1ST - 2ND GRADE

January, 2018
Patterns and Printmaking with K4-Second Grades

December 12 & 15:
Students participated in a variety of art projects this week, choosing among art stations such as drawing, making Christmas ornaments, Christmas cards, or paper snowflakes. 


All artwork is going home this week! Parents, be looking for a stack of art pieces your child worked on in art class. Some are finished artworks, but others are practice drawings or unfinished. Students in lower elementary classes are still exploring materials and learning basic skills. 

December 7:

We made a Christmas collage with wrapping paper, sequins, and foam shapes! Students were asked to think about what images they associate with the Christmas season, and then they began creating their art pieces. Some students made Christmas trees, presents, snowmen, or crosses. 

December 4:

Today, 1st and 2nd grade artists learned about "Snowflake Bentley," the first person in history to actually photograph snowflakes in detail! We watched the short video clip, Snowflake Bentley, and looked at photographs of snow by Mr. Bentley. Then, we learned how to fold a coffee filter so that when cut, it unfolds into a six-pointed snow flake! 

November 27 & 30:
Students in first and second grade spent one class period doing a drawing of what they did during Thanksgiving day. This was an exercise in visualization as well as communicating a memory. On Thursday, we worked on a special drawing; it is meant to be a surprise for someone we love, so more details will come later. 

Weeks 13-14:
This week, we began a design incorporating leaves, drawing from direct observation. Mrs. Nichols drew on the board to demonstrate how much a drawing can be improved if the artist closely observes the subject and takes plenty of time to do a good job. Students were amazed at how many times she looked at the leaf while drawing!  We also spent one class period drawing designs for the Over The Mountain Journal Holiday Card Contest. Next week, we will finish our drawings with paint. 

Week 12:

We created a fall themed collage with construction paper; cutting out ovals and other shapes for the trees and then drawing a variety of trunks and branches with a black marker. Students were asked to observe trees outside and talk about their characteristics before beginning the art piece. We also learned a little bit about science; why do leaves turn colors in the fall? It turns out that the reds, oranges, and yellows are there all the time, but the green chlorophyll in the leaf hides them until the weather turns cooler. When the chlorophyll gets absorbed into the tree to provide energy for the winter, the leaves fall off because their job is done! 

Week 11:

First and second grade artists viewed a reading of A Color of His Own (a children's book by Leo Lionni), and then followed along step by step with Mrs. Nichols to draw their own chameleons on the stained paper we used for the coffee filter flowers a few weeks ago. Students used their imaginations to add to their creatures or to invent other animals. First graders drew a background environment and second graders cut out their drawings for a collage. We also talked about ways to encourage each other after viewing the "Five Minute Family Devotional: Encouragement." We will work on these pictures again on Thursday; they are still in progress. 

I Thessalonians 5:11  So Encourage one another and give each other strength, just as you are doing now. 

At the end of class, we watched a real chameleon changing colors on a Youtube video clip! 

1st Grade Drawings

2nd Grade collages (in progress)

Weeks 9 & 10:

Second grader Madison applies glue on the outlines of her drawing; the finished drawing is on the right

For week 9, first and second grade artists only met one time due to the holiday. That Thursday, we learned how to draw a pumpkin as well as how to draw a very simple landscape. We drew a pumpkin both "close" and "far away" in pencil, then we outlined the pencil lines in glue! The dried glue creates a barrier for students to add pastel later, and the color underneath the glue cannot be altered. The finished effect serves to unify the drawings. On Monday, we used soft pastels for color. Students really enjoyed applying this medium, blending and smearing colors to make a unique artwork! 

by first grader Selah

First grade drawings by Jax, Colton, Alden, and Josiah

First grade drawings by Londyn and Devin

First graders Josiah, Devin, and Alden are hard at work!

Aliens and Pumpkin drawing by second grader Wyatt

Pumpkin drawings by second graders Mason, Ruthie, EJ, and Sadia

Second grader Jolene 

Second grader Asher

Second grader McKenna

Second Grader Kaylin

Weeks 7 & 8:
As we focused our minds on the fruits of the spirit from Galatians 5, we practiced our art skills in the areas of drawing, painting, mixing colors, and drawing a variety of lines. Last week, students chose a fruit to draw. First graders drew only one fruit, while second graders drew the fruit both "close" and "far away" by changing the size and placement. All students practiced drawing a variety of lines to make an interesting pattern. This week, we followed step by step directions in drawing "Funny Fruit" with faces! Mrs. Nichols drew on the board, and we also watched Rob draw demonstrations from "Art For Kids Hub." In addition, we learned about mixing colors from the three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. Our paintings will go on display in the hall next to the art room this week. They are beautiful!

First grade artists practice using only primary colors to paint their drawings of fruit.

First Grade Fruit Paintings

Second grade artists practice painting their "close" and "far away" fruit drawings. 

Second Grade Fruit Paintings

Second grade artists practice mixing the primary colors to paint their fruit drawings.

Fruit Playlist on Youtube; how to draw a variety of "funny fruit" at "Art For Kids Hub," and the "Five Minute Family Devotional" video clips about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. 

Week 6:
Students finished up their flower sculptures for the Grandparents Day Program! 

First Grade

Second Grade (4 students not pictured were at the book fair or absent)

Week 5:
First and second grade students had a ball this week, adding color with both marker and paint to coffee filters. We will make these into flower sculptures next week for Grandparents' Day! 

(Parents, please send an adult size vest for your child to wear as an art smock. We will turn them around to wear over our shirts to protect our clothes on days that we get out messy materials.)

Perfect Square, by Michael Hall, Youtube

Weeks 3 & 4: This neat book about a creative square inspired us to use the shape of a square to design something much more interesting. Students used a variety of square templates and crayons to make drawings/frottage the first day, cut their "perfect squares" up into pieces the second day and experimented with new arrangements. Then, we used a black marker to add more information to our designs. We compared two paintings by Spanish artist Joan Miro; one had very little information about the subject and the other was much more detailed. Drawing is one way of communicating, and students were encouraged to "tell" us as much as they could with details. They were asked, "What do you imagine you see in this picture? Can you tell the rest of us with details in your drawing so we know what you are thinking?" Creativity is at the top of Bloom's chart of higher order thinking skills - inventing something out of nothing takes some intense thought and effort! 

These students thought of a garden and ocean scene! 

Here are two more imaginary scenes; one shark and one fountain! Beautiful!

Week One:

Beautiful Oops, by Barney Saltzberg, Youtube

The first day of class, we watched this video featuring the book, Beautiful Oops. It is about turning a "mistake" into something beautiful! Whether it is torn paper, a stain, or a spill, an artist can use his/her imagination and turn it into something interesting and fun. Students drew a shape and then turned the shape into something else. 

Second Grade Beautiful Oops Drawings

First Grade "Beautiful Oops" Drawings

Second Grade Pre-Instruction Self-Portraits

First Grade Pre-Instruction Self-Portraits

Artists in first and second grade review line, shape, color, texture, and pattern. We will continue to build fine motor, social, and cognitive skills. We also explore and experiment with lots of different materials! Some of the techniques and media we will be using are collage, drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Also, we will be learning about famous artists as we talk about art and create imaginative and beautiful pictures. Reading foundations happen in these early elementary grades, so children's books will be used often in Art class. First and second grade classes meet twice per week in the Art room for 45 minutes. (We only met once for the first and the second week of school.)

The first few weeks, we will be practicing art classroom procedures and learning the rules. Also, we will be exercising our creativity by turning shapes into something else! The first week of art class, students also drew a pre-instruction self-portrait. We will draw another one at the end of the year to see how much we learned!