Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

This year with 5th grade, I've tried what I consider to be a bold, outside-the-box project.  Prompted by a student's request that we do a project related to manga, and our Asian art theme, and the new Mr. Sketch markers, I thought about how I could tie all that together. 

Years ago when I was teaching K-8 at a small Catholic school, I tried this on the first day of my Art Appreciation class with the middle schoolers.  I turned on the Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Parts 1 and 2 and asked them to sketch whatever images came to mind as they listened to the music.  They thought I was from another planet.  They were used to nuns and opera music in the art room.  Robots were unheard of.  But their images were interesting.  I think they were held back mostly by the fact that they were middle school kids, and thus more concerned with looking cool than with being creative. 

This year's 5th graders are diving into this project with uncanny enthusiasm.  Maybe it's because I told them a fellow student gave me this idea, or maybe it's the musical element, or the smelly markers.  The objectives for this lesson included drawing body proportions of the girl Yoshimi, face proportions, choosing a type of balance to use (i.e. radial or asymmetrical) and experimenting with comic style lettering.  So far they are enjoying it.  I'll have to post some examples when they finish.

At least for now, they are all singing, "Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me, but you won't let those robots eat me..."

Crane count: 89

It's going slower than I thought. At least that gives me more time to figure out what to DO with them all! Apparently fundraising for the Red Cross has all sorts of regulations associated with it, so I'll probably have to make some calls.

Just thinking...

I love it when a kid randomly asks me to spell something and then I later find that word in a little love note on my desk. Today a 1st grader asked me how to spell "girl" and then 10 minutes later she handed me a folded piece of paper that said, "I love you you are the best nice girl." Also today I was waiting for my Kindergarteners to settle down at the beginning of class. I usually close the door, turn off the lights and stand by the door "pressing pause." (It's my school's universal quiet sign: Hand raised with one finger extended, as if pushing an invisible pause button.) It was almost quiet in the room except for a little fidgeting. I opened my mouth and inhaled ready to say, "Good afternoon, Kindergarten." But I was interrupted by a cute little voice saying, "You're pretty, Ms. ___." You can interrupt me with that stuff all day, kid. This amuses me too, because I normally feel like I am pretty stern with the kids. I really have very little tolerance for what some consider to be normal kid behavior, such as asking irrelevant questions, frequent requests for bathroom breaks, tattling, and short attention spans. But they still give me love notes and random hugs in the hallway, so I guess I'm not as mean as I think.

Artist's Trading Cards

I've noticed that students really love these mini-art projects and I think they're a great way to reinforce vocabulary words that we learn along with each project, especially Elements and Principles. I had previously kept a folder in my classroom with info for students to make these on their own, but they weren't working on those with the level of quality I wanted to see. So I think as a follow-up to all my big lessons, I'll have the students (at least 3rd grade and up) create a trading card for the Element or Principle we focused on for the project. I also found this worked well for my classes who have missed out on the big projects because of snow days or other scheduling hiccups. Instead of having them create the whole project on Radial Balance, I just had them work for one class period on an ATC. They were really into it once we got started and they loved digging through my "junk box" to find treasures for use in their cards. I required that the whole background of the card be covered first to avoid looking unfinished, and I also required that they encorporate the vocabulary word in their design, using cut collaged letters (ransom-note style.)

Here is my example for radial balance:

It would also be fun to try this with representations for different artists, and have students make a card in the style of Kandinsky or Van Gogh. This would work best with older students. I've only tried that with 5th graders so far. But I think as a summative assesment tool these could be very effective, not to mention fun! My kiddos love the idea of making them for other people, and I've always wanted to start a trading group with another school. Dream Big. :D

The Dot

I was looking for a way to use value in a quick project for First grade after last week's fingerprint value scale turned out to be a success. Finally I remembered that I could adapt the Kindergarten lesson on Emphasis and kill two birds here.

I read one of my favorite books, The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds, to my first grade students. They were especially interested in the character Vashti's painting in which she made a dot by "not painting a dot". I gave them a small piece of card stock and asked them to draw a dot with a pencil, then cut out the shape. They taped this dot onto a piece of paper and I had them paint the whole paper with one color of paint, plus black and white. They quickly discovered that they could change the value of the color by mixing. The tricky part was getting them not to turn the entire paper a nasty gray... But I solved that by asking them to keep the black and white pots in their palette "pure" so that they would have some left over. Some of them followed those directions, some didn't. I am having such a hard time with this whole first grade group this year...it's crazy.

Anyway, after their entire piece of paper was painted, they left it to dry. The next week, they got their paintings back and I had them draw swirls on top of the paint with white oil pastels. They could also use a pastel in the color from their paint palette if they chose. We discussed Emphasis and how the Dot would be the most important part of this picture, so it should show up really well. Finally, they removed the card stock dot and saw how they had made a dot by "not painting a dot." Here is an example of the results:

So far I'm happy with how these turned out. They have a little bit of a "Starry Night Quality, and you could probably do this lesson as a variation of that if you had the kiddos draw stars instead of dots. But I'm so over Starry Night lessons for personal reasons. ;)

On a completely unrelated note, I've started an Etsy shop. So far I've mostly got prints of my photographs for sale, but there are a few jewelry items there and I've got a couple more to post in the next few weeks. So here's a link to that if you're interested!

Neverbird Arts on Etsy

September

So here we are in September. The kids are beginning to hit their stride for the year, and I'm finally breathing after the rush to get things rolling. Our district has a new initiative to "teach with urgency" and pretty much...it's stressing me out. I was already teaching with urgency but now I've stepped up my game and it barely leaves time for potty breaks. I've re-done my entire curriculum and here are some examples (made by me) of projects the kids are working on now.

Above:5th Grade's Op-Art Inspired Intensity and Value study using complimentary colors. Colored pencil, sharpie. Stippling added as a challenge for the students who want to do something extra.

Last year's 5th grade probably would not have enjoyed this style of drawing, because they were the type who hated to use rulers. This year's group typically are more detail-oriented, and get a kick out of drawing precisely.

Above: 2nd Grade's Keith Haring Inspired drawing, using lines to create pattern. I'd never introduced Haring as an inspiration artist with elementary students, but I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me before. They LOVE him! They are interested in his whole life, and I try to be honest with them without giving too much detail. The 2nd graders are just adoring this cartoon style.

Above: 4th Grade's Contour Line Monotype, Inspired by Egon Schiele. Detail added with sharpie and colored pencils. These kids are using regular watercolor markers to draw on large mirror tiles I bought at Lowe's. (The portrait mirrors from the catalog were WAY too pricey) Then, after wetting a piece of drawing paper slightly, they press the paper onto the mirror and pull off a print of the image. Some of them come out as good likenesses, and some are still what I call "schema" or cartoony simplified versions of faces that look nothing like the kid. We are trying to focus on proportion, since in 2nd grade this group did a self portrait drawing with correct spacing of facial features, and they are familiar with correct proportions. Egon Scheile as an inspiration was sort of added on, as I had to tie this in with Europe. But the kids seemed to enjoy seeing his works (the few that weren't nudes) and it got them thinking about how expressive a line can be. We're also using his style of only painting in a few places on the figure to create emphasis.

My budget was cut this year, but not as significantly as I expected, so I think I will be ok on most supplies. Some fundraisers may be needed later in the year though. I wonder if any other teachers out there have a preferece for colored pencils in elementary. I've ordered the Crayola Twistables, because sharpening is such a stinkin' pain, and I've only got one good electric sharpener. The hand held sharpeners do OK, but the kids prefer the electric I suppose. I haven't gotten that Twisable set yet, but I hope it's worth the price tag. I also am using Mr. Sketch scented markers exclusively now. The thin-tipped scented "Stix" are great as well. And you know what? I thought the scents would be a huge distraction, but it actually makes the kids WANT to draw more. And I am definitely ok with that. :)

I'll post more examples of projects and maybe some student work as they come along!