Art Room News - The Year Ahead

If you would like to volunteer in the art room, and didn't sign up at Back to School Night, see your child's teacher. Here is a grade-by-grade description of some of the projects we will be working on this year. Thank you, and looking forward to seeing you soon!

Kindergarten: In Kindergarten, we will be learning about primary colors and mixing them to make secondary colors. We will also learn about tints and shades, or how to make colors lighter or darker. The children will learn about collage, and make a face collage. They will also be using letters and numbers to make art. We will learn about the printing process, and use real leaves to make a fall leaf print project. Our clay project will be a hand print decorated with other small objects pressed into the clay.

First grade: In first grade, we will make a pinch pot for our clay project. The children will learn about the artists Vassily Kandinsky, Claude Monet, Georgia O'Keeffe, and David Hockney, and create projects based on some of their well know works. They will also enjoy making projects with dinosaurs and insects.

Second grade: In second grade, the children will learn about the artists Henri Rousseau, Vincent Van Gogh, and Mary Cassatt, and create projects based on their work. For their clay project, they will make a coil pot. The children will also learn about how different people use masks, and make a mask out of recycled materials.

Third grade: The third graders will learn about warm and cool colors, and choose to create either a warm or cool animal habitat. We will look at the work of artists Henri Matisse and Paul Klee and do projects based on their work. For their clay project, we will make clay animals. They will also learn about myths and legends, and create a fantastic dragon scene.

Fourth grade: The fourth graders, in keeping with the theme of California History, the children will learn about California landscape painters and create their own beautiful California landscape. They will also learn about self portraits, and produce a mixed media self portrait. We will look at the famous artists, Pablo Picasso, Vassily Kandinsky, and Diego Rivera, and work on projects based on their art. For their clay project, the children will learn about radial symmetry and create a clay plate.

Fifth grade: The fifth graders, in keeping with the theme of American History, will learn about coins and produce a relief clay coin, with the image of a well known American person or icon. They will also make a printing project based on the American artist Andy Warhol, and a collage project based on the African American artist Romare Bearden. We will create a beautiful mixed media collage about the Mexican Holiday, The Day of the Dead. After looking at the exquisite drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci, the children will practice the art of pencil drawing and create drawings of their own shoes.