This March, the art room is celebrating a different kind of March Madness. Second through fifth grade classes will participate in mARTch Madness during art classes. Check out which two artists your grade will vote on. In class, you’ll learn a little about each artist and artwork and then…vote!
Cue the theme music!
The first grade is learning that 3-D shapes are not flat. They take up space and create form. We will look at these two sculptures which show movement. Do these sculptures look like they’re moving slowly or quickly? Why?
We will then experiment with making 3-D shapes and use those forms to create sculptures of ourselves. Which 3-D shapes would you use to create yourself?
The second grade will be learning the differences between 2-D and 3-D. 2-D (2 dimensional) is flat and can only be measured two ways (height, width). 3-D (3 dimensional) is not flat and can be measure three ways (height, width, depth). Students will use 2-D papers to create a 3-D sculpture of a play park. We’ll use many types of lines to create different types of playground equipment. There’s a lot of exploration and experimentation in this project! What would people would want to have in a fun and safe play park?
Here are some examples:
Career week is coming up and the art room is getting ready for our next project, which combines art, career studies, and the International Book Project!
All K-5 students will create one career/college-themed bookmark to keep and another to donate to the International Book Project. All year, Simmons has been collecting books for the IBP and we’re going to donate bookmarks to go along with our book donations.
Check out what the International Book Project does! We’re going to each donate one bookmark to IBP. Think about what design you’d like to make on your donation bookmark.
For your second bookmark, you’ll create a bookmark to keep and take home. This bookmark will have a college/career theme. Which careers are you interested in? Which colleges would you like to attend? Why?
Of course, you could always check out the colleges that are near and dear to my heart!
The College of Wooster– Wooster, OH
One of my favorite things about Wooster is the bagpipers, always the bagpipers.
Wait, why does my college have bagpipers? Why do they wear kilts? What’s up with all the plaid? Why did I go to school in a place called Wooster (pronounced Wuster, not Wooooooster)? You can ask me or check out www.wooster.edu to find out more!
While we’re on the topic of music…my other alma mater has a band, too.
The Ohio State University– Columbus, OH
OSU is a great university with excellent academic opportunities and fun traditions, like this. I loved my time there. What’s a buckeye? Why is “dotting the i” such a big deal? Who is John Glenn? You can ask me or check out www.osu.edu to find out more!
All grades (preK-5) will be creating artworks for the PTA’s Art to Remember fundraiser. Art to Remember provides families with an easy way to have their students’ artwork turned into some pretty cool items, such as iPhone covers. If you love your students’ artworks and want to take them with you everywhere, you are in luck, that is exactly what Art to Remember helps you do!
Here’s a full listing of products that Art to Remember offers.
We’re painting our projects now!
The fifth grade will be learning about Plains Native American traditional art. Shields were used for physical and spiritual protection, which make them ceremonial and functional forms of art. Ceremonial art is used for ceremonies and rituals, while functional art can be used. Shields often depicted animals that would provide desirable qualities, like a bear for strength.
Here’s contemporary Lakota artist, James Little Wounded’s shields.
Art in Action: From National Geographic, here’s a video of the Oglala Lakota Nation’s Pow Wow. At the Pow Wow, we see how dancing, music, and ceremonial art (dress) work together. Pay close attention to how the Mr. Spotted Tail explains how he learned to participate in the Pow Wow.
Steps:
Two fifth grade classes completed their Dale Chihuly– inspired sculptures! They finished securing their “glass” pieces to the armatures, added tissue paper to cover any visible armature, and hung them up. Students even reflected on working collaboratively as a team. Right now, these sculptures are drying in the art room, but they have bigger places to be! Fantastic job, fifth grade!
You can check out Dale Chihuly’s website for more information on his artwork.
We will learn how to weave on a loom inspired by Navajo weaving. They will learn about Navajo traditions, how wool is used, and how the designs are created. Students will learn that weavings are a type of functional art. Functional art is art that can be used, like blanket or a rug.
The Toadlena Trading Post helps keep Navajo traditions alive. This video introduces us to Navajo Master Weaver, Evelyn George.
We will learn how the geographic location of the Navajo Nation helps the weavers create their artworks.
Did you ever wonder how sheep help make weaving?
Here’s a student example, still on the loom.
Watch the video and follow these steps to create your weaving:
Day 1: Write your name on a piece of masking tape, put it on the back of your loom. Use two colors of string to create your warp lines. Tape your ends on the back of your loom. If there’s time, begin to weave! Over then under, keep repeating those steps. Do not flip over your loom, stay on ONE SIDE.
Day 2: Weave! Over then under, keep repeating those steps. Do not flip over your loom, stay on ONE SIDE. ***When you finish one color, tie your end to your next color yarn. This is different from the video. Keep weaving and fill your loom, don’t pull too tight. Keep pushing your weaving up to make more room.
Day 3: Keep weaving! Over then under, keep repeating those steps. Do not flip over your loom, stay on ONE SIDE. Keep weaving and fill your loom, don’t pull too tight. Keep pushing your weaving up to make more room.
Day 4: Follow these steps (like the video) to take your weaving off your loom:
The fifth grade is learning about DaVinci and his masterpiece, The Mona Lisa. We will learn her history and why she’s so famous.
We will create our own parodies of The Mona Lisa, using mixed media. These are student artworks. How did they reinvent the Mona Lisa?
Mona Lisa– Download the PowerPoint we’ll view in class.
Here’s the rubric page for this project. Look at Level 4!
Steps:
We did it! Gifted art students worked collaboratively to paint this banner. The banner will represent Woodford County at the 2015 KY School Boards Association Conference. Simmons was asked to do the honor this year, and we were very successful. Students chose to work on the banner, and most of them even used RECESS time to do it! Thank you to all the teachers who were flexible with their students so that we could have this wonderful opportunity.
The theme for this year’s conference is “The Courage to Lead,” so we did a “school” of fish with a colorful leader. Get it? School of fish? We thought it was clever!
Ms. Baird's Art Class 
