Play Dough Dots September 25, 2013

The K/1 class came this week and we read Little Blue, Little Yellow.  (Another option is Mouse Paint– also great!)  Such a great little book about mixing colors!  Using play dough in only primary colors, the students explored what happens when they mixed the different balls together.

Need a good recipe for homemade play dough?

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
food coloring

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir nonstop until the dough gets very thick and sticky.  Pull dough out and knead on the counter (careful, it’s hot!) until the play dough is soft and play dough-y.

Sun Prints September 24, 2013

Have you ever tried this NaturePrint paper?  It’s pretty neat.  The 4/5 class tested it out using leaves as stencils.  All you do is find a sunny spot in the room, put the paper in the sun with objects on top and wait 2 minutes.  Next, you soak the paper in water for 1 minute, and done!

Color, Shape, or Size September 23, 2013

The kindergarten students are busy sorting/grouping/collecting various shapes this week.  After reading The Shapes Game, students are exploring a bowl full of circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles of all different colors and sizes.  The students were challenged to create pictures with the shapes using only one grouping of shapes.  For example, they could make a picture using only green shapes, or only triangle shapes, or only tiny shapes.  Here are some samples:

  

A butterfly and face, made of only circles.

  

A flower of only blue shapes, and a house using only purple shapes.

 

Art Studio Notes September 17, 2013

1.  Students in JK-2 have Art once a week.  Students in 3-5 have Art twice a week.  Be sure you know which day(s) your child has Art so that appropriate clothing can be worn.  The Art Studio does not provide smocks, so if wish for your student to wear a smock, it must be kept in their cubby in the classroom and worn to Art.

2.  Do you want to volunteer?  There are several opportunities for working in the Art Studio, especially in the lower grades.  Please email Aimee Kerr for more information: akerr@cpsd.us

3. Donations!  The Art Studio gladly welcomes donations of: newspaper, shoe boxes, toilet paper tubes, paper grocery bags, along with almost any other crafty thing you can think of.

4.  I want to introduce Ms. Kong, my student teacher for the first 8 weeks of school.  Ms. Kong is a graduate student at BU’s College of Fine Arts.  Over the next 5 weeks or so, Ms. Kong will be taking over more and more of the weekly classes. 

Symmetrical and Asymmetrical

The 4/5 DD class is mastering the difference between symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes.  They can identify objects in the Art Studio that are symmetrical, such as tables, light switches, people, and stools.  Asymmetrical objects they’ve noted are the American flag/pole, a pair of scissors, and a hand.

For the first practice with symmetry, students cut out stencils, both symmetrical and asymmetrical.  They used the stencils with both watercolor spray bottles and tempera paints to create abstract designs.

Today, they cut out initials of their names, and created monoprints on plexiglass using their initial stencils.  They noticed that A’s, I’s, and K’s are symmetrical; and J’s and R’s are asymmetrical.

 

Welcome back! September 16, 2013

A new school year has started again!  2 weeks in, and it feels like we never left.  The Art Studio is back at full force, already drawing, painting, printmaking, and collage-ing.

The K/1 DD classes are just beginning The Dot Project.  They will be investigating dot-making through many, many different mediums and techniques, including collage, stamping, play dough, bubbles, ceramics, painting, and more.

For their first 2 classes, we have read Dot and Lots of Dots.  They collaged circles of many sizes and materials last week; and this week, they stamped a variety of circle-shaped objects.

  

 

Do you know any other good Dot related books we should read?