Some of the kindergarteners’ sandpainted suns are on display in the main hallway near the nurses office. Other suns are being saved for the Morse School Art Show!
Sandpainted Suns December 19, 2013
The kindergarten students drew beautiful suns, and were so excited to learn how they were going to color them after I told them that markers, paint, and the other usual choices were out. Instead, we used glue and sand to create textural color for the suns. Inspired by suns seen in Native American art, students were challenged to draw an unusual sun with a variety of rays and shapes. We also had a great conversation about why Native American sandpaintings did not include pink, purple, red, blue, or green colored sands!
Tall Tall Grass Mural November 7, 2013
Kindergarteners have been working on a collaborative mural, based on the book, In the Tall Tall Grass. They learned how to cut wavy and zig-zag lines for the grass. They made leaf prints using colorful fall leaves; and drew “monster bugs” to fit into the grass.
How beautiful and colorful!
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.
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.
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!
Landscapes (and Giraffes)! March 19, 2013
When asked, “what else can be in a landscape besides trees?”, kindergarteners gave me many many answers. We looked at 10 different master landscape paintings and they named: water, animals, people, buildings, clouds, stars, volcanoes, bridges, etc.
While working on other projects, the kindergarteners have had tree handouts in their folders to color whenever they have free time. The trees were in 3 different sizes. I tested their knowledge of perspective and what the horizon line means, and had the students glue the trees on in the correct place on their landscape. (We have spent quite a few classes learning about horizon lines and perspective and size) After gluing the trees on, the students were free to add anything else to their landscapes they wanted.
And yes, you are correct if you notice giraffes in both drawings. I guess it was a giraffe kind of day in KK.
Snowflakes on display February 12, 2013
Kindergarteners have their snowflakes on display at Superintendent Young’s office! This printmaking unit emphasized the skill of line printing with cardboard. Symmetry and patterns were the focus for each unique snowflake. This experimental lesson was the warm up for snowflake printing. The prints will be on display at 159 Thorndike St. until March 8th.
Line Printing January 16, 2013
Line printing is so simple and basic, but it’s amazing how captivating it can be! Kindergarteners were given cardboard and black paint, and had the freedom to create anything they wanted. The range of subjects included: cities and buildings, flowers, stars, trains, letters, trees, animals, robots, as well as abstract designs. This exploration day was an important warm up to our snowflake and symmetry lesson coming up.
Primary Color Day December 10, 2012
Today was Primary Color Day in the kindergarten classes! They celebrated those 3 important colors by wearing red, yellow, and blue to school. In Art, they’re learning about the art of Piet Mondrian, and creating patterns and collages, inspired by his work.
And, how can we have a celebratory day without a dance party at the end of class?! Check out this great video on youtube: OK Go, for Sesame Street.
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