4-5th grade do pastel of wind

 Continuing with the mornings discussion on the windstorm I had the fourth and fifth graders also do a pastel drawing of the windstorm. Some of the drawings are remarkably interesting with great detail an interesting interpretation of the wind, others of them are more about using the medium and not the topic.

This group has been a hard one for interpretation, they are much more factual and have done well with structural drawings like the mosques.

2nd grade draws a windstorm

 We use the windstorm last night to inspire us in our drawings using pastels on either white or black paper.

It was interesting to discuss with them how they thought the wind looked and what it would impact in their drawings. We also talked about what they saw when they got up in the morning and what they heard during the storm.

You can tell from the drawings that the wind apparently was very very noisy.

Windy storm inspires pictures 3rd grade

 There was an exceptionally windy storm the night before we get that project. I tried to use the idea of what they heard during the storm and saw in the morning to inspire them on their drawings.
This project was done with oil pastels on regular drawing paper.
 It was fun to discuss with them what they might look like and how it might move around the in their drawings.
They were also given a choice of black or white paper so that they could do their designs.



 They turned out pretty good.

Pastel faces and more 4th-5th

This is the first year my classes have used oil pastels. We tried them out but the  student grade products were frankly crayons. I tried a new brand this year and we are sold on them. We did this project to compare how they react to alcohol and oil in blending but found little difference. They were to draw themselves or some other item of their choice.

Using mixedmedia to convey a message

The junior high group took on a different kind of a project in November. I had them create a 3D collage. They first created their own background papers using colored pencils. My direction was that they needed four different sizes of paper one to include a shape. 

They were assigned to one of three groups of the traits that they are currently using this year at school. The traits were compassion respect and responsibility. We used pages of quotes from the program for them to be able to select something to put on their largest piece of paper. 

When they were done with the text and designs, they affixed it to the blue background so that it had a 3-D appearance. Lastly we frame them and put them on the wall in the lobby.

Learning pastels

When I told the kids we were going to begin our drawing with crayons they were not too pleased with me. I drew along with them and drew this rooster. Once they had all of the elements of the rooster drawn then we took out the pastels and began to add color. I worked with them on different ways to spread the color and blend it. We have not previously used oil pastels and the color is fabulous. The roosters were done by the third grade class.

The fourth and fifth grade class were told that they could draw what they wanted to draw for this project and then experiment with using the oil pastels. Subjects ranged from a picture of themselves to penguins and tanks. A couple of them added lots of stars or other design elements. We used both oil and alcohol to promote blending of the pastels. The still think that the alcohol works better for blending.

Paper sculpture projects let students learn new skills

Combining paper and sculpture is a favorite of mine and some of the projects are ones that I have done before so know what will generally work but there are always surprises.

 I assume that kindergartners know what a tree looks like but judging from the pictures they made, the view from their height may influence their ideas. We used long paper strips from the shredder, colored paper shred, and colored paper punch to let them create a fall tree. I had an example and even drew one on the board but they do their own thing. Every tree has a trunk and branches but wow what a variety!

The 1st and 2nd graders did twisted paper bag trees. This one takes some measuring skill, cutting practice and mastering twisting 2 paper strands together before they get to the "fun" part of putting the leaves on the trees. The 1st grade ones are on display in the school lobby.






 The 2nd grade got really excited to find white tissue in the bag I brought and created many trees with snow on their fall leaves. 

The 3rd grade 3-D fish did not get photographed and made a rapid trip home. 

I tried out a challenging project on the 4th-5th class to replicate a sculpture of the type by Louise Nevelson, noted 20th century artist who used found objects in her sculptures. They had to measure the sides and draw lines to create their own boxes. This seems to create no small amount of confusion on what is 1/2" on the ruler. Everyone got a box done then created an item to fit inside the box that was personal for them. I showed my bicycle example and her found examples. After each student completed his 2" piece they were all mounted on a large piece of tag board and the resulting sculpture is on display in the school lobby.