April 20, 2011

Even More Matisse Paintings…

  Fourth grade students in Mrs. Spotts and Lein’s class work on their paintings the day before Spring Break.

April 19, 2011

More Matisse...

Fourth grade students continue to work on their large Matisse paintings. 

April 18, 2011

Spring Bunnies

First grade students spent two class periods creating their spring bunnies.  We focused on the Element of Design texture.  Students used a sponge painting technique and oil pastels to create their furry bunnies.  Then they added supporting details.  Projects are being sent home in time for Easter.

Learning about Egypt

    Second grade students are beginning to learn about Egyptian Art.  We have learned about mummification, heiroglyphs, and a special Egyptian hippo named “William.”  William is the unofficial mascot of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.  He is a ceramic figure decorated with designs of the lotus plant.  When I visited NYC last year, I brought home a stuffed version of Willam.  http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/FAQ/htm/willy.htm
              Studens are making their own hippos using model magic.  They are going to be painted and decorated with black marker. 
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Check out this site to learn to write you name in hieroglyphs...
http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/interactive_fs.asp?swfpath=history/egypt/hieroglyphs.swf

April 8, 2011

Sunflower Paintings

  First Grade students have been learning about artist Vincent Van Gogh.  We learned about his many self portraits and practiced drawing our own. 
The we learned about this famous still life painting of sunflowers. 
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More 3rd Grade Origami...

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Mrs. Jennings and Mrs. White class had fun showing off some of their awesome origami pictures.  Great work!

April 6, 2011

Learning about Cave Art…2nd grade

   2nd grade students learned about the Lascaux cave and it’s discovery in 1940.   We took a virtual field trip to the cave by looking at this website….  http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/index.php?lng=en#/fr/00.xml

  Then we made our own cave drawings in our mock “cave.”

April 5, 2011

4th Grade…Ceramics and Matisse

Students in 4th grade have been busy glazing their clay pinch pots.

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  After glazing students are working on large scale still life paintings inspired by the artist Matisse.  They are incorporating their new color mixing skills into their project.  I can’t wait to see the final results!

April 4, 2011

1st grade happenings….Rizzi and Kandinsky

   Recently, 1st grade artists have learned about Contemporary artist James Rizzi and Modern artist Wassily Kandinsky.  Look at all the colorful artwork!100_5949
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After School Art...Magnetic Paitnings

   Students in one of my after school enrichment class have been learning more about the artist James Rizzi.  We looked at some of Mr. Rizzi’s magnetic paintings (Click Here) for inspiration.  What is neat about these paintings is that the viewer can interact with the work.  There is a background and then several magnetic pieces that can be rearranged to make different pictures. 
  
Look at the awesome results!!!
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  Soon, I will be sharing  my students' Skype interview with James Rizzi. 

April 3, 2011

Chinese Exchange Lesson, Part 2 (Dundee Students)

In the last post I shared some of the beautiful pictures that I received from students in China.  The students attempted to “read” the paintings and learn about Chinese kids. 100_5872
Next,  students created their own pictures to share with 3rd graders in China.  We discussed ideas they could share about their life in the U.S.  They were allowed to choose their medium.  My only main requirement was that their picture “speak” to the Chinese students through the visual language of art.
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I really enjoyed seeing all my students different ideas.  All 3rd grade pictures are being sent to Lansing to be judged.  Pictures will be chosen to be sent to China as part of the exchange program.