I am already a week into 2nd semester and am now teaching at BCLUW. I'm loving this new challenge and getting to build relationships with new students, but I will admit that I miss the familiar faces of my South Hardin Tigers. :)
I thought I'd post one last update of what we did to finish 1st semester.
6th Grade:
Way back in October the students made some cool "Moon Silhouettes" using chalk and sponge painted the moon. Painting black branches and a critter seemed to be quite a challenge to them, but many turned out very neat! It was fun to see the students working on their projects while wearing their Halloween costumes one day. (This is an old project, but I realized I never posted it! Whoops!)
I thought I'd post one last update of what we did to finish 1st semester.
6th Grade:
Way back in October the students made some cool "Moon Silhouettes" using chalk and sponge painted the moon. Painting black branches and a critter seemed to be quite a challenge to them, but many turned out very neat! It was fun to see the students working on their projects while wearing their Halloween costumes one day. (This is an old project, but I realized I never posted it! Whoops!)
Hatchet Comic Books:
I did some collaboration with the 6th grade teachers and had the students make Comic Books based on the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, a book they were reading for class. We spent a good chunk of time working on this project as the students learned how to make a story into visual form (illustrations for a storyboard or comic strip), how to include words/captions, and design an eye-catching cover. They did a great job filling their comic books with "scenes" from different events in Hatchet.
I did some collaboration with the 6th grade teachers and had the students make Comic Books based on the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, a book they were reading for class. We spent a good chunk of time working on this project as the students learned how to make a story into visual form (illustrations for a storyboard or comic strip), how to include words/captions, and design an eye-catching cover. They did a great job filling their comic books with "scenes" from different events in Hatchet.
7th Grade:
Chuck Close Self-Portraits:
As the final project of their portrait and proportions unit, the students first learned about artist Chuck Close. I showed this video and we discussed 1. The challenges Chuck faced as an artist and 2. Why he paints faces. These kind of discussions are great because students get a chance to dig deeper into why art matters. Chuck has face blindness, which means he cannot recognize faces, even his own reflection! So in a way, he is trying to help himself remember faces by painting them in such detail. Fascinating stuff!
Chuck Close Self-Portraits:
As the final project of their portrait and proportions unit, the students first learned about artist Chuck Close. I showed this video and we discussed 1. The challenges Chuck faced as an artist and 2. Why he paints faces. These kind of discussions are great because students get a chance to dig deeper into why art matters. Chuck has face blindness, which means he cannot recognize faces, even his own reflection! So in a way, he is trying to help himself remember faces by painting them in such detail. Fascinating stuff!
To start, students looked in mirrors and we worked step by step to draw the different parts of their face in proportion. Next the students created a grid system with organic shapes (inspired by Chuck Close's work) to color it in. I thought many of these looked great when finished! A bit abstract, but each was unique.
Paper Snowflakes:
The classroom looked quite festive and colorful at the end of the semester. For a quick easy project, all the classes made these folded snowflakes. Very industrial studio time! I strung some up and used it as garland for the holidays. REALLY brightened up the room!
The classroom looked quite festive and colorful at the end of the semester. For a quick easy project, all the classes made these folded snowflakes. Very industrial studio time! I strung some up and used it as garland for the holidays. REALLY brightened up the room!
8th Grade:
Paper Quilling -
Students learned how to roll paper and glue it down in designs. Some did a snowflake like the example here, but many went their own route and made different "quilled" images. I even cracked open the glitter! (Which is pretty special, considering how much I hate that messy never-comes-off stuff). But the finished designs needed some extra glitz. :)
Architecture Silhouettes -
As another quick and easy project towards the end, I had students collage small pieces of tissue paper to look sort of like stained glass background. Then they had to find a famous building or architecture and cut the silhouette out of black paper to glue on. Can you guess what these are?:
Paper Quilling -
Students learned how to roll paper and glue it down in designs. Some did a snowflake like the example here, but many went their own route and made different "quilled" images. I even cracked open the glitter! (Which is pretty special, considering how much I hate that messy never-comes-off stuff). But the finished designs needed some extra glitz. :)
Architecture Silhouettes -
As another quick and easy project towards the end, I had students collage small pieces of tissue paper to look sort of like stained glass background. Then they had to find a famous building or architecture and cut the silhouette out of black paper to glue on. Can you guess what these are?:
Collaborative Rainbow Paintings!:
Lastly, as a fun project to end with and something that can be left up on display for 2nd semester...the students did a collaborative project. Each student picked their own subject for their painting (approved with me, of course) but were each assigned a different color. They had to use a monochromatic color scale with ONLY this color to paint their subject.
The end result was great! I was a little worried that we wouldn't finish enough on time, but when I got all of them up in the order of their colors, I was very happy with the display. I hope the students will enjoy seeing their teamwork on the wall for the next few months. :)
Lastly, as a fun project to end with and something that can be left up on display for 2nd semester...the students did a collaborative project. Each student picked their own subject for their painting (approved with me, of course) but were each assigned a different color. They had to use a monochromatic color scale with ONLY this color to paint their subject.
The end result was great! I was a little worried that we wouldn't finish enough on time, but when I got all of them up in the order of their colors, I was very happy with the display. I hope the students will enjoy seeing their teamwork on the wall for the next few months. :)