The other day, I had to take a day from school. I created a sub plan video for my sub to use with my first through fourth grade classes. My younger kids worked on 9" X 12" paper because they have 30 minute art classes. My older students worked on 12" X 18" pieces of paper since they have an hour. I created this video and a simple handout. When I had returned, the students had gotten as far as tracing their designs in Sharpie. They were SO EXCITED to continue working on these that I put their current projects aside to let them finish. Here are a handful of fourth grader's pieces that have been finished and are in process.
I'm loving each and every one! Since this was such an engaging lesson for the kids, I thought I'd share it with y'all. If you are going to NAEA this coming week and in need of a lesson, you might consider using this!
In addition to the video I created for my sub, I also made these handouts. That way the kiddos would recall a simple breakdown of the lesson. Feel free to reproduce for your art teacherin' world.
I also had a production of a James Rizzi cityscape as well as some images of the Nashville skyline. The kids were told they could create ANY city they wanted: real or imagined. Many of my students are interested in the buildings of Nashville since we live so close so that's why I included that visual.
My students were also allowed to use my how to draw books which is why you'll see some recognizable cartoon characters on the buildings. Several of them also used my mirrors so they could create self-portrait buildings or simply see how to portray different emotions.
I did notice that some students got a little lazy when it came time to create doors and windows. So I reproduced a doors and windows idea sheet from line drawings printed from the internet. This really helped encourage more creativity.
So many of them just went wild with this lesson and they really loved it!
When I returned, I introduced them to Vincent van Gogh and we spent a lot of time learning about him, looking at his paintings and chatting about his brushstrokes. Then we looked at The Starry Night and used that as our inspiration for our skies.
For that we used both oil pastels and markers. Once our skies were full of dashed lines, we simply added water!
From there, we used the warm colors (ahem, well, some of us did) to add color to the sides and top of the buildings. Afterward, water was added. This was a super non-mess way to create a vibrant and creative masterpiece.
Unfortunately, my kiddos are in various stages of finishing. Why have we not been able to invent a All Finished At The Same Time Machine yet?! Ugh, the worst. So here as some spectacular almost-finished masterpieces.
This is easily a lesson that ALL of my students adored, from first grade all the way up to fourth.
And certainly one that a sub, even if not an "art" sub, could handle.
I know a James Rizzi lesson isn't anything new...but I thought this was a fun and SIMPLE take on it that even a sub (or us...when we are nearing spring break and need that easy project that also keeps them engaged!) could use.
Speaking of sub days...who is going to NAEA?! I'm so excited, I've never been to Seattle before.
I won't be leading any sessions but I will be doing TWO meet-ups and I'd love to see you.
You can join me on Friday in the Activa booth where you can make and take one of these cuties! Or just hang out and chat.
Or come hang out on Saturday with me and the podcastin' gang from AOE! Tim will be there along with the AOE team so it will be super fun.
A while back, I had two third grade classes that were a head of the pack (I see my third and fourth grade classes combined, meaning I have two classes at once. It's how I am able to get an hour with my older kids). I didn't want them to jump ahead to the next project so I got a WILD hair (I get many, it turns out) and decided that they should learn about James Rizzi and create a giant Rizzi City...in one class period. Crazy is as crazy does, whatever that means.
I allowed the kids to pick their Rizzi City Building Teams with groups of 4 kids. I had a mountain of large painted papers for the kids to pick from as the base for their building. Smaller papers were used for the roof tops.
I often have a stockpile of such papers because when my students finish early, one of the options for them is to go paint some pattern papers. I'll lay sheets of bulletin board paper out, paint a pattern on it and they are to repeat the pattern. These papers are then used for large projects such as this.
After the teams picked their building paper and roof, they set to work with scissors, glue and mountains of papers for windows, doors and faces. We'd spent some time going through a prezi I had created on the artist, so we were feeling all sorts of inspired.
Once the pieces were glued down, the kids were allowed to use white and/or black paint to add details. The kids really loved working together to create their building and they turned out so fun and happy. A fellow teacher said they reminded them of PeeWee's Playhouse which you know is a HUGE compliment!
For our art show next week, I thought I'd get these bad boys up! There is a cork strip behind the buildings. With the help of my P.E. buddy, I got the buildings pinned in place and just added a couple of lines of hot glue to the tops of the buildings. They'll stay up until the start of the new school year. OR when the Fire Marshall says to take 'em down.
Then I got ANOTHER wild hair and decided that the buildings needed some clouds above them. This was totally a pinterest idea, y'all. I picked up a set of 6 light up lanterns at the local craft place and, with the help of my other P.E. buddy (what would I do without my specials team?!), we hot glued cotton batting to the lanterns. They won't stay up for long, just until the art show.
The fact that they light up pretty much makes my world go round.
If I had all the time in the world, I would have had the kids then create a Rizzi-inspired cityscape. But, alas, this was just a go-between project to slow down a group that was speeding ahead.
This has gotten a lot of giggles from the kiddos (and adults!). These buildings are as fun as Rizzi's paintings, says me.
So much to do until the art show next Tuesday...but I can scratch this off the list!
We had more buildings than we did space...which meant that some of the buildings had to flank our It's Okay mural from last year. I can't bear to take it down, I love the message!
Um, yes.
I can't wait to give y'all a tour of the art show...until then, have a fun Friday!
With winter break right around the corner, I'm thinking ahead (for once!) about the projects my students will be working on come January. We are experiencing a break down in behavior in my classes of older students (nothing major, just more chattiness and lack of focus than what I'm used to) so we'll be returning to our start-of-the-school year chat about rules and routines. But I do want my students to still feel the love! So I'm putting together some love-themed projects for all of my classes. This here Rizzi-inspired Love Birds for my third graders is my first installment.
Lots of focus on vocabulary in this lesson. This project will really help us explore creating a gradation, mixing tints and shades, discovering value and that's just on the first day! From there, we'll be working on creating a composition of our choice. I'm excited to see what my students create when we start these next month.
I have noticed my kids respond really well to Rizzi and his colorful works of art. A couple of my third grade classes are working on large-scale Rizzi-inspired buildings to create a city. I'll be certain to share them in an upcoming post.
Rizzi's landscapes often features a gradation of light to blue as he often will have day and night in his work. I thought this would be a great tie in and give the kids a chance to learn how to create a gradation.
Aren't his bird pieces so fun and happy?
My biggest concern with kids creating at this age is that they do not draw large enough. Such is the reason I provided a guided-drawing activity for them in the video. This will help them understand the scale at which they are to create the most impact.
Do you have some favorite Valentine's Day/Celebration of Love projects? I'd love to hear about them. And if you give this lesson a go, please let me know!
