September Art Update!

Hello and Welcome back to the Westlawn Art Blog!

If you are visiting for the first time, I am so glad you stopped by! On the blog you will see monthly updates, including pictures and descriptions of what is happening in art class!

During the month of September ALL Westlawn students (in grade 5K-5th grade) took part in 3 special art activities including:
*A Where's Waldo themed collaborative art project that we titled "Where's Mrs. Ramos?"
*Sketchbook making!
*An entire class dedicated to exploring Free Choice Art!

Take a look at the picture collages below!

Where's Mrs. Ramos?

Once the display was complete, the students were challenged to find Mrs. Ramos in the sea of Waldo look-a-likes. Each of the staff members were also added to the display! Some students are still looking for Mrs. Ramos in addition to their own self portrait! If you are visiting Westlawn come and take a look in person!

Sketchbook Making!

Some Kindergarten and 1st graders with their sketchbook covers! Students designed the covers by drawing a self-portrait and writing their name. They also spent time adding color and designs to the picture frame and letters on the bottom.  

2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students created sketchbooks from Piggly Wiggle paper bags! THANK YOU Piggly Wiggly for donating paper grocery bags!! The students learned how to transform the grocery bag into a sketchbook (WITH handles!) and then added pages, along with a sketchbook inspiration checklist and a pocket! Throughout the school year, the students will use their sketchbooks in a variety of ways, but of course the primary purpose is to grow in their drawing abilities and ENJOY drawing! We spent time looking at sketches from famous artists as well as different types of sketches to INSPIRE and MOTIVATE ourselves to draw, draw, draw!😄

Above the pocket of the sketchbook are the 5 things students know to do when completing a sketchbook entry. I like to remind the students that it will be so neat to see their growth from the beginning of the school year to the end AND someday look back at their drawings from elementary school! Please encourage your child to draw outside of school whenever they get the chance!

Free Choice Art!

The students spent an entire art class exploring art activities at the Free Choice Art Station! To help guide the students in their art making, I created a menu of options (pictured above). We talked about how it is unhealthy to only ever eat the same foods day after day, and how our minds are just like that. Instead of only using the same art materials time and time again, I encouraged the students to try NEW things at the FCAS and experiment with different materials and methods!
The students spent the art class exploring ONE feature of the FCAS and then reflected on what they enjoyed about the art activity with their classmates. It was SO COOL to see what the students created and how they used their creative minds in the art making process!

Here are some of the art creations from Free Choice Art...

Magnets!

Art Memory!

Colored Shape Blocks!

Straws and Connectors!

Foam Building Blocks!

Mixed Media!

Origami!

Check out what is happening in each grade...

4K students started their very FIRST art class reading the book "Beautiful Oops" by Barney Saltzberg! In the book, Barney shows how you can take a mistake and turn it into something BEAUTIFUL or AWESOME or even FUNNY! After reading the book I showed the students a variety of "oops's" I found in the art room recycling bin (either mistakes students had made, I had made, or some I made up 😉). Together we brainstormed what we could make out of the mistakes! They had some FANTASTIC ideas, very ORIGINAL! You can see in the pictures above, the two artworks we made (pieces of crumbled tissue paper turned into flowers and s smear of yellow paint turned into a parrot... we named him "Rainbow Parrot")!

Afterwards, the students chose their own oops from a big pile of oops's and used their own creativity to make it into something! Although some of the final products weren't the most polished looking artworks I had ever seen, the thought process that went into making each of them was PRICELESS! From the youngest students to the oldest, the ability to problem solve and view mistakes as an opportunity to GROW is SO VALUABLE!!

5K students read the book "When Picasso Met Mootisse"as an introduction to their next art project! The fictional characters are based on famous artists, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse! The students played a fun art game called "Roll a Picasso" as a way to learn how to draw a portrait in Picasso's Cubist style. The students made their portraits into PUMPKINS! The next class, the students painted paper with green and yellow, and orange and yellow. Soon, the students will be turning their painted papers into Picasso style PUMPKINS like their drawings!

1st grade is learning about Henri Matisse in art class! Like the kindergarten students, they read the book "When Pigasso met Mootisse" as an introduction to their project! They then looked at the artwork of Henri Matisse and studied the colors and shapes that he used in his artwork. The students are now in the process of mixing LOTS of different colors that they will be using to make into their Matisse Inspired Mobiles!

2nd grade is continuing a project they started last school year, VanGogh Inspired Sunflowers! The students are continuing to study VanGogh's style of painting and are gradually adding the features to make their artwork complete! Once all of the petals and cut and glued (and oh my does that take patience and perseverance), the students will add final details with oil pastels. They look forward to showing off their final artworks SOON! :)

3rd grade is starting one of my FAVORITE art projects, Creative Color Wheels! The students are in the midst of painting their color grids that will then be transformed into a unique color wheel! It is not as easy as simply painting paper, the students need to hand mix the secondary and tertiary colors on the color wheel. They are learning all kinds off cool facts about color in this unit and will be putting their knowledge about color to the test!

4th grade students are creating Fall Tree Paintings! They are learning how to draw trees and branches and will then be turning their drawings into paintings! The students are well aware that the project is a challenging one, but are doing a good job showing grit and perseverance in the process. Already their has been so much growth in the students' ability to draw trees! I cannot wait to how much further they come in their drawing and painting abilities and look forward to seeing the breathtaking fall tree paintings in the end!

5th grade students are reflecting about what is important to them and what makes them unique by creating a collage of drawings in the form of a self-portrait silhouette! The NEW Chromebooks are being put to good use in helping the student look up ideas and draw images from observation. The students were asked to make a list of at least 15 things that represent their personality and then turn those 15 things into drawings. It has been fun to learn more about the students and what types of things are important to them (this year I have been hearing a lot about Fort Night 😉... not even sure if that's how it's spelled, haha)!