5th grade: Magazine Half Drawings

It was December.

It was the month of the 5th grade Holiday Program.

It is a sacred cow in our school. Lots of rehearsals, mostly during Specials. This is a collaboration between the 5th grade teachers and Specials, we all help out. We all give up precious time. We all help with costumes, crowd control, props and backgrounds (me). We all listen to the kids sing the same songs over and over and over...

But still-

The kids were going to be missing Art. A lot. And they needed to create some art.

I needed a super, way cool art project for them to work on during flexible times: modified classes, indoor recess, working at home... Something that would excite them and keep them engaged. And this year we are focusing on Observational Drawing, so I decided to try The Half Draw.

Anna, 5th grade

Paulina, 5th grade

Garrett, 5th grade

Admittedly, this is a project I haven't done since I was in middle school (80's!). I was excited to see what the kids would do with my stack of pre-cut magazine pictures (I had a recent donation of Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food" and "Birds and Blooms" magazines, both have glorious photographs). 

I was blown away. They really seemed to enjoy the peacefulness that settles during drawing. They enjoyed focusing on the textures and patterns. They created gorgeous works of art that demonstrated they were thinking and observing as artists.

It was a calm balance to the heavy demands of their performance!

Anoushka, 5th grade

Beth, 5th grade

Liberty, 5th grade

Bella, 5th grade

I was really excited to see how some added other elements, imaginary worlds inside their picture. I was super happy to see their attention to detail, texture, pattern and shading. This was a cool, fun project to do during a crazy time.

ugh. No posts in weeks. Hate geting old :(

This knee thing KICKED me. UGH. So do not enjoy getting old and having body parts fall off. 

I spent a good week or two in my classroom in a chair with my leg propped up, so I had to re-do some lessons. 'Cause that isn't stressful. And since I was face level, kids coughed AT and ON me and I got sick---due to my medical issues, I tend to NOT be face level with the sweeties--so YEAH it's been a fun couple of weeks. I did have a very restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving break and hope you did too!

Since I had to do a quick lesson re-do, this was a great time to do some Observational Drawing of Fall Fruit. I had the BEST stuff: persimmons, gourds, mini pumpkins, pomegranates. The best part is I let them fully and over ripe, so they had cool edges and colors. And a little mold. Which is cool to draw. *heheheheheheh*

Fall Fruit with Zentangle Designs, 3rd and 5th grade

Guiding Idea: Lines and Color Create Depth

This was a great project for them to work on while I "facilitated" from my perch on the side of the room. The kids LOVED this. I had zero issues!

Once they saw how observation skills (trick: tell them to "look" and "think" like a Scientist. They understand this terminology at this young age. Then add in the Artist part and make the connection.), mixing colors (families and complementary) can create 3D depth and realistic affects, they were super excited. The Zentangle design was an option, either in the drawing or as a border/frame.

Can you guess which two are 3rd grade?

 

The top two. Yeah, they LOVED this project. 

When they finished (and as they worked...), the kids pulled out the ipads and documented the process:

Adam created an Animoto about his drawing, step by step.

These guys are photographing their art for their digital portfolio. They played around with photo editing, which is becominng a Very Big Deal. I am fine with it, as long as the original is in the portfolio. 

Lesson for you younger whippersnappers: when you blow a tendon in your knee playing a game at Field Day you have no business playing (with your Principal!!!) do some Observational Drawings with the older kids. Extremely Important Skills. Awesome Process, Awesome Results ...and an easy way to recuperate...until Kinder comes. 

Until Kinder comes.