4th Graders Head to the Ocean!

 This challenging project began with a major painting operation! Students were required to mix 4 tints of blue, from light to darker, to create the ocean. This task is not as easy as it might seem!  We looked at the impressive murals of Robert Wyland first, to grasp the idea of looking up from the ocean depths and being able to see the sun through the water.  After lots of drawing practice, students cut out and glued, or drew, their favorite sea creatures in silhouette.  The results are striking!

3rd Grade Winter Landscapes

 I am not a big fan of winter, but these beautiful landscapes look just magical!  Students experimented with white charcoal pencils and chalk blending, finding inspiration in the swirling wind and night sky of Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night.  I took on the task of adding the speckled snow effect with a toothbrush and watered down acrylic paint.  The last step: white glitter in a few areas, to achieve that sparkling snow effect. LOVE these!!

5th Grade Gesture Drawings

 5th graders have been hard at work on a figure drawing unit, part of which is tackling gesture drawing.  They began by posing for each other, practicing the gesture technique, and focusing on proportion.  Students then developed an idea for a final drawing that involved figures in action, and also included music. There were so many creative ideas! Students put great thought into representing music through line, color, and shape, which is a challenging concept. Bravo, Tesago kids!

Snowflake Secrets

   
     First graders learned the secrets of making an impressive snowflake, which involved beginning with a circle of tissue paper, not a rectangle.  Thinner paper makes a big difference!  Students did some fancy folding, and cut shapes from all 3 sides. They were all very impressed with the results!

2nd Grade Friendly Monsters

 The focus for this project was organic shape.  Students took a loop of string, and experimented with creating different organic shapes on a large piece of paper.  Once the perfect shape was created, students traced it, cut it out, and used it to create an imaginative monster.  The kids had great fun with this lesson, and the hallway display produced many smiles!

4th Grade Vases and Faces

  This is a new project that I discovered on Pinterest, a great site for ideas!  The kids LOVED it, and it is an excellent way to teach negative space- the space around or in between an object.  I traced everyone's silhouette while we were working on another project, and then we were ready to roll.  We explored the work of M. C. Escher, and also discussed how to use line and shape to make the vase look more 3D.  I will definitely be repeating this lesson next year!

Cute Cat Alert!

 First graders used geometric shapes to create these cute cats, and were very excited about the 3-D aspect of this project.  Although this is a Halloween type of activity, students will be able to apply what they have learned when they want to create a different 4 legged animal.  Meow!!