Elephants & Rembrandt

We are doing our study of Rembrandt now in my classes and we are now focusing on his sketches of Hansken the Elephant.  We are really picking his piece apart and discussing line, shading and how to sketch.  The students are doing pretty well with it.  Some are having a bit of frustration with the actual sketches because I am not doing a "how to" draw it.  I want it to be their piece.  But overall...I am loving them.

We looked at Suda the elephant that has been trained to paint.  Link at the bottom.  Power point to come.

K-2 is doing their elephants with the book Elmer and the Rainbow.  Elmer is a patchwork elephant, so I gave them the grid sheet to draw their elephants onto.  I did do a how to for this age level, but told them it was optional.  Their elephants have such character to them and they make me smile.
We are going to paint & scrape the rainbows next week to collage our elephants on along with an elephant poem by the author Kenn Nesbitt.  Kenn is coming to our school Oct 1 to do a poetry workshop so we are using his poems in our art room.

3-6 are doing their sketches on a sheet torn out of an old dictionary.  We are just getting started...more to come!

Adding poetry by author Kenn Nesbitt to our pieces now.  Kenn is coming to do a school visit Oct. 1 and we are super pumped for poetry!  I had the poem printed on strips of paper and before I even discussed it, I just passed the poems in the middle of the table.  They all picked them up and started reading...and I didn't even make them!  WOO HOO!  Love it.  Now they are working on creating a creative layout to include their elephant & poem for the final piece.  Can't wait to show you...

http://youtu.be/VQYEVQ4w7nw This is the you tube link to watch Suda the Elephant  paint a self portrait.  Pretty Amazing!

Power point presentation here:
3-6:  http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/huskeyj72501-1930808-artist-elephant/
K-2:  http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/huskeyj72501-1938559-rembrandt-elmer-elephant/