Life in the Donald Art room during a 3 day week. With a lunar eclipse. And a holiday.

WHOOO Hoooooo what a fast, noisy week! Only three days with the kids,but we got so many wonderful things started. 

First up: 5th grade, Altered Books. 

This is a popular lesson! We compared traditional books vs e-books, tech vs non-tech. Holy cow. What an amazing discussion between the pros and cons of  this type of technology. These kids are so insightful. They were also excited to "upcycle" their discarded library book. Our librarian, Kathy Hoffman, came in and talked to the kids about how she goes about "weeding" books (and that school library books are bought with tax dollars, so they cannot be sold or donated) This is a great sculpture project and really allows the students to explore their creative problem solving. 

Yes. RosaLynn loves this picture. She ok'ed it.

Fold it, roll it, curl it, rip it, glue it, BOP IT!

   

  This is only the second time we have worked on these, so they are just at the beginning stages. I love when they start adding their own personality to these sculptures!

 

 

OK. This is something I have not done in about fifteen years. I am teaching these guys how to cut with a blade. Artists use blades all the time, and I can't remember a time in school when I didn't have a lino or exacto blade. Times are different, but these kids really wanted to carve out the center of their book. They have really risen to this challenge! (Oh. And I stood with them the entire time.)

Wait. Collin did get an injury: a paper cut. 

Loving the penguins pop-up!

 

^.^

3rd Grade: Digital Selfies
 I have continued my fascination between the stylistic differences between "Self Portraits" and "Selfies" with our third grade (see: last post)

The kids were able to explain a "self portrait" and then I had them act it out. Yearbook smiles and Mona Lisa poses. Again.
Then we explored "selfies" and their personalities popped out. It is so cool!

The kids have wanted to learn photography tips and tricks, so I decided to focus on pose and position (composition), background and the use of edits and filters (no more than two filters!). We spent some time looking at Andy Warhol's self portraits and talking about what he was trying to share through his art.

They loved talking about his hair ^.^

I showed them how to best take pictures using their iPads, using Snapseed or a similar editing app. The kids need to create two distinct selfies demonstrating the answer to this question: Who Am I? They are third graders, so I am curious how they will do:

This makes my heart happy. I think this might be the best picture ever.

Photographic editing features and filters have transformed photography. Use them wisely!

And then, 4th grade: Medieval Rose Windows (radial symmetry)

This is a perfect example of how Art Ed has changed over the years. We used to make these really big--the size of paper plates. But we really cannot work that big anymore for a variety of reasons: budget cuts, assessments and plain old time. One way to deal with this is to change the scale. It's ok. Same project, just smaller. The kids LOVED making the miniature Rose windows. They felt productive and efficient. And who doesn't like that?

Our previous weaving project took many weeks, so it is good to balance with shorter lessons.

Sketch on manila, tape on left over laminating film, fill in with Sharpie. 

Happy Easter and have a great weekend!