Drawing to Music

Since my last post was about music in the classroom (found here) I figured it was appropriate to blog about a music art activity that I did with the Grade 4's that ended up working quite well! 

 I began by having students fold big pieces of scrap paper into about 6 sections.  I then played many different types of music (only Karaoke versions so that no lyrics were heard) and had students draw lines to the music.  It was their choice what to draw, but they had to be line drawings.  When we were finished, I went around to each student and together we picked the favourite, which they then made into a colourful oil pastel drawing.  Students were only allowed to use 3 colours in their pastel drawings.  

Here are some examples as to how they turned out:

Classical

Electric Rock

Electric Rock

This project was much like the Grade 4's Expressions with Line drawings (found here).  I found they really enjoyed both projects.  They also turn out to be wonderfully colourful art pieces!  

As for the last few weeks of art classes I plan on doing some fun end of the year projects.  I have specifically some great ideas from Art Mash blog.  I'm excited to use some of these ideas!

Paper Mache Men

One thing (of many) I like about teaching art is that it is a really free subject to do fun and different projects.  I don't have a specific curriculum for art at my school, so I am free to teach the students projects that I think they would really enjoy.  I found the following project through Pinterest, on Blog K-12.  It was the perfect project to teach my Grade 4 students how to use paper mache, practice their fine motor skills, and just something different than the regular drawings, paintings, etc. I also love working with paper mache - every kid loves getting a bit messy sometimes! :)

We started with making the shape of a man out of tinfoil.  We then covered these with paper mache strips.  And lastly, after letting it dry we painted them.  This project took two classes - one for the tinfoil and paper mache, and one for painting.  Here are some pictures to show the process and results!

1. Covering tinfoil with paper mache:

2. Painting over our paper mache men:

Advertisements and Perspective

Since Grade 6 did such a great job persevering through their long Pointillism project (see here), I wanted to give them something a little more fun for their next project.  I decided to work on advertisements with them.  I found this great idea on the following blog:  Mrs. Dahl: Projects from the Classroom .   

I had the Grade 6s make an advertisement for candy or a chocolate bar of their choice.  The catch was, the candy bar had to be 3D on their paper.  They were given cardboard, tin foil, felt, and any other scrap they could find to use.  The candy bar had to be 3D and the rest of the paper had to be advertising this candy bar.  This project was different from any I had given them yet this year - their first 3D project.  The results were great!  (You will notice a lot of colourful dots - They found some bingo dabbers and could not get enough haha)

Pop Up Advertisements - Grade 6

I just find these so creative!  Definitely a little more enjoyable for the students than the pointillism as well :)

While Grade 6 was allowed to let their creativity shine through their project, I did a little more of a  structured project with the Grade 4 class - One Point Perspective.  Since the focus for Grade 4 is the element of line, I thought it was a good grade to do some perspective drawing with.  I found this great lesson plan (with drawing steps and everything!) on the following blog: smART Class .  These steps were amazing and so helpful!  I will admit - perspective is not my strong point.  But these steps made it so easy to teach!  And helped the students come to a very clear understanding of it.  I highly recommend checking out her blog if you are considering teaching perspective!  Here are a few of the results:

One Point Perspective - Grade 4

While I told the students they could either do a street scene or a river scene they all chose street.  I had them colour with pencil crayons all the detailed items, and then do the background with watercolour.  If I was to do it again, I definitely would have had them colour with crayons and cover the background with watercolour after that, so that the crayon would nicely show through the watercolour.

Well that's all for now. This week, Grade 6 is working on making dinosaurs out of paper bags, tin foil, plaster-sine, toilet paper rolls, and paint. I am really looking forward to seeing the end results!  This is how far we are:

Well, enjoy your week and thanks for stopping by!  Feel free to leave me a comment or two! :)

Recent Art Projects Cont.

I had a minute or two to take some more pictures today, amidst the busyness of getting ready for the Christmas concert coming up this Thursday.  So, here are some more art projects that the kids have recently done.  

Comics - Grade 6

Grade 6 just finished making comics and are now beginning a project on pointillism after learning about Georges Seurat.  Comics was a fun project giving them the chance to be completely creative, using pictures to display a story.  I gave very minimal guidelines for this project.  

Faith Trees - Grade 6

These Faith Trees were made in order for students to have the ability to express their faith. They were to find words in magazines that reflected their faith life.  An easy and quick activity.  Looking through magazines is always a favourite!

Watercolour Landscapes - Grade 4

By far, these were my favourite projects in the last month.  We started with a class on experimenting with watercolours and blending colours and then moved into these landscapes.  Since my Grade 4 class is such a small class, I find it to be one of my favourite classes to paint with.  For many of these students it was one of their first times using watercolours.  I think they did a great job!  

Now, time to relax after a long day of practising, making and putting away costumes, and meetings... oh yeah.. and some teaching in between.  Two or three more days of that and a week left of teaching - I am ready for that break! :)

Recent Art Projects

Just today I changed a bunch of my art bulletin boards for a fresh new look before the holidays.  Before I took them down I made sure to take some pictures.  Here are some examples of some art work I have been doing with my Grade 4 through 8 art classes.

Colour Wheels - Grade 6

These Colour Wheels were an introduction to the element of colour for the Grade 6s.  Colour is their focus for the year.  It was a great lesson for teaching the Grade 6s how to mix colours as we only used red, yellow, and blue paint.  They were able to use these colour wheels afterwards to help them with an opposites picture, which taught them more about complimentary colours.  (If interested just message me!)

Silhouettes - Grade 7/8 

These silhouettes were started off with learning about watercolours and how to blend watercolours.  Students were then to make a silhouette image on top of the dried watercolour with tempera black paint.  I enjoyed this project but didn't see the results that I was hoping for.  I must think of a way to enhance this lesson next time.  

Expressions with Line - Grade 4

Grade 4 is focusing on the element of line this year.  This assignment was taken from the previous art teacher.  Students had to come up with line designs when given an expression or feeling.  They then made one of these line designs into an oil pastel piece.  I loved how these turned out!  Not to mention the amount of creativity that was used when coming up with these!

Hopefully soon I can take pictures of the new projects that we have come up with.  Teaching art is turning out to be such a fun and interesting experience!  I love seeing the creative pieces that the students can come up with!