My grade 9 Art Foundation students recently finished their unit on observational drawing. It’s a ten week project where they receive instruction for one 80 minute lesson a week. You can view the unit breakdown week by week here on the wiki if you wish.
The application area for their assessment consists of measurements, proportions, value/tone gradation and composition. The class is varied by both gender and ability. Overall, the majority of students showed improvement both in accuracy and in speed. The slideshow below (or via Flickr here) includes both warm-up work as well as their final pieces. All work is either A4 or A3 in size. Feel free to leave them some comments.
I have seen variations of this Australian aboriginal art activity in the past, but what I like about my co-workers’ delivery is the crumpled paper effect. Sonya and Gillian did this as an after school activity with grade 1-4 students. They write:
“Students were inspired by an aboriginal painting to create their own ‘rock drawings’ in the style of the Australian aboriginal people. After drawing their animal in permanent marker, they used watercolour dyes in earth tones to colour the paper. When it was dry, the paper was scrunched into a ball to create the rock texture. Further detail was added with cotton buds and paint – the dot painting being very prominent in aboriginal art. A border was created for the work and students helped prepare their work for display.”
My first round of grade 6 students (11 years old) have just completed their self-portraits unit. Feel free to view the simple five week unit here. To introduce the unit, blind portrait drawings were done, which I blogged about before here. Students then used mirrors to draw their portraits without instruction (70 minutes). These pre-assessment drawings are included in the video, followed by their final piece. Some students made remarkable improvements.
I tried a different approach that was inspired from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Photos were taken and cross hairs applied. Students then drew these cross hairs onto their A3 sheets and a middle tone was then added over their paper. 2B~6B pencils were used to add further value and tone, and erasers for highlighted areas. If you teach portrait drawing, I have other ideas and resources on my wiki as well. I may consider a portrait party for a future group. Enjoy!
I am really digging these blind portrait drawings from my grade 6 students (11 years old). I’d love to give them a metre canvas with some paint and a thick brush! Using a mirror, students look at their reflections paying very close attention to the edges and details within their reflection. They slowly inch their way around the image, drawing what they see but they do not look at their papers. It was a warm-up activity (five minutes) for their self-portrait projects, which I’ll also post in the future when this first group has completed it.
When the term and school year winds down, report writing rears it’s head. I find myself evaluating over a hundred pieces of student work and it’s always difficult to evaluate creativity. Using a hand wheel, Grade 8 students created pinch cups and slab plates for their ceramics unit. Grade 7 students studied positive/negative space and created designs for their lino printing projects (even though we used softoleum). They looked at the work of William Morris, Johanna Basford, and several world patterns, designs and motifs (Celtic, African, Islamic, Native American and ancient Egyptian). Video links for grade 8 here and grade 7 here.
Our Grade 2s had an Endangered Awareness Day yesterday for one of their units. The second grade area was transformed into a range of habitat zones, each exhibiting their species. Other students, classes, teachers and parents were invited to attend during certain times. Students researched their species along the following lines:
1. Interesting facts about my species
2. Food chain or food web for my species
3. Ways in which my species is suited to its habitat
4. Human activities that challenge my species to survive
5. How people can help my species survive
Presentations, displays, books, posters and dioramas were created. Some even dressed up! It really was a zoo ; )
Grade 4 students (9 years old) had a unit on media as I mentioned before here. As part of their assessment, they created TV commercials for products in the school store. Story ideas were brainstormed, storyboarded, then filmed using Flip Cameras and edited using iMovie (HD6). Unfortunately, the Flip cameras they used were unable to attach to tripods. Students did however film and edit their own videos. These 2 groups of students created their commercials for the school coffee mug. For more ideas on using film in the classroom, visit here. (Video links here and here). Feel free to leave them some constructive criticism and feedback via the YouTube links provided.
K students at my school have converted a classroom into a gallery to display artwork they have done for their unit entitled, “The Artist In Me.” As the teachers state:
This unit introduces and gives children opportunities to explore a variety of artistic media including visual art, dramatic and musical forms and dance. They are encouraged to explore and communicate ways in which artists, including themselves, express ideas and feelings. Children are involved in the selection of work from this unit to display in the kindergarten gallery.
Since we are a PYP school, their central idea is “People use many different forms of expresion to convey their uniqueness.”
The work is excellent and I congratulate the teachers for their efforts! They studied the elements of art, artists such as Klimt, VanGogh, Mondrian, Louise Nevelson, Sumie brushwork, sculpture and whole lot more.
My grade 9 Art Foundation students recently finished their unit on observational drawing. It’s a ten week project where they receive instruction for one 80 minute lesson a week. You can view the unit breakdown week by week here on the wiki if you wish.
I have seen variations of this Australian aboriginal art activity in the past, but what I like about my co-workers’ delivery is the crumpled paper effect. Sonya and Gillian did this as an after school activity with grade 1-4 students. They write:
