2nd Grade Animations 2018

2nd graders have completed their alien animations. Students had an opportunity to practice figure drawing and drawing in profile while using the Doink Animation App on the iPads to create a running alien in four poses. Find the lesson description here. Everyone in second grade is finished with their Aliens running loose in the art room animation. Not only did the make one movie, but two movies! The second movie used their alien running on a background that the students drew in the app animation. I moved their videos to iMovie, added some sound effects and music, and labeled each student's alien with his/her name.  All four movies are now uploaded to YouTube and you can find the links below. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did making them!

2A Animations

2D Animations

2B Animations

2C Animations

For the last two weeks, 2nd graders have been experimenting with animation in the art room. The first project focused on flip books creating a ball bouncing. Now, students recently finished using the Doink Animation App on the iPads to create a running alien in four poses. The idea for this project is not originally mine, but from Tricia Fuglestad, an elementary art teacher at Dryden Elementary in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Tricia Fuglestad's blog, Dryden Elementary Art Website

 File provided by Tricia Fuglestad on her blog.

Using the Doink iPad Animation App, 2nd graders drew an original alien in four sequential poses to create the illusion that it is running. Once completed with four poses, students added the alien to a composition of a photo from the art room to give the illusion that the alien is entering from the left and exiting to the right of the photo and running rampant within our art room!

Composition directions for Alien running loose in the Art Room.

Once students finished composing their alien running in the art room, they made a 2nd composition within DOINK by drawing a background for their alien to run such as the alien's home planet, spaceship, or imaginary world. If students finish composition two, they may play in the "cloud" by adding images or animations from online contributors to their 2nd composition. This video was not added to the final video submitted to YouTube.

Aliens invade the Art Room!

2nd graders have completed their alien animations. Students had an opportunity to practice figure drawing and drawing in profile while using the Doink Animation App on the iPads to create a running alien in four poses. Find the lesson description here. Everyone in second grade is finished with their Aliens running loose in the art room animation. I moved their videos to iMovie, added some sound effects and music, and labeled each student's alien with his/her name.  All four movies are now uploaded to YouTube and you can find the links below. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did making them!

2A Ms. Hermsen's Class

2B Mrs. Spielmann's Class

2C Ms. Johnson's Class

2D Ms. Kemink's Class

The Sculpture Challenge continues...

Many 2nd graders have already started gluing their paper mache` projects after completing strong armatures made from cardboard scraps, newspaper, boxes, and masking tape. I am amazed at the innovation and designs many of these students developed with their own abilities! Check out some of the amazing examples below! See the original lesson explanations here and here.

Primary and Secondary Color Play

Students in Kindergarten and first grade are experimenting with the primary colors to mix and make secondary colors.  When exposing early elementary to the primary and secondary colors, sometimes I show the first three chapters of "Getting to Know Color in Art" to introduce and review key vocabulary words such as Primary and Secondary and other times we go straight to color play with the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue).

 Last week and this week, students have only used red, yellow and blue paint to help reinforce that two primary colors mix to make a secondary color.  To give students the opportunity to play, each table section is assigned two primary colors on trays and one painting tool. No direction is given about the tools or colors at the station, only the encouragement to experiment, but try to keep the paint on the papers and trays. Table Inspectors are assigned to help wipe tables at the end of class when things become a little messy.

 Dependent upon the day and how quickly we make it to our seats, we may make it through one or two stations during our 30 minute art period. One station of play during this week is painting with cars, trucks and tractors using only yellow and red paint (y + r = orange).

A second station involves toothbrushes and yellow and blue paint (y + b = green).

Our third station has one tray of blue paint and one tray of red paint (r + b = purple). Students are using brushes and paint scrapers to create some beautiful textures.

Paint effects stampers are used at the fourth station with yellow and red paint (y + r = orange).

First graders are using cardboard in the last station. This one always bring a quizzical look from my students, but many found some unique ways to create designs from the edges and even create a textured look by spackling with the cardboard. Instead of cardboard for Kindergarten, we do something I like to call "Primary Hands". Students use their hands to mix two primary colors to make a secondary color and stamp the colors on a 9x12 inch drawing paper. My kindergarteners love this activity and I think it really helps reinforce which primary colors mix to make a specific secondary color.

Flip Books in the Art Room

Second grade students will be introduced to animation through flip books this week, a month long unit involving not only flip books, but iPad animation apps and stop motion animation as well. I think animation is engaging for all students, even the early elementary, and requires a lot of critical thinking and creativity. By allowing students to solve art problems using any form of animation, it enables students to find success on new and challenging levels instead of recalling information in traditional ways. Animation is also a great tool to encourage 21st century skills ranging from creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration, and responsibility.

To introduce the concept of animation, 2nd graders are using pads of paper to create a flip book and animate the illusion of a ball moving and growing across the paper. "How to make a flip book animation" YouTube video by Mr. Otter Art Studio was a great resource to demonstrate how to develop a flip book.

 We also looked at examples of flip books that I purchased from an art museum many years ago, published by Fliptomania Inc.

After creating a moving growing ball in their flip book, the next task is to morph the ball into another object through slow small changes in their drawings per sheet of paper, just as a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly. Student video examples to come next week!

Another great resource for flip book animation is the New York Film Academy student resources website, including a brief overview on the different kinds of flip books still in use today.

 

Quote of the Day

I had to laugh at today's quote from one of my 2nd grade students, because sometimes the scribble line drawings are very difficult for concrete thinkers, but this student kept trying and all he could find were hills!

"Why do I keep finding HILLS. I feel like I am in a hill nightmare!"

Fantasy Monsters (Scribble Drawings)

We are taking our scribble drawings to the next level and scribbling on larger paper (12"x18") to create an imaginary creature or monster from our scribble lines. Instead of tracing with black permanent markers like our previous creativity stretcher, we are tracing our creature/monster lines with black oil pastel. After tracing all our monster parts and adding details with the black oil pastels, students will add color to their monster and background with tempera cakes. Only a handful of students in my first grade class still have a difficult time finding images within the scribble lines. For this particular monster project, I encourage the students to use any of the lines or shapes created from the scribbles to make their Monster's head(s), body, and appendages. Once I point out numerous shapes within the scribbles that could be used, the student who was once challenged can immediately find their own shapes to create their own unique monster or creature. These drawing never fail to remind me of the imaginary creatures in Surrealist Artist Joan Miro's work. Ironically, he is our Artist of the Quarter for the 2nd nine weeks. Look for more information about Joan Miro and Joan Miro inspired projects to come soon...

1st grade monster with 4 heads.

Look at those sharp teeth!

Reminds me of a video game character.

This might be one of my favorites so far!

"People and Dog Before the Sun" by Joan Miro, 1949

More Automatic Drawings during "Creativity Stretcher" week

I love seeing the variety of interesting images, creatures, and monsters produced during our scribble line drawings, also known as Automatism. My students absolutely love when we do this drawing and although some struggle the first time completing this activity, by the second or third time these students are lost in finding the hidden images within their scribbles. If you are curious about this activity and missed my last post, check out Creativity Stretcher: Automatic Drawing (Scribble Line Drawing) or my YouTube channel for a video with detailed directions on how I facilitate this activity in my classroom.

1st grader creating mouse and cheese from scribbles

2nd grade students starting to add details with permanent marker

1st grade student making an imaginary creature

Aliens and Spaceships and footballs, oh my!

2nd grade students

Creativity Stretcher: Automatic Drawing (Scribble Line Drawing)

This week's focus in art is Creativity Stretchers. After returning from a long weekend, it is sometimes difficult to get back on track to routines, procedures, and projects in the art room, so creativity stretchers are a great way to refocus creative energy into productive quick drawings.

Automatic drawing was developed by the surrealists as a means of expressing the subconscious. In automatic drawing, the hand is allowed to move randomly across the paper.  The drawing produced may be attributed to the subconscious. Artists who practiced automatic drawing include Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Jean Arp and Andre Breton. The technique was transferred to painting as seen in Miró's paintings which often started out as automatic drawings.

Nocturne by Joan Miro

To start this activity, doodle or scribble with your eyes closed or open.  The objective is to keep a loose hand and “feel” your way through the scribble.  There is something to be said about happy accidents and unplanned ideas! Stop whenever it feels right or as a teacher, set a time for students.  My students are shown how to scribble first by drawing various lines covering the paper completely. I tell them to imagine they are toddlers again. I think my elementary students find great joy with this part of the activity. It may seem messy, but after one minute, I ask students to stop and use their creative eye to transfer scribbles into an interesting design or image using only the scribble lines at first to create a representational image or object.

Some rules that I establish with my students:

• avoid slow methodical planned scribbles (there is no spontaneity with a planned scribble)
• scribble fast and scribble the entire one minute
• when searching for an image, avoid numbers and letters (too easy)
• use the scribble lines as the original form, but add details to help evolve the found image (for example, if an animal shape is found, add texture or face details if not readily found in the available scribble lines)
• No Erasing! 

Once students start the search for an object, animal, creature or whatever pops out from the scribbles, we trace the necessary scribble lines with black permanent marker to make our found object or creature stand out from the rest of the scribbles. This activity is very similar to the hidden picture image in the comic section of the newspaper. I encourage students having a difficult time finding an image to turn their paper and view the scribbles from a different perspective. I even encourage students to hold the scribbles close to their face and pull away to see if anything "pops" for them.

I must admit that this activity is difficult for any concrete "left brain" thinkers and less challenging for those who are easily abstract "right brain" thinkers.  Although incredibly difficult for some the first time, after several attempts, this activity will become easier.

I think the quote below is very applicable to any of the creativity stretchers completed this week...

“Don’t underestimate this idea of mine, which calls to mind that it would not be too much of an effort to pause sometimes to look into these stains on walls,  the ashes from the fire,  the clouds,  the mud, or other similar places.  If these are well contemplated, you will find fantastic inventions that awaken the genius of the painter to new inventions, such as composition of battles, animals and men, as well as diverse composition of landscapes, and monstrous things, as devils and the like.”

Leonardo da Vinci

Creativity Stretcher: "Pick a Shape" Activity

In 2012, IBM conducted interviews with 1,700 CEOs around the world and published the results in a paper titled “Leading through Connections”. Instead of looking for particular skills, most CEOs interviewed by IBM realized that they need employees who are able to thrive in change, by constantly learning and reinventing themselves. The four specific traits most desired are:

• Collaboration
• Communication
• Creativity
• Flexibility

Most people believe that creativity and imagination only belong to special gifted individuals, when in reality, we are all born creative and imaginative. As young children, we play and pretend using our imaginations all the time, but somewhere along the way we loose the confidence to call ourselves creative and assume we never were at any point in our lives. My hope is that my students never loose the confidence to be creative, because they will need this confidence to be critical and flexible thinkers. Creativity is a valuable 21st century skill. The arts encourage and develop creativity in all people. Sir Ken Robinson, writer, researcher, adviser, teacher and speaker, makes a great case for creativity and is the author of many books about creativity and education. Here are a two of his books on my reading list:

Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative. (Capstone Publishing Limited, 2001)
The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. (Viking Adult, 2009)

This particular activity is a great way to challenge anyone's imagination at any age. I have even used this activity with adults as well as kindergarten students. As a matter of fact, this is the activity we are focusing on in art for the next couple of days grades kindergarten through second. Here are a list of supplies you will need for this particular "Pick a Shape" Creativity Stretcher.

Glue, Crayons, Writing Pencils, Drawing Paper, assorted precut geometric shapes (1-2 inches wide)

For the younger elementary students, I demonstrate the following steps before assigning to students. The whole class helps collaboratively brainstorm ideas for the shape I have chosen and any details I could add to make the object more recognizable. Here are some results from previous year's artists.

My kindergarteners practiced this activity on Wednesday and Thursday and will start a new "Pick a Shape" activity next week. My first and second grade students have tried this activity in the previous school year, so are familiar with my creativity stretchers.

1. Teacher hands out 9x12 inch drawing paper, one per student. Students write their FIRST NAME, LAST NAME and GRADE (2D) on back. Remind students to do a thumbs up high in the air to show they have completed this step. Teacher checks papers. Kindergarten students are only required to write their first name and grade, while first and second grade students are required to write their first name, last name, and grade.
2. Once completed with name and grade (while you are checking papers), allow students to choose one geometric shape from a ziplock gallon bag of pre-cut construction paper shapes. Students then glue the shape to the 9x12 inch drawing paper. Remind students one to two dots of glue; Dot, Dot, not a lot.
3. Using their imagination, students must turn that shape into an object, creature or animal of some sort. Encourage individuality and diversity. Encourage them NOT to copy their neighbors, but to be unique. Encourage students to add details. Details are extras such as where the object is located; inside or outside. What other things might we see with the object? Is it a sunny day or cloudy day? etc. Students may add color with crayons. Art supply inspectors (ASI) will grab these supplies from the art supply shelf and bring to their table sections.
4. Five minutes before end of class, clean up begins. Art Supply Inspector makes sure pencils, glue bottles, and crayons are back on supply shelf. At the end of class, call quiet table sections to place their papers in the drying rack to prevent papers from sticking together.

Quote of the Day

My favorite words of the day when discussing imagination and creativity....

"I only use my imagination when I think of rainbows."

The minds of first graders...