3rd Grade Mosaics...in progress

Our third graders study ancient Rome and Greece in their Social Studies classes. Both cultures are well known for their well-crafted mosaics. The students are in the process of creating a simplified version of mosaics using colored tagboard tiles. We start with a simple frame using one or two colors. Soon we'll begin working on the images that will fill the inside of the frame. Mosaics require a lot of patience and careful craftsmanship. We can't wait to see how they turn out!

Kindergarten Snowmen...and Women!

Check out these "cool" snowmen! Our kindergarten artist created these over the course of two art classes. During our first session we read a great wintertime book called "Snowballs" by Lois Ehlert. The unique collaged illustrations gave us lots of ideas for decorating our snowmen. First we painted all the snow using white paint. During our second class we used a variety of items to add detail---popsicle sticks, felt scraps, button, sequins, google eyes....just to name a few!

SOLS: K.3, K.8, K.10, K.14, K.16

First Grade Owl Mosaics

Hoo-hoo made these cute little owls? Our first grade artists, that's who! Using torn pieces of construction paper and crayons, our artists had to piece together their owls feather by feather. This is a great way to improve hand-eye coordination and observation skills!

SOLS: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.17

5th Grade White-on-White Masks

Using only white paper, our fifth grade artists created these unique 3D masks using a variety of paper folding and cutting techniques. Notice how the different features of the faces create shadows on the mask so that, even though white is the only color used, we see hints of grays here and there. Well done, 5th graders!

SOLS: 5.1, 5.3, 5.5, 5.12, 5.14, 5.20, 5.28

Fourth Grade 3D Shapes

Don't these shapes look so real that you could just reach out and grab them? Our fourth grade artists worked hard to make these simple shapes look three-dimensional. To do this they had to study the effects of shadow and light on objects sitting on a flat surface. We used pencil to do all of the shading and used our best tool (our fingers!) to blend the pencil into smooth shadows.

SOLS: 4.2, 4.9, 4.12, 4.18, 4.21, 4.26

Second Grade Still Life With Flowers

Our second grade artists studied Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" painting before creating these beautiful still life pictures with oil pastels. To help create a realistic looking bunch of flowers we learned how to overlap so that some blossoms look like they are behind others.

SOLS: 2.2, 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.17

Fourth Grade Galaxy Pics

Our fourth grade artists have been studying form and the way that shadow and light creates a three-dimensional effect on objects. These collages were created by "splatter-painting" the background with white paint to create a starry sky. We used pastels to color the planets, blending white and black into the colors to create the shadow and light effects.

SOLS: 4.2, 4.4, 4.9, 4.18, 4.25