2nd grade Warm/Cool Paintings

After learning our 12 colored color wheel, the second grade classes learned that some colors remind us of WARM things.  The warm colors are the reds, oranges, and yellows.  Other colors remind us of COOL things.  The cool colors are the greens, blues, and violets.

Next, we learned how to create a wet on wet watercolor wash.  The goal was to get the colors to swirl around on the paper before sinking in and drying, giving the page a swirly tie-dyed look.  To do this, first the paper is soaked, then the very wet watercolor is placed on it.  The colors swirl around and make interesting color blends and shapes.

After the warm and cool watercolor washes are dry, students look at the swirly shapes, looking for exciting things in the WARM colored paper, and calm things in the COOL colored paper.  It is a bit like looking for shapes in the clouds on a lazy summer afternoon.  Finally, the found images are drawn in using a black marker or crayon.

2nd grade Warm/Cool Paintings

The second grade classes spent some time learning about warm colors and cool colors, then painted one watercolor wash of each. After the paintings were dry, the students looked at the swirling colors using their imaginations in order to try to find exciting pictures in the warm painting, and calm pictures in the cool painting. The image above is my example of this project. As soon as they are finished, I will post collage images for each of the classes. If a student's painting is not shown, it is because it was either not finished in time for the photo shoot, or that student was absent for the project and/or photo shoot.

2nd grade - warm/cool colors

Now that we know all 12 colors of the elementary color wheel, it is time to organize them into warm and cool colors.

Warm colors are considered exciting and seem to jump out at us from the page.

Cool colors are considered calm and seem to recede (move back) on the page.

We can use what we know about warm and cool colors to choose the right colors to create the mood we want for our picture.

Thanksgiving Cut Paper Collage

The second grade classes spent this week building a cut paper collage depicting something they are thankful for.  The first picture is my teacher example, the following pictures are student work.

Teacher example...



 Student work!

Second Grade Seasonal Symbols

A symbol is a simple picture that represents an idea.  For instance, this simple picture...

... is the universal symbol for the idea of LOVE.  It can be very hard to draw a picture of love, but very easy to draw the symbol for it!  Also, no matter what language you speak, you can recognize the heart symbol and know that it stands for love.  That is the power of symbols.

In our second grade art class, we brainstormed simple images that could represent each of the four seasons, then drew out our symbols of the seasons!  Below are some student examples.

Third Grade Clay Cups

Third grade classes used the pinch pot method to build clay cups, which they then glazed the following week.  The cups have now been sent home and should be treasured keepsakes for many years to come!

Abecedarium

When you play around with the alphabet and turn the letters into artwork, that is called an ABECEDARIUM.  The first grade classes spent this week doing just that.  It is a fun way to think about the alphabet, but I reminded all of them that they still need to write their alphabet letters normally when they are writing their spelling and stories!

3rd grade clay cups coming home!

Today the clay cups are coming home with the third grade students! Here is some advice for care and handling;

1. Keep it out of reach of small siblings!
2. Hand wash only with soap and water... do not use the dishwasher!
3. It should not go in the oven or freezer.
4. NEVER. EVER PUT IT IN THE MICROWAVE!!!
5. Enjoy!

Parents, all of the glazes we used are rated as food safe. You can let your child drink out of the cup.

Second Grade Pastel Landscapes

The second grade classes recently finished a landscape assignment. 

Each student selected a reference photo to work with before drawing out their landscape on a white paper.  Still using the photo as a reference, the students used pastels (colorful chalk) to 'paint' their landscape.

We talked about tips and tricks that artists use to prevent the artwork from being smeared while it is being worked on and the students self evaluated themselves each day on how they did at keeping the mess to a minimum.  The tips and tricks are...

1. One hand is the 'dirty' hand that holds the pastel and paints with it.  The other hand stays clean to hold onto the artwork.
2. Start at the top of the artwork and work your way down so that you don't accidentally drag your hand or sleeve through already finished parts of the artwork.
3. Keep your painting hand floating in the air.  Never let it rest on the paper.  It is best to stand up while you work to make it easier for your hand to float.
4. If there is too much chalk dust on your paper, tap it gently onto the newspapers.  DON'T blow on it!  Your picture will get lighter, and some people are allergic to chalk dust (like ME!)
5. Always use newspapers to protect the table, and wear a smock to protect your clothes!

Here are some examples of second grade pastel landscapes...

Truly beautiful landscapes!