To be or not to be... A Blank Canvas: Time flies by when your making a mess!!!

Well, all I can say is just when I think we've cleaned up one mess we start making another! It is awesome! We have been so busy around here that I have lost track of time and have failed at keeping you up to date on our happenings. So hang on tight, I am getting ready to send out a lot of information your way.

Beginning the year with Van Gogh in mind!
Let's get "Gogh"ing!

Everyone starts out small but everyone can
make a BIG impact through Art.

Reviewing and Previewing with First graders about Weather
and Instruments used for measuring it, creating Weather Vanes
with Cardinal Directions and learning to draw weather.

Kindergarten learns about Printmaking and the Rainbow
while learning to use screaming crayons to draw lines and
whispering crayons to color in.

First graders set up their own still Life using art supplies.

They get busy making sketches of what they see, and then we make
our final drawing after hearing some tips to make it easier.

Have you learned about tints and shades?
These student were given a hue of paint and asked to experiment
with it and white, to see just what happened.

Kindergartners learned about lines and how to draw
them using scissors. We cut our lines and glued them to make
a pattern like the one we seen in our American Flag. We also
learned ways to use lines to make stars and students
drew their stars the way they felt they could be most successful at it.

Some even had time to go back in and add designs and
patterns inside of their white space to make their flags a bit
more artistic and to show more of what they know.

Students made and created sketchbooks in grades 3-5.

Veteran's Day is here and our second graders have been learning the
skill of weaving. They got bust to weave a work of art out of
paper and they were put together to create a lovely bulletin board for
our Veteran's Day program.

Third graders talked about Howard Finster and folk art. They
created paper mache' gourds and were busy getting them
ready to make them into a work of art.

Here are our gourds as they dry.

Kindergarten worked on Mono printing. A type of printmaking
similar to our hand prints, but we painted the table and drew in the paint
with our fingers.

Here is another example, students were able to go back in
and add more details and designs. We used a limited color
scheme and talked about our flag and the meaning of the
colors.

Clean room- it DOES NOT look like this now!

Students were asked to use Primary Colors to trace geometric
shapes. We then used our drawn shape to trace inside of them,
so we could learn both were a method of tracing. We also used
our Primary colors to mix and make new colors using our
crayons and our paints. With those paintings we practiced our cutting
of lines and gluing.

Here's another.

Kindergarten learned about 2Dand 3D shapes.
We learned the differences in the number of faces and
the vertices. We learned how we can draw them
and make them look differently.

Second graders studied Vincent Van Gogh and worked on getting
their new knowledge about still Life drawing techniques and using
their space to make their artwork make sense and catch the eyes of
their viewers. We incorporated crayon, watercolor, and color pencil in
our studies of Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Starry Night.

Sorry they are sideways... had some trouble getting them to turn
vertically for you to see.

Second graders worked on Printmaking. We then worked on
paper manipulation and created designs that would be seen at
our Veteran's Day program.

1st graders had a review of lines, patterns, tracing geometric shapes
cut shapes and glued. We kept the Patriotic color scheme
and we created a designer frame to finish off our works.

Romero Britto brings his paintings to life with color and pattern
and with a variety of design. Our Second graders pull
their sketches together for a patriotic theme and created
these beautiful examples of works of art.

First graders again discussed weather and weather vanes. We
explored the barn yard and created a watercolor resist painting
that will knock your socks off.

While Mandalas are normally made of beautifully colored sands
Kindergarten explored how they could make patterns and designs
in a radial format.

Red Ribbon Week came quick and a last minute idea came together

Fifth graders worked on creating a still ife of their shoes or
their backpacks. I read excerpts from the book "The Things The Carry,"
they were asked to recreate an illustration based on that. We then
did some writing to go along with it and were able to create and
interesting work of art juxtaposing writing and illustrating.

Fifth grade worked on creating a watercolor painting
that illustrated a symbol of America to them. We were learning
the proper use and technique of watercolor and finding our
art was improving as a result.

Third graders also worked on drawing Light till it's Right and
then discovering how the watercolors would work for the
media. We discussed watercolor techniques and worked on
creating a patriotic work of art.

Kindergarten has been working on cutting but also working on the
skill of creating art ,in this case a landscape of a Winter scene. We were
making things out of shapes to create something new. Stretching their
minds to see the simple so they can build the complex later. We
also used this skill in using pattern blocks to make Mandalas and in creating
small simple drawings using circles as this is a shape they struggle to draw
and cut out, we made teddy bears and snowmen.

Tacky day, I of course came less tacky and more
or less not matchy. I came dressed in
the primary colors and introduced Roy Lichtenstein,
as this was his color palette.

In Flander's Field was the inspiration for this bulletin board
and it helped us to see Veteran's Day as a moment to reflect
on things we have to be thankful for, including our soldiers.

Fifth grade watercolors.

Second graders reviewed their learned Native American
history and we discussed weaving being more than decorative,
it was needed for a way of life. We also worked on thematic
colors schemes of America and all together our weaving created
a weaving!

Second graders worked on Vincent Van Gogh. We discussed
two of his works and created two versions of a similar
project. Using the Starry Night and the Sunflowers.
Students did an awesome job of completing this and making it
tie into our American theme by including an American Flag.