Memorial Day & 6th Grade Art

     

 This was my 6th graders last day of art and we finished it with these pieces that really make a statement.  We watched the youtube clip below about the History of Memorial Day.  President Obama shares why it is a special day.  It is only about a 3 1/2 minute clip but it is a very cool clip.

The History of Memorial Day: by Studies Weekly   

 
Next they designed a patriotic red, white and blue background.  I told them they could be abstract or realistic and I had a variety of pieces designed.  They could use colored pencils, markers or crayons for their background piece.

  When they finished their backgrounds then we broke out the ARMY MEN.  I wanted them to have something they could really observe to help them with their drawings.  They used pencil to sketch out their army men on white paper.  3.  They cut out their pieces.  4.  They placed them on black paper to cut out a shadow that copied the army image they drew.

Last they arranged their pieces by deciding how their shadow would be placed and glued all the pieces together.  Very cool!

                 

http://youtu.be/gVqvEtxTuRg

Stone Henge with a Creative Twist

Here she is using Hershey Candy Bars!

We have been working with all of my K-6 grade levels on our new project "Stonehenge with a Twist"!  These are so entertaining...and I can't wait for the final pieces to reveal to
you.  Here are some sneak peaks as well as my 5th-6th grade power point I used below.  The power point has 2 you tube clips that were perfect with the lesson as well.


Thanks to my Art Teacher Team we collaborated a great lesson for this!  LOVE IT!

We did our reserach about Stonehenge...made Fact & Theory cards then prepared our thinking by construction replicas of Stonehenge using blocks with our table teams. 


I have 3 variety lessons rolling with this. 
5-6th are doing their own "POPULAR ICON" inspirations of stonehenge...LOVE THEM already!
2nd-4th are drawing their versions & then using our LINE desing study to create lines in each stone.
K-1st are gluing on paper rectangles...then using the book Harold & the Purple Crayon to draw PURPLE line designs along with the students photo so they appear to be visiting Stonehenge.

If you worried about falling of the bike, you'd never get on. Lance Armstrong -ride on artist!

We used Gail Gibbons Bicycle Book on this art adventure.  She is known for her non-fiction books which are so important for our students to experience.  We learned lots of cool facts about the first bikes from her books as well as the parts of a bike.

 We took at trip outside to sit in the grass and observe a real bicycle.  My students used computer boxes to hold their materials and serve as their desk to draw on outside.  We also used graph paper to help them with dimensions and proportion when drawing their bikes.

Last we took our pieces indoors, used markers to add color and label our pieces.

The final pieces are on my lost zip drive some where in the packed up art room...I will post as soon as I discover it!

American Gothic Grid Art

Our artist study on Grant Wood was integrated in our math art projects by using a GRID to construct our American Gothic drawings.   The image I used for my students is below.  I added the grid on top of the piece.  I displayed this on the projector and gave the students a blank grid paper.  I really think my 4th graders did a great job.  They did the fact sheet below to go with their art work as well.

Leonardo da Vinci inspired Invention Blueprints

Another great lesson from my intern.  We are going to be sad to see him leave.  Our 5th & 6th grade classes did a study on Da Vinci and looked at his inventions.  They worked in teams and developed an invention of their own that had to be some form of motion.  They really came up with some cool pieces.  Mr. Willett showed them several examples of blueprints including the blueprints of our school.  Next they laid out their work to show a front and side view.  Last they had to label their pieces and be descriptive in their explanations.  They were a huge hit!