3rd Grade

Welcome to the Third Grade Art page! Here you will find project descriptions of each project that has been completed along with picture examples.

Art to Remember: Contrasting Hearts

Students were asked, ‘what is the universal symbol for love?’ They viewed a presentation displaying artwork that contains hearts. Artists like Jim Dine, Romero Britto and others were shown. Students compared and contrasted/ critiqued the art. They used templates and rulers to draw out their designs. Students then used markers in contrasting colors to color their artwork.

Leaf Paintings

Students viewed a Youtube video showing aboriginal artists from Australia. They noticed that these artists created art inspired by the land around them, but also, many times used little dots in their art. Students began this project by selecting a leaf and drawing it with a pencil. They painted their leaf with a variety of warm colors (we talked about the difference between warm and cool colors). They were encouraged to mix their own colors of paint inside the leaf and also in the background. For the background they used cool colors-- like the temps outside. Finally, students added little dots, like the aboriginal artists using the handle of the paintbrush.

Coil Ornaments

Students built upon their knowledge of clay as they created a clay coil ornament. Students learned that there are four main ways to construct with clay (pinch pot, coil, slab, wheel thrown) and they focused in on the coil method. Students chose a template (heart, star, tree) and learned to roll a coil from their fingertips to their palm, applying an even pressure. The coil should not be thinner than a pencil or thicker than a marker. Students filled in the shape with unique coils and then smoothed out one side of the ornament. Once dry, the ornaments were fired in the kiln. Students then glazed their ornament and they were fired again.

Monochromatic Winter Scenes

Students in 3rd grade created their own monochromatic (one color) winter scenes using tempera paint. Students learned how to make shades using black paint and tints using white paint. They added details with tiny brushes and snow with the handle of the brush. This was challenging, but everyone was successful!

Keith Haring Inspired Neon Drawings

As inspiration for this project students viewed a presentation that featured selected works of Keith Haring’s art. We talked about how Haring loved cartoons, especially Disney and how this inspired some of his work. We also talked about what ‘public art’ is, and the pros and cons. Students discovered that the selected art appeared to be bold, colorful and showed movement and sound with lines. Students were challenged to create their own Haring inspired drawings that showed movement or sound. We added color with neon marker.

Dog Paintings inspired by Iris Scott

Students studied the art of Iris Scott, a contemporary finger painting artist who makes large scale paintings of dogs in motion. For this lesson we talked about how artists show motion. Students created a dog or cat drawing that showed movement (the shaking of their head). Students were then given natural colors of tempera paint, like brown, black, white gray, etc and were given the choice of finger painting. Students were very excited to fingerpaint, so most chose that option! In the following classes students added small details using brushes. Finally students were shown how to make it look like the animal was shaking off water. Students used neon paint in a (mostly) controlled splatter.

Doodle Art

This lesson was taught by our student teacher, Ms. Towery. She taught them about the doodle art movement by showing them artists like Vexx and Mr. Doodle. Students learned to overlap, to blend markers and most importantly to use their imagination! Students loved this lesson!

Clay Coil Pots

Students in third grade have built upon their coiling skills learned in the ornament project for this new, larger project. Students started by making a pinch pot for the bottom of the pot. Then they watched a demonstration about gluing coils together and adding variety. Students were given the direction of making sure that every coil gets glued properly and to make the container no taller than their hand. To finish the construction process, students were shown how to create a lid and a handle, however these two elements were not required. The projects dried and were fired. The final step was to glaze the pots, making sure to apply two to three coats of glaze and leave no white clay exposed.