Artist Hilary Pfeifer inspired Almost Installations

  

 4th grade art installations inspired by artist Hilary Pfeifer.  Unfortunately...we ran out of time at the end of the year but they loved creating and learning about insects.  Below is her blog and the link to my power point that I used is here:
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/huskeyj72501-2497126-itsy-bitsy-clay-bugs-art-installation/

The lesson had several parts from creating both a 2D and 3D piece, note taking about insects and labeling their 2D pieces.

You can visit her blog here: http://hilarypfeifer.blogspot.com/ 

Escher Optical Illusions Revised

So this is one I've used forever... but this year wanted to add a little something more to it.  Here is my past post for my optical illusions and power point with tutorial which is super easy for subs to use and they always turn out great:  http://artjulz.blogspot.com/search?q=optical

But this year... I wanted to go a little deeper.  Unfortunately testing hit and classes started getting canceled and I didn't get to do it the justice I really wanted...  but the concept is still there.

The students did their optical illusions as usual...then we added our Escher twist.  They traced their hand, made observations and drew the front and back of their hand exactly like their own.  Next they cut them out.  I took their photos and they cut them out in a sphere shape.  They had to create their own composition of where their hand should be place and how they should arrange their fingers to make it look as realistic as possible.  Some were great...some were good attempts.  But overall they loved them which is the most important! They also love my books!

Love Birds part 2 and William Morris & Valentines

Love Birds part 2 came from a lesson I loved last year...but this year we added some new features!  This year my 4th graders created these fabulous heart warming pieces after our study on William Morris and one of my favorite children's books... http://www.storylineonline.net/somebody-loves-you-mr-hatch/  This year we used storylineonline for our book... We love how the famous people show us their love of reading!!  You can also still use the power point from last year (at the bottom of this post and adapt).

Barnes and Noble overview:

Overview

One wintry day, a postman delivers a mysterious package with a big pink bow to a lonely man named Mr. Hatch.

Somebody loves you the note says.

"Somebody loves me!" Mr. Hatch sings as he dusts his living room. "Somebody loves me!" Mr. Hatch whistles as he does his errands in town. "But who," Mr. Hatch wonders, "could that somebody be?"

After some time, Mr. Hatch discovers just who his secret admirer is and, in doing so, enjoys the biggest surprise of his life!

An anonymous valentine changes the life of the unsociable Mr. Hatch, turning him into a laughing friend who helps and appreciates all his neighbors."

Love Poems...  we used the "I Like" poem again from You Read to Me, I Read to You book to understand the concept.  Then we discussed adjectives and how to really describe the things they loved so there sentences were 5 words or more and not short 1st grade sentences.

New this year...we use WALLPAPER inspired by W Morris to cut and paste our birds, wiggly eyes, feathers, painted border and the most popular GLITTER.

                                                 I set up a 'GLITTER NATION" stations where they came to glitter their heart outline.  I still really love these pieces and what a great gift for a valentine to make someone feel good just like Mr. Hatch.

"Love Birds" poems with Gail Gibbons & William Morris

A Wish to be a Christmas Tree painted landscapes

  Love these winter landscapes.  My 4th graders learned about using the horizon line, foreground, middle ground, background and perspective!  So pretty.

Bat Before the Moon - 4th graders & Stellaluna

This lesson turned out even better than expected!!!  LOVED IT!  We used Takashi's piece as our inspiration, the fabulous book Stellaluna who you can also see at www.storylineonline.com for some of my favorite actor and actresses reading the books aloud, our first attempt at charcoal, learned how to make symmetrical bats, did a ven-diagram about bats vs. birds and finally I taught them how to write bat in Japanese. See info below. 

Biho Takashi,

Bat before the Moon

1910, via the Brooklyn Museum

 蝙蝠 
koumori - "kohh-moh-lee"