Learning calligraphy and Eid Mubarak

As part of the plan this year during Islamic art month grades 2nd - 8th practiced on creating calligraphy. We started with just simple lines and the direction of the pen but tracing a design gave us the best results. Most of the kids had never used the 2 dimensional pens so it was a bit hard for some. We will keep working on this skill every month until the pens totally give out. The 1st and Kindergarten used a wax resist then painted their letters in. They were excited to making a special message. 

Our last  project was to make sheep for the party on the last day of school. The 3rd grade shows off the design. 

Creating pictures of mosques

 The 4th-5th grade classes used an example of a multi-turreted mosque and drew their own then incorporated a variety of lines and other designs into each section. 

Lastly they used their choice of markers or colored pencils to complete the designs. 

The Kindergarten and 1st grade painted their pictures using metallic tempera and created a pretty great set of pictures too. 

Doing the basics in September

September is a good time to hit some of the basics and see how well and comfortably the students draw. I also get to assess how well they work with basic supplies like glue and scissors at all grade levels.  Most of the grades did a name based project and  projects using types of lines to create designs. The 3rd grade spirals were a lot of fun and quite popular.  The  kindergarten names went well with the paper plate faces and hand prints from the week before. Lots of the artwork made it onto the walls in the hall or the classrooms. 

We also did projects identifying textures and shaping them which is very popular. students brought items from home to add to my offerings to have a "touch table" then used the items to create the designs. The picture at left is from the 2nd grade class.






The 4-5 grade did an interpretive mixed media picture using yarns, tissue and drawing based on the story of Moby Dick. Great depictions of whales with its blow hole and other detail of a wily whale that had survived many hunts. One of the students added the boat and little speech bubbles. 

Our lines and curves drawing day turned out so much better than the examples I brought. 2nd grade did scarecrow complete with crows and  the 3rd grade is abstract blocks. 




This year our 6-8th grade students are all participating in art instead of signing up for an optional group after school  I had them draw the Spanish buildings then paint them in watercolors. Watercolors are a bit of a challenge to get just the right amount of wet into everything but by the end they did a great job and some went on to do a 2nd picture.