Science Fair Flowers May 30, 2013

Today was the Morse School Science Fair!  The kindergarteners and 2nd graders were displaying art projects in addition to their science exhibits.  The kindergarteners in Mr. K’s class created huge paper mache flowers (strawberry, pine, and daffodil), and came to the Art Studio to paint their creations.  Their partially finished paintings from Art were also on display.  The kindergarteners were focused on the important parts of a flower: stem, leaves, petals, pollen, pistil, and stamen.

The 2nd grade table showcased some of the life-cycle flower pots, which are nicely sprouting!  The larger leaves will be lettuce and the smaller sprouts will be small white flowers called alyssum.

  

 

State Birds, finished! May 24, 2013

The 4th graders have started to finish their state birds!  After painting feathers and details, many students chose to find sticks outside to glue the birds onto.  One student even made a next for “homework”!

A Purple Finch, Bluebird, and Robin.

A Mockingbird.

A Carolina Wren.

Van Gogh Sunflowers May 23, 2013

The Junior K students have been learning about Vincent Van Gogh and his paintings, in particular, his sunflowers.  Last week, they used plaster gauze to create 3D sunflowers, and today they began painting.  Their goal with painting was to use yellow, orange, and white in short, choppy brushstrokes- similar to Van Gogh’s style.  The colors mixed and swirled together in beautiful ways.  And added bonus today- they got to taste test sunflower seeds!

Some students at work:

 

Most Improved! May 22, 2013

Drawing Lab is coming to a close.  Back in September, 3rd-5th graders drew still lifes.  We’ve been saving those drawings all year, learning drawing skills and techniques along the way.  Currently, students are re-drawing the same still life.  With new knowledge of 3d volumes, shading techniques, shadows, negative space, color blending, etc., all students can expect to see improvement.  From a 4th grade class, I’ve picked 3 drawings that show the most improvement.  Expect to see more soon!

 

 

Dinos, continued May 13, 2013

The K/1 class has been working with enlarged photocopies of their dinosaur drawings.  After coloring the dinos using the Paintbrush program, the students also painted their drawings.  They had a choice of using tempera paint or “magic” paint (markers and water).  Here are some results from their choices:

State birds; almost done! May 12, 2013

I know the 4th graders haven’t had much news lately…but with field trips and performances and MCAS, they’ve been busy!  Nevertheless, they’re almost finished with their state bird sculptures; made from paper mache.  Students are in the final stage of painting the sculptures!

Here are a few of the almost-finished birds:

Poetry month May 11, 2013

April was Poetry Month!  1st graders have been reading poems by Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein, who both have written funny, inspirational poems about imaginary animals.  Students each chose 3 animals and sketched what a combo creature would look like.  Using clay, they translated their drawings to 3 dimensions.

Can you tell what 3 animals have been combined?

 

Save the Dates! May 8, 2013

Attention parents of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders!!

 

Life Cycles coming to life! May 4, 2013

The 2nd graders finished their coil flower pots, and are now scratching in their designs.  The pots have not been fired, and the students are practicing a technique called sgraffito, where they scratch through a layer of glaze to show the clay underneath.  Students are illustrating life cycles on the pots, either the life cycle of a frog, butterfly, or flower.  If you look closely in 2 of the photos, you’ll see their sketches that they are working from.  After the pots are fired, they will be planting seeds of their own!

  

  

Triple Self Portraits May 3, 2013

The kindergarteners drew detailed self portraits.  With a little magic help of the copy machine, students soon had 3 identical drawings.  Inspired by Andy Warhol’s multiple, colorful prints, students colored each portrait differently.  One was with primary colors, one warm colors, and one cool colors.  Using watercolor pencils and water with markers turned ordinary art materials into easy, clean paintings!  If you see a kindergartener, ask about the color wheel, they are quickly becoming experts!