Kindergarten Paper Weaving

Introducing the concept of weaving which used to be a classroom activity since teachers are discouraged from taking time from a focus on testing. I know many primary teachers who used to like to teach weaving geared towards holidays. Holiday crafts are also discouraged. (See Animoto below)

1st & 2nd Graders Learn About Radial Symmetry

We learned about vertical, horizontal, diagonal, radial symmetry, using pre-glued squares. I had SMART Board activities we did as a group prior to creating the designs. I use a SMART Board presentation as often as possible when introducing a new concept. There are many interactive tools that make it fun for the kids to come to the board. (See Animoto below)

Jr. High Autobiographical Self Portraits

Students in the digital art class created layered self portraits using a photo cutout of themselves on a transparent background. Subsequent layers were a famous work of art and then four layers depicting special interests. Here are the first ones completed.

Jr. High Color Wheel Portraits using Gimp

I love doing this project so all my digital art students do it. It teaches so many digital skills and tools that by the time they are done, they can do many projects using Gimp. If they are lucky enough to have access to Photoshop in the future, they are able to make the transition without any teaching. (See Animoto below)

Still Life

Still life is a standard drawing exercise. I left my best pieces in Wisconsin when I moved to Arizona, so I had to scrounge objects for my current classes. The main problem with still life is having a good place for the setup where everyone can see an interesting angle. (See Animoto below)

Button, Button, Who's Got Toad's Button?

I introduced my kindergartners to Frog and Toad today. I read them The Lost Button and during the story they had to keep track of all the attributes of the button Toad lost. I was impressed with their ability to keep five characteristics straight and their deductive capabilities. By the time we got to the interactive SMART Board vortex activity, they all just knew exactly which button was the correct one by automatically eliminating all other possibilities. After the story and interactive work, I gave each table a tray of buttons and the kids sorted them first by color and then by shape. They had to collaborate on the sorting and they did that very well. You can see the concentration on their faces and also pride in their success. (See Animoto below)

Pencils Ready? Action!!

Research shows that children use the human body as reference for many other things they draw such as buildings, trees, animals, etc. Research also shows that unless children are given concrete (step by step) instruction in figure drawing that they will begin to eliminate figures from their drawings. This is because they are no longer satisfied with the less than realistic figures they drew as young children. They simply do not know how to render more realistic figures and therefore begin to avoid them.To avoid this, primary children in my art classes are given concrete instruction in gesture drawing that captures action simply in 30 second poses and allows students to not worry about being perfect. They also get instruction in human body proportion so they can understand the relation of one part to another. (See Animoto below)

Kindergarten Sewing Cards

Sewing cards are a nice safe way for kids to understand the downward and upward movements needed later when I bring out real needles and thread. I cut out foam shapes and punched holes to make my own bright colored cards. Note to self: don't. I spent so much time punching holes that with very little effort were torn from the foam sheets. That was frustrating. Chip board was too heavy to punch, so this was my only solution at the time. I spent a lot on those big colored buttons but we used them for sorting too. (See Animoto below)

Familia

Students in kindergarten looked at the Virtual Manikin interactive website so they could see just how long their arms are and how we don't always stand completely still. Developmentally, this was just an introduction to the concept and not expected to find its way into their drawings until later. Students were encouraged to include as many details as possible. (See video below)

Starry Nights

Students in Mr. Ortega's 1st and 2nd grade have been learning a little bit about Vincent Van Gogh and today they finished working on their own Starry Night drawings. (See Animoto below)