Prehistoric Art!!

Fourth and Fifth grade students are starting this year with the previously mentioned TIMELINE!! The timeline begins with the first form of art that we know, which is Prehistoric art or Cave art!! It is believed to be from about 32,000 years ago. They have found cave art on nearly every continent. During that time, they did not have crayons and markers like we have now, instead they would grind up stones and other natural materials to create their colors. Because they were only using natural materials they only had certain colors, including black, brown, red, white, and orange. Our students were able to use crayons and paint but only in those specific colors. We drew/painted on one large brown paper (per class) and crumpled it up and added black and brown shading to make it look more like a rock. Cave art animals were drawn much more realistic than the people. We drew our pets or favorite animals first, somewhat realistically but without a lot of details. Next we drew our families as stick figures. Lastly, we painted around our hands. This was very important in prehistoric art because the used their hand prints as signatures.

Also, we had fun creating our own cave art because we turned off the lights and used small lamps. Also, we taped the paper to the bottom of the table to show how some of the artists had to crawl in small spaces and paint on different types of surfaces.

After students were finished creating, myself and a few other (taller) teachers helped hang it in the hallway to have a "cave" in our school. SO AWESOME!!!!

Art Timeline!!!

This year we are creating an art timeline to show how art history has progressed from the first form of art to today's contemporary art. We are also using our projects to create a visual art timeline in the room. I put a long string on the wall and at the end of each project I will add one student's project to the timeline with the date. By the end of the year we will have an amazing group timeline!! 4th and 5th grade will start with cave art, from 32,000 years ago. Cave art is the first form of art that we know, and they will continue until the twentieth century. The Junior High group will start at the twentieth century until art from today. They are starting with the artist Henri Rousseau from about 1910. They have already started and they are coming out so beautiful!!! Stay tuned for pictures!!!

"Getting To Know You" Puzzzle

This was such a wonderful project for the first days of schools. It allows students to color, cut and learn about their classmates. We start with a blank 9 piece puzzle. In the middle piece they write their name. In the eight other pieces they draw things about themselves, for example, their favorite food, movie, place, cartoon, toy, or what they want to be when they grow up. When they have finished coloring every piece they can cut on the black lines. When students are finished cutting out all of the pieces they can go find a classmate and exchange puzzles!!! They really enjoyed this project and learning about each other.

Crayon Rewards!!!

Do you ever wonder what to do with all of those broken and tiny crayons that the kids don't want to use anymore? Well, here's an idea.... STAR CRAYONS!!! When a student has gone above and beyond on their project or to help another student I reward them with star crayons!!! I used to buy pencils, erasers, stickers and more until I started making these new crayons, and they are so much more effective!! Kids of any age love these crayons!!

Directions - *do not try without an adult!!!!!

1. peel off all of the wrappers from the crayons (I have found that students actually like helping with this task)


2. separate into similar colors (red and orange, blue and green, pink and purple, etc) or you can experiment with your own combinations!! I use paper plates to separate


3. preheat oven to 350 degrees


4. break crayons into smaller pieces.


5. use a silicone baking pan (shown below). I got mine at Jo-Ann fabrics. Do not use a silicone ice cube tray, I tried it and it did not work!!!


6. fill with the small, broken, and separated crayons


7. place on a metal backing sheet!!!! this is very important so that you can pull it out of the oven!


8. place it in the oven for about 12 minutes. Cooking time may vary depending on your oven.


9. Afterwards, carfully take it out of the oven and let cool


10. After it has cooled, the crayons should pop out easily!!!


11. And finally... COLOR!!!!

*In our HOT Arizona summers, I am able to place it outside in the sun and it will melt (sometimes you may have to turn it)

2011-2012 School Year!!!!

Hello!! Welcome back to the 2011-2012 School Year!! I am so excited to be back and see all of the kids smiling faces!! Here are a few pictures of my art room this year! Notice the tables are now named after artists so the students can become aware of some famous artists!!!

Below are some pictures of what I use for classroom management..

"A.R.T." - If the class, as a whole, is getting too loud or not staying on task then i begin flipping over the letters. If I have to flip over the "T" then they stop art class and we talk about their behavior. They can earn the letters back if they are doing a better job at staying on task.

At the end of class.. if it still says "A. R. T" then the class gets a crayon in their crayon box!! once they get 10 crayons they get to have a fun art day (free draw, art games, sidewalk chalk etc.)

Color Wheel Pizza

Grades k-2 studied a lesson on colors, particularly the primary and secondary colors! We sang a song about colors, completed a worksheet on colors and then we created a color wheel pizza. This project not only taught the students color but also cutting, pasting, painting, and texture. Students really enjoyed drawing the toppings on their pizza, painting the colors and they loved pretending to eat the colors. I overheard some students pretending to choose which piece they wanted and then pretending to eat it!!

Mural!

Junior High students got an amazing oppurtunnity from Herrera school neighbors. They contacted us and asked if we would like to paint their brick wall, and we said "OF COURSE!!!!" First, we discussed what subject we would like to paint. There were so many great ideas that involved our school, our community, and our culture. So, we decided to add a bit of each of them!

Here are some pictures (above) of the wall before and the original sketch. Below are some pictures of the progress!

Wayne Thiebaud!!

Wayne Thiebaud is a POP ARTIST (which means that he is interested in painting things from mass culture) from MESA, ARIZONA!!! He is most well known for his paintings of ice cream, pies, cakes and candies. He began drawing and painting in the fifties and one summer he worked at Walt Disney drawing goofy, Pinnochio and Jimminy Cricket making only $14.00 a week. 1st and 2nd graders at Herrera used oil pastels and studied cylinders, groundline and using shadow.

mosaics!!!!

3rd and 4th Graders at Herrera created animal mosaics!!! I let them choose any animal of their choice and then they sketched out a very simple drawing on white paper. I reminded them to fill up the whole page, draw simple (no fine details) and draw big!!! After they sketched it out we used PAINT SWATCHES (that were donated) to create the mosaic. In each color of the Mosaic we used different shades of that color to create interest. This project took us longer than we had anticipated, however, I think the results came out beautifully and show all of the effort that was put into each tile.

PuPpEtS!!!!

I love making finger puppets!!! It is one of my favorite projects that I do every year. I am always amazed at the creativity of my students. Every class uses the same materials (felt, pom-poms, google eyes, feathers and buttons), but every student's puppet is so different!!! The first time I did this project I made everyone do an animal puppet, but students were asking if they could make something else like a pirate, star wars, or a self-portrait (see below), and many more great ideas, so now I do not limit them to an animal. One student even made a puppet portrait of me, Mrs. Castrigano (see below, the one with the paintbrush and feather hair). I also enjoy students creating puppets about things they love and enjoy, like the basketball puppets below. I do this lesson with 5-8th graders because I feel you are never to old to make puppets!!