One Point Perspective, 4th and 5th Grade.

Believe it or not, after 10 years of teaching, this was my first time teaching one point perspective to my students.  Until I saw this simple lesson on the blog Elementary Art is Fun, I have always been intimidated to teach one point perspective to young children. This lesson breaks one point perspective into simple, easy to understand steps.

While students did struggle a little with understanding one point perspective, with a little guidance, they did a great job!

Styrofoam Prints, 3rd Grade

I love printmaking lessons, and this year I decided to try styrofoam printing with my 3rd graders. This year I managed to get a hold of four printing brayers and printing ink, which was exciting for us.  It has been a few years since I have been able to teach styrofoam printing. 

 To begin this lesson, we looked at Adrinka Cloths from Ghana.  Students used this as their inspiration for their designs.  Students then carved into Styrofoam to create their designs, and printed them four times.

These turned out great! and the students loved the printing process!

Notans, 4th and 5th Grade

My 4th and 5th graders created Notions.  Notan is a Japanese word for the interactions between dark and light.  Traditionally Notans use a black square piece of paper, which is then cut to create symmetrical images that play with the idea of positive and negative space.  It also ties perfectly into geometry, since Notans focus on reflections/flips.

Clay Faces, 5th Grade

In the last few weeks, I have been doing a variety of clay projects with my 3-5th graders.  My fifth graders finished their clay faces this week.

 Students created this in 2 (35 minute) art classes.  The first class, they created the clay face.  The second class, they painted it with tempera paint.  Unfortunately, I do not have enough glaze this year, but the tempera paint turned out nice anyway.

 I love the creativity in these!

Clay Cupcakes, 3rd Grade

 My students finally painted their clay cupcakes.  We didn't have enough glaze this year, so we used tempera paint. I think the tempera paint turned out nice.

 These turned out very well considering we only had two (30 minute) classes to create and paint these beauties.

3rd Grade, Clay Cupcakes

 It's my favorite time of the year, clay time!  My 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will be working on ceramic lessons for the next few weeks.  Here are clay cupcakes made by my 3rd graders.  This is what they look like right out of the kiln.  We will be painting this soon!  I do not have enough glaze this year, so we will be painting them and then adding a clear sealer on top.  I will post the final results, when they are finished.

 My students are so excited about these! I love them too!

Chair

At the end of the school year, I had some of my fourth and fifth graders paint this chair.  This was a fun filler project to help fill time the last two week of school.