3rd grade - composition

Our next 3rd grade project deals with a Principle of Art; COMPOSITION. We discussed the idea that 'Composition' or 'to compose' means to carefully select which parts to put in, and which parts to leave out. A musical composer does this by selecting which notes, rhythms, and harmonies to use, and which to leave out. A letter writer 'composes' the letter by deciding what to write about and what to leave unsaid. An artist or photographer 'composes' by carefully selecting which elements of the image to include in the artwork or photo, and which elements to be left out.

The students chose a reference image and created a 'view finder' to place over the image. Then, each student chose a "zoomed" in part of the original image to turn into their own personal art. In this way, the students are choosing, or 'composing' the elements to be included in the artwork!