Printed Cityscapes

First graders continued with the cityscape theme and learned a relief printing technique using styrofoam sheets (a relief print is a print from raised images). We reviewed shapes and lines we would see in a cityscape such as rectangles, squares, triangles, straight lines, horizontal, diagonal, and vertical. Then, students planned their drawings on 6"x9" copy paper (same size paper as styrofoam sheets). Once competed with their cityscape plan, students then taped the drawing to the top of the styrofoam sheet and began tracing their pencils lines with an incredibly sharp pencil. The difficulty with this part of the assignment was making sure students applied enough pressure with the pencil to transfer an indentation into the styrofoam sheet. Sometimes, the planned drawing would tear as students transferred their lines. This was perfectly normal.

After all pencil lines were transferred to the styrofoam sheet, students then inked their styrofoam sheets with black water based block printing ink using a brayer, printing the image three times,  and re-inking after each print for good contrast.

As a class, we discussed how artists sign and number prints. Artists use numbers very similar to fractions when signing. Most students signed their print with a 1/3. The bottom number represents the total number of prints created. The top number represents one number within the series of prints.

It's Raining Origami Cats and Dogs!

I love introducing Kindergarten and first grade students to the art of origami. It not only exposes them to many folds, such as side to side and corner to corner, but introduces the class to a diverse culture and country and a great discussion on shape characteristics, such as a square having four corners and four sides while a triangle only has three corners and three sides. As tradition holds in my building, kindergarten students learn step by step how to fold a simple origami cat, which is also the exact same steps for the origami dog. The first day of class we discuss that the art of origami originates in Japan and locate Japan on the map in our classroom. I show the students the steps at the demonstration table. I then hand one square origami paper to each child and we walk through the steps together as a class. I walk around and check progress through each step. Lastly, I let each child pick their own color of origami paper and try it on their own. If they need help, they only need to raise their hands. Next class, students will choose which cat or dog head is the best and take the other one home. The origami cat or dog head kept in the classroom will be glued to a 12" x 18" drawing paper and students will add the body, legs, tail and any other details necessary for their cat or dog with pencil first, then oil pastel contour lines, and finally tempera paint cakes (similar to a watercolor resist) to fill. Here are the directions below for the origami cat and dog, if you would like to try it at home.  Look to Artsonia to see gallery examples from 2013.

Start with a square paper.

Fold diagonally from corner to corner and crease.

Sometimes this fold is difficult, so I tell students to pinch the corner with one
hand and use the other hand to flatten the fold from the corner down.

Fold in half again from corner to corner and crease.

Open last fold and notice line dividing triangle in half.
Turn the paper so that it acts as an arrow and points to the belly.

To prevent over folding, I tell students to place one finger
at the top of the line and use the other to grab the top right corner.

Pull the top right corner down to the belly
leaving a nice triangle shape the ear and cheek.

Repeat on the other side. I tell students to notice that
they should now have three arrows pointing towards their belly.

I tell students that dogs or cats do not normally have pointy chins
so we need to fold the bottom point up to leave a flat chin instead.
This is the dog.

To make the cat, simply flip the paper over and upside down.

I found this great video from Ted 2008 by Robert Lang entitled "The Math and Magic of Origami". Although a little advanced for my kindergarten and first grade students, I certainly enjoyed how he uses math and engineering principles to fold mind-blowingly intricate designs that are beautiful and, sometimes, very useful. Check out the video below.

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.

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)?