeo website. It shows a teenage boy drawing a picture of his father using this drawing technique. We also looked at a Frayer model of the word and samples of stippled artwork using SMART Notebook & the document camera. Students completed a stippled value scale and worked on an exercise using a teapot as subject matter. After doing the exercise, students chose their own subject matter and drew a light sketch they can follow for their stippled drawing. I will add pictures to this Animoto as the students work.

Basic Sewing

Digital Color Theory

My color theory class not only had to learn how to mix tints, shades, secondary and intermediate colors using only primary colors, black and white, but they also had to transfer that knowledge to digital media. In the process they learned how to use Gimp layers, save to several formats, colorize using hue, saturation, and lightness sliders, and the rotation tool.

Needlework in Progress

Low Fat/Sugar Free Edible Color Wheels

Color Theory usually involves colored pencils, paint, and other traditional art materials. I had known about an edible cell project for many years but the other art teacher at my school did this with her students and I decided that it sounded like a good way to teach tints. I did a demonstration and then each group used white sugar free frosting and food coloring to mix the colors in the color wheel. Low Fat Vanilla Wafers were frosted and arranged in color wheel order. This class will be painting color wheel designs soon so this is great practice mixing colors.

Another Chapter in the Paper Mache' Beastie Saga

3rd & 4th Grade Chipboard Loom Weaving

Monet-Like Tree Landscapes

First and Second Graders learned about Monet's use of brush strokes and placing colors next to each other in order to create a soft look to their skies and grass. They learned how to make sure their watercolor brushes were having a "good hair day," and how to clean up after painting.