WELCOME TO HCA ART!: First, Second, & Third Grade: First Semester

Students display the greeting cards they designed for Mrs. Manston's community service project.

Welcome to our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade Art class! We have had lots of fun this year getting creative and painting, designing, sculpting, printing, building, and drawing. I am excited to share these examples of our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students' art! My students have worked so hard: I am extremely proud of them. This group has been a delight to teach all year long.

These photos represent a small portion of what we have accomplished this year: if you are interested in seeing the entire art curriculum, resources, state standards, and projects, please click on this link: 1st/2nd/3rd Grade Curriculum Report First Semester 2020-2021. The spring semester specials classes have been reorganized a bit due to the return of most of our virtual students, so the first graders will attend art separately from 2nd/3rd (starting in January). We are so glad to have our virtual students back in class!

Many, many thanks go to the families who took the time to send art supplies! Due to Covid restrictions, each child needed their own set of supplies and I couldn't have done it without you. I appreciate the support of HCA families so much! Thank you for your prayers as well.

PRINTMAKING HANDMADE GREETING CARDS

Students learned all about printmaking while designing original Christmas greeting cards. They drew their designs on a piece of foam core, then added color with markers. After spraying a light mist of water on their foam core printing plates, the students carefully pressed paper to transfer the image. This could be done over and over, so the kids could experiment with changing colors as well as how much ink or water to use. They loved adding embellishments to these cards as well, whether it was simple details or glitter and sequins for some pizzaz! Some of these cards were given away as part of a community service project led by our music teacher, Mrs. Manston. I am extremely proud of their efforts! For more about this service project, please click on this link: Making Christmas Cards.

THANKSGIVING

Students learned how to draw an assortment of leaves as well as a turkey on a platter right before the Thanksgiving holiday. In addition, they practiced 3-d skills in drawing the different dishes on the Thanksgiving feast table, changing the size, placement, or overlapping to create the illusion of space. Does everyone celebrate Thanksgiving in the same way? Each child added their own favorite things to eat on that day of feasting as well as a few creative details! We also discussed what we are thankful for after viewing the video, "The Berenstain Bears Count Their Blessings."

Addie, grade 1

VETERANS DAY

For Veterans Day, students worked hard to make a beautiful display of patriotic art. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade artists learned how to draw poppies after discussing artist Georgia O'Keeffe's painting of poppies (see below). They also drew eagle faces as well as a heart-shaped flag. They practiced a simple math skill as well, finding the center of a shape in order to construct the different parts of the flag. I enjoyed seeing each child's interpretation of the poppies and the eagle's face. They are all unique, creative, and wonderful! To see more of the Veterans Day art display, click on this link: Veterans Day.

Ethan, grade 2

Oriental Poppies, by Georgia O'Keeffe, 1928

ORIGAMI & THE GROWTH MINDSET

Students learned about Origami: the art of folded paper, for this challenging project of making a paper fish. This proved to be quite difficult for many students, but through it we learned about the Growth Mindset. We also talked about what God has to say about doing your best. I am extremely proud of the kids' efforts, and for continuing to try until they got it "right." Students practiced excellence in persistence!

Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

Jackson, grade 1

PAINTING, DRAWING, AND A BIT OF KINDNESS

Ethan, grade 2

Wow! Who knew that such young artists could paint such delightful pictures! These paintings of fish and octopi were done after the students viewed the children's storybook, "The Rainbow Fish." We discussed what the little fish in the story learned, to be a friend by sharing what he had, as well as the scripture, "This is my commandment that you love one another that your joy may be full" (from John 15). These paintings make me feel so much happiness when I see them! I know the students thoroughly enjoyed making these art pieces. (They reviewed the concepts of pattern as well as overlapping for this project.)

Annabelle, grade 1

Colton, grade 1

Jackson, grade 1

PATTERNS IN NATURE: MONOPRINTS AND THE CHAMELEON

Kingslee, grade 1

Patterns! Students enjoyed drawing lots of patterns and learning about God's designs in nature. We studied the chameleon, doing a drawing and then adding a pattern of our own. We also experimented with shaving cream printing - adding drops of liquid watercolor to a "pillow" of shaving cream, then pressing our papers on top to capture the swirls of color. This is called monoprinting, pulling a single print from a "printing plate" or printing matrix. It was so much fun and resulted in some charming art pieces.

Brooklyn, grade 2

ABSTRACT ART, KANDINSKY, AND COLLAGE

Anali, grade 3

This project was very enjoyable - students learned about one of the first abstract artists, Wassily Kandinsky, before experimenting with many different art materials. They watched what happened when using a wet paintbrush over marker ink, cut out circles, did some drawing, and then experimented with arranging foam shapes on their collages. Each one tells its own story and is so interesting!

Wassily Kandinsky, Squares With Concentric Circles, 1913

TEXTURE, CREATIVITY AND COLLAGE

Coi, grade 2

Texture! Students thoroughly enjoyed going on a texture hunt, capturing as many textures as possible both inside and outside. We made crayon rubbings, covering at least two sheets of paper with colorful overlapping textures of brick, concrete, tree bark, floor mats, etc. Then, students watched Ramona Hall's "Texture Hunt" video as well as "The Perfect Square," a children's story book about a square who transforms himself over and over into lots of different things. The students cut up their texture sheets and used the pieces to build an original collage! They used their imaginations to design bridges, flowers, trees, robots, and many other things. I love how the power of art gives an artist the ability to create whatever sort of world s/he can imagine!

Kingslee, grade 1

GOD'S MASTERPIECE

During the first week of school, we talked about being God's masterpiece. He is the very First Artist and it is amazing to see the many things God has designed. From the ocean and sky to the smallest insect: they are all exquisite. Students experimented with marker ink, water, and a coffee filter, observing how the water changed the colors drastically. They transformed the colorful coffee filter into a butterfly sculpture by adding pipe cleaners. I enjoyed seeing how unique and creative each one turned out to be! All of these sculptures went on exhibit in the display case upstairs.