Today I threw Kindergarteners a ton of facts about Ancient Egypt and they caught them all! We discussed Hieroglyphics, Pharaohs, the Nile, the Sphinx, Pyramids, and cats. Students then began to create their borders by writing their names using the hieroglyphic alphabet, as well as discussing the differences between our alphabet and that of the Ancient Egyptians.
Monet! Monet! Monet! After creating a 2D piece of art inspired but the work of Claude Monet, second grade students are now transitioning into making a 3D waterlily out of clay. Students are then allowed to add details to their flowers and/or mix colors together to achieve a unique color of their very own.
First graders, (and Miss Sheffer) had a blast creating fun and ferocious wild things based off of the book by Maurice Sendak. We are applying the art element of texture, to add character to our creatures and to explore the variety of ways line is used to create a piece of art. During our next class, we will be tracing our monsters with sharpie, coloring with oil pastels, and painting over our compositions with watercolor paint.
Today in Mrs. Davies class, we had a bit of free time to work on our "Shape Monster" assignment in our sketchbooks. Students had to begin with one of the shapes discussed in class, and then add any attributes (lots of eyes, sharp teeth, claws, etc.) that would turn their shape into a monster. When the majority of the class finished, we came up with the following questions to ask our classroom artists about their monsters.
Here are some videos of what the kids were saying about their monsters:
We found a tiger! For the past couple of days, the tiger cam from the San Diego Zoo has been pretty docile as second graders continue to work on their Rousseau tigers. However, today we had a ton of tiger action as we watched them lounge in the 80 degree weather (we googled it) as well as groom each other.
For the past couple of weeks, first grade students have been learning about the life and art of Vincent van Gogh. Students have recently started on creating the swirls seen in a lot of van Gogh's brushwork, as well as adding a ton of color to their compositions. For a little inspiration, students watched the "Interactive Starry Night" video that actually brings van Gogh's brushwork to life!