First Art Project

To kick start the new school year, we focused on a school-wide art project inspired by smART class that would include every student at Coral Academy of Science Elementary School.

The rainbow palette was used to celebrate the many cultures at our school and each child's self-portrait depicts his/her unique role within this one "rainbow".

The classroom was organized with each table as a color on the rainbow and those seated at that table could only use one color to create their self-portraits (monochomatic and exploring value--"How do I color my skin if I only have blue colors?"). The 4th grade was further challenged with adding one analogous ( a "neighbor" on the color wheel) color to their portraits.

For this assignment, I gave very little instruction on how to draw as I wanted to assess the students technique and current abilities. However, I did give them parameters to work within:

1) Self-portrait of head/bust only (one class included bodies for variety)

2) No white space allowed in the foreground or the background

3) Use all three media (artistic tools) in the basket: crayons, markers, and colored pencils.

4) Use the pencil correctly, using very light layout lines and avoiding the use of an eraser.

Art and Literacy

Those who completed their projects early were encouraged to read the selection of art books in the room. A couple of favorites so far were:

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

Looking at Paintings: Self Portraits by Peggy Roalf

I am Marc Chagall by Bimba Landmann

Be sure to come into the school at the end of next week to see the amazing mural on exhibit on the office gallery wall.

Art and Spatial Reasoning

Observation is key in a fine art curriculum. Consider this particular assignment. Are the eyes on the forehead or has the student observed they lay farther down on the face? Are the eyes spaced too close together? How is the mouth really shaped instead of a simple arch? As the students become better observers of their world, they will  become better artists, readers, scientists, mathematicians, and skilled problem solvers in general.  

Art and Fine Motor Skills

Art is one of the best activities for improving fine motor skills and manual dexterity. Improved motor skills equals improved handwriting (communication) and overall feeling of accomplishment. Many of the activities will focus on improving their motor skills with the art tools and following step-by-step instructions.

Art Fun at Home for Primary Students + Kindergarten

• Tracing or dot-to-dot
• Choose pictures with small areas to color.
• Use different sized crayons, colored pencils or even fine-tip markers to color neatly in the lines.
• Play-doh sculptures
• Beading jewelry 

Kindergarten Focus:
This week kindergarten focused on creating faces using shapes: ovals, circles, triangles, etc. They learned what a background was in a picture.