Breaking News: It's all in the Landscape!

Second graders are using DoInk's Green Screen iPad app to create a news report on art vocabulary relating to space (the design element in art not the physical universe beyond the earth's atmosphere). Students examined landscapes from two artists; Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Netherlands) and Grant Wood (Iowa). Students are working in small groups to create their news report. 

First step, examine a landscape painted by Grant Wood or Pieter Bruegel from one of the landscapes below. Step two, develop a skit and designate speaking parts as they would see in Reader's Theatre by writing Character’s Name, then colon or dash and finally speaking part. In the script, students must include the following art vocabulary; foreground, middle ground, background, overlapping, value, size, placement, and horizon line. Students must include the artist's name and year painted. 

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap 1565

Grant Wood, Young Corn 1931

Grant Wood, New Road 1939

Grant Wood, Fall Plowing 1931

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Harvesters 1565

We also discussed how every great story needs a beginning, middle and end. Once groups have completed their scripts and assigned a camera person, their group may begin filming with the iPad using the DoInk Green Screen App. The landscape assigned to that group will be displayed behind the "Newscasters" onto the green screen as they point out the important information and vocabulary the group discovered while writing their script.

Script Checklist

Doink Animation in the 2nd Grade

For the last two weeks, 2nd graders have been experimenting with animation in the art room. The first project focused on flip books as you can see in this previous post. Now, students are 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.

After students have completed the composition of their alien running loose in the art room, students will then draw an alien landscape including: a foreground, middle ground, background, a yellow horizon line, trees or plants in the foreground, a blue shape in the middle ground, and a green shape in the background. Once the landscape is complete, 2nd graders will then create a composition within the animation app using the landscape, alien running (from our first animation), and a flying alien spaceship.

Life is short. Eat dessert first!

My elementary students are almost finished with their Wayne Thiebaud inspired cakes and ice cream cones. I have many hanging on the wall in my hallway, with the quote "Life is short. Eat dessert first!" As we are completing the projects, I ask the students the following questions to make sure we are meeting the expectations for this project;

Do I have repetition (more than one shape, detail, or object repeating)?

Do I have a ground line (make sure my cake is not floating)?

Did I add details?

Did I trace my shapes and lines with bright colors (halation)?

Here are some of the amazing projects completed by my 2nd grade students. If you wish to see more student samples, you can view our online art gallery at Artsonia.

As art teachers may already know, students never finish at the same time.  If a child finishes early in my classroom, he or she may pick from a menu of art activities to reinforce facts learned about the Artist's life or utilize the artist's style.  Some of the activities include word searches, crossword puzzles, books about the artist's life or inspired by his/her images, and a drawing which involves the artist's style in some way.

The drawing activity for this particular artist requires students to draw their favorite meal and beverage (using a cylinder shape), include utensils and a ground line to reinforce our vocabulary and art skills from this lesson.

A list of anchor activities to complete when finished early. My first and second grade students are required to complete the drawing, but may choose any of the following items for themselves.

Wayne Thiebaud Artist of the Quarter (AoQ)

This week, students will be discovering the art and life of Wayne Thiebaud, artist of the quarter (AOQ), find cylinder shapes in his art, and practice drawing cylinders to add to their own Wayne Thiebaud inspired art. 

Essential Questions:
What is a cylinder? How do I draw a cylinder? Where do I see cylinders in art and around me everyday? What do I see in Wayne Thiebaud's art? (VTS) What do I see that makes me say that? (VTS) What more can I find? (VTS)

After drawing and practicing several cones and cylinders and reviewing Theibaud's style, students are ready to start their cake and ice cream cone projects (applying the learned forms within their projects). Frosting decorations and designs will be added and traced with many different brightly colored oil pastels (halation) as we see in Wayne Theibaud's art.

As students are working on their projects, the following questions should be answered;

1.    Do I have repetition (more than one cylinder, shape, or color repeating)?
2.    Do I have a ground line?
3.    Did I add details?
4.    Did I trace my shapes and lines with bright colors (halation)?