GASTRONOMIC SHAPES

WEEK OF 10/4/2020

VALUE

WEEK OF 10/11/2020

COLOR

Week of 10/25/2020

Week of 11/1/2020

It's November already! I can't believe we have one more month until the end of 2020. Students share every week how they wish we all could be together in school creating art together. This week at Sandburg, 4th and 5th graders worked on creating forms from shapes by adding lines and shadows. Students looked a still life, identified shapes and changed them into forms. Kinders and first graders created houses using the story "The Big Orange Spot" as their inspiration. At Zamorano, we finished the rotation for students with Geoff Slater landscape, Beautiful Oops and Harold and the Purple crayon.

week of 11/8/2020

This week, kinders and 1st graders created a color wheel and glued black strips on paper to create art inspired by Piet Mondrian. I am constantly amazed at how well they are able to follow directions so well online and create stunning pieces of artwork! At Zamorano, we started a new set of classes for rotation. While 4th and 5th graders worked on a shape lesson inspired by artist Reggie Laurent, the lower grades created color monsters by associating different colors with different emotions.

week of 11/15/2020

This week at Sandburg, kinders and first graders created a design for a mural inspired by the book "Hey Wall" by Susan Verde. We though about the houses, buildings, restaurants, stores, foods, vehicles and people in our community and I am so amazed at student designs. 4th and 5th graders created an underwater art using texture inspired by the works of Yellena James.

At Zamorano, the all grades created art based on the element of art "value" - kinders created ice-cream cones inspired by Wayne Thiebaud and came up with one word describing their ice creams while first graders created a landscape. 4th and 5th graders created a value scale and proceeded to use it in their drawing of a pumpkin.

Week of 11/30/20

Kinders and 1st graders focused on the sculpture of Jeff Koons at Sandburg. Students combined ovals to create balloon dogs and used a color of their choice to add values to create the three dimensional effect similar to Koons' sculpture.

This week, for the first time 4th and 5th graders from both Sandburg and Zamorano had a combined art class where San Diego mural artist Channin Fulton joined our class to talk to us about her murals in the city, what her inspiration and process is and the symbols she uses in her works. She patiently answered many questions the students had. Following this, students designed their own murals incorporating a positive message and at least three symbols in their work.

At Zamorano, kinders and 1st graders created fish using the element of art - texture. They used textures like like sandy, furry, soft, hard, prickly and bumpy to fill their fish drawing. 4th and 5th graders also explored textures to create a texture town.

Week of 12/6/20

This week, kinders and 1st graders in Sandburg created art inspired by cave drawings. We looked at examples from different parts of the world which led to an interesting discussion about what life was like thousands of years ago when humans created art on the walls of the caves they lived in! We worked on practicing simple shapes to create trees, sun, animals, humans and water which students then used to create a scene on crushed paper to create texture similar to cave walls. 4th and 5th graders created an observational drawing of the torn paper - they started wit a long piece of paper which they observed after it was ripped three time to create four drawing in all. they used the element of art value in combination with their observational skills in this lesson.

At Zamorano, we started a new rotation with a different group of students. Kinder and 1st grade students created color monsters while 4th and 5th graders created geometric and organic shapes inspires by the work of artist Reggie Laurent.

WEEK OF 12/13/20

This week students at Sandburg worked on Kente cloth designs. Introducing textiles from different parts of the world and seeing how yarn is made into fabric on a loom by weavers is a great experience for students to see how the fabric that they wear is made. Students were introduced to the story of the Asanti weavers who were inspired to created cloth using the patterns they saw on a spider's web in Ghana many years back. Kinder and first grade students created line patterns while 4th and 5th graders worked on creating two motifs that they used to create their Kente cloth design. One of my favorite lessons!

At Zamorano the lower grade students created texture fish while 4th and 5th graders created a value scale to use it for their drawing of a pumpkin.

First week back after winter break - 1/3/21

Our first week in the new year! Kinder and 1st grade students at Sandburg illustrated a cover for the story Caps for sale. We read the story, identified the main parts, decided on the placement of images and also wrote the title of the story. GATE students worked on creating tessellations inspired by Islamic architecture. We created arrows going in opposite directions and students had the option to create lines or texture inside their arrows.

I finished a rotation at Zamorano where kinders and 1st graders worked on creating value in their art while 4th and 5th grade created a town using a variety of textures.

Week of 1/10/21

At Sandburg, we crated art inspired bu Huichol art from Mexico. Kinders created shapes, colored them in and glued the yarn. First grade students created a variety of lines using yarn while 4th and 5th graders looked at different Huichol symbols and picked one to create with yarn.

At Zamorano, I started a new rotation where kinders and first graders worked on creating color monsters and associated a different color for different emotions. It was interesting to see how the same color was used by different students for different emotions. Students also had the option to add text to depict what a monster feeling a certain emotion could be saying! The 4th and 5th graders created organic and geometric shapes inspired by the art of artist Reggie Laurent. We worked on creating a variety and filling in each shape with lines, shapes and color.

week of 1/17/21

At Zamorano, the older grades worked on creating different textures and using it to create a work incorporating text which envisioned how they wanted 2021 to be. Kinders and 1st grade also worked with textures looking at different objects with different textures and used them to create texture fish.

Week of 1/24/21

We continued working with symmetry at Sandburg this week and looked at Ndebele houses from Africa to use as our inspiration. The lower grades created a house on paper by using geometric shapes like Ndebele art and arranging them on either side of the door so it has symmetry. GATE students used geometric shapes to create a three dimensional Ndebele house.

Week of 1/31/21

This week Sandburg students in Kindergarten and 1st grade worked on exploring positive and negative space in their cityscape inspired by the book Round trip by Ann Jonas. The buildings drawn work when the picture is turned over - positive and negative spaces switch! GATE students created artwork inspired by the works of Tang Yau Hoong.

At Zamorano, the lower grades created houses inspired by the the book The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater. Students came up with different ways as to how they could transform their house and came up with a great variety - a bubble house, rocket ship house and snowman house to name a few. 4th and 5th graders worked on combining shapes and lines to create 2 motifs that they used in their Kente Cloth design. They also added a written component to add what meaning each color had in the Kente tradition.

week of 2/7/2021

Week of 2/14/21

This week at Sandburg, kinder and 1st grade students created hot air balloons using trapezoids and using variety. They also cut and glued photos of the Taj Mahal, Eiffel tower and/or the Pyramids to travel to. GATE students used positive and negative spaces in their works to create Notan art from Japan.

At Zamorano, the lower grades used symmetry in their works to design Ndebele houses from Africa while upper grades created tessellations by combining positive and negative spaces in their work.

Week of 2/21/21

This week at Sandburg, kinder and 1st grade students created their artwork based on the book Dream Travel by Jennie Abito. The lesson was based on guided imagery where students thought about and drew a place they would like to visit, what they would see there, who they would take with them and were given many other prompts. 4th and 5th graders had a visit from the education manager, Sarah Sickler from San Diego Botanic Garden. She introduced students to different plant species and also answered questions students had. Students picked one plant and created their artwork.

At Zamorano, we started another rotation - the lower grades created a variety of houses using geometric and organic shapes inspired by the book "The Big Orange Splot". 4th and 5th graders worked on creating Kente cloth designs by creating 2 motifs, using colors and explaining the meaning behind those colors.

week of 2/28/21

This week at Sandburg, kinder and 1st grade students created a collage of flowers inspired by Lois Ehlert's book "The scraps book". They used warm colors on the flowers and cool colors for the background. 4th and 5th graders created a spiral sculpture inspired by a spiral from their life. Students associated the spiral in their work to their pet dog's tail, snowflakes, washing machine among many other things.

At Zamorano, the lower grades created symmetry in their Ndebele houses by using different shapes, creating a black outline and filling them with bright colors. 4th and 5th graders created digital cake designs by combining shapes, forms and adding lines and colors.

week of 3/7/21

This week at Sandburg, kinder and 1st grade students had a visit from Tara of Tara Heather cake design. She talked to the students about her cakes and answered questions students had. The art lesson involved them creating their own cake using a variety of shapes, colors and lines. GATE students had a visit from artist Bhavna Mehta who talked to them about her installation "My father's letter". Students picked one word to create a pop up text along the same lines as Bhavna's installation.

At Zamorano, the lower grades created a book cover illustration for the book Caps for Sale. 4th and 5th graders created tessellations inspired by Islamic architecture using arrows.

WEEK OF 3/14/21

This week at Sandburg, kinder, 1st grade and GATE students started painting using watercolors for the first time this school year! We looked at the works of artist Yayoi Kusama and how she uses repetition and varies the sizes of the dots in her art. Students used the crayon resist technique by utilizing crayons to add lines, dots and shapes to create mushrooms and added watercolors over to reveal the crayon work underneath.

At Zamorano, the lower grades created houses by combining organic and geometric shapes inspired by the book Caps for sale. 4th and 5th graders created Kente cloth designs by designing 2 motifs, repeating them and adding colors.

WEEK OF 3/21/21

This week at Sandburg, kinder, 1st grade and GATE students created Warli inspired art from India. The focus here was to combine triangles and adding lines to create human figures. The lower grades depicted an experience from their lives using Warli style while GATE students recreated images from the painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by artist Georges Seurat using Warli style.

At Zamorano, the lower grades created Ndebele houses by combining geometric shapes and using symmetry. 4th and 5th grade students combined shapes, forms and lines to create digital cake designs.

WEEK OF 4/4/2021

We returned from spring break this week - kinders and first grade students at both school sites worked on Ukrainian Pysanky eggs - the focus was on creating an egg shape wide on the bottom and narrow on the top, creating symmetry using lines and shapes and a crayon resist to color them in.

At Sandburg, GATE students were joined by Julie Weaverling, the director of Front Porch who gave a tour of the show "Avant Garde" by Tesa Michaels. This was a mesmerizing installation with precious and semi precious stones and interesting compositions and 55 minutes flew by. Students shared what they liked about this gallery tour on a Google Jamboard and a student requested I create a quiz on a Google form for an assignment for the week. ?

The 4th and 5th graders at Zamorano also worked on Pysanky eggs - the focus was on creating ovoids, overlapping some, creating a line of symmetry inside each, adding shapes, lines, shadows and using a resist technique with watercolors.

WEEK OF 4/11/2021

This week kinder and 1st grade students created Carlsbad Flower fields inspired art using Sharpie and crayon resist with watercolors. We looked at photos of the flower fields, noticed that flowers close to us are larger and those far away from us are smaller. Students used organic shapes to create the flowers, varied their sizes for each row, outlined in black and used watercolors. Some students used a crayon resist technique.

GATE students created Tesa Michaels inspired art following the gallery tour the previous week. Her show is titled Avant-Garde where she uses precious and semi precious stones to create her works. Students here used ripped paper, created textures with crayons and arranged their pieces in different ways working on composition before gluing them down. They also came up with a title for their works - "Purple", "Colorful shores", "A pretty mess", "Shining caves" were some on the titles students chose.

4th and 5th graders at Zamorano also created flower fields - we looked at photos and noticed how lines far away from us converge at a vanishing point on the horizon line.

WEEK OF 4/18/21

This week kinder and 1st grade students at Sandburg and Zamorano created artwork representing things that would make the Earth happy and beautiful. We read the story of Wangari Maathai and learned how she plated trees to make a difference in Kanya.

4th and 5th graders at Zamorano created pop up text inspired by the installation of artist Bhavna Mehta. They picked a word that was meaningful to them, drew the letters on paper and cut out the work and used paper to make the letters pop.

At Sandburg, GATE students had a visit from Brian Black, the art teacher at Crawford high school. He taught students how to use one point perspective in their artwork.

WEEK OF 4/25/21

This week kinder and 1st grade students at Sandburg created a succulent - the focus was on overlapping, increasing the size of leaves and using a crayon resist technique.

GATE students continued with 1 point perspective to created floating forms inspired by the art of artist Erin Turnel.

At Zamorano, 4th graders had a special visit from a senior at Crawford high school who taught students how to create their self portraits. Students followed directions step by step and came up with great works.

week of 5/2/21

GATE students at Sandburg and 4th and 5th graders at Zamorano used 1 point perspective to create artwork inspired by the Carlsbad flower fields. The focus here was to use organic shapes in varying sizes to represent flowers close to distant while using a vanishing point to create the illusion of fields in the distance. Kinder and 1st grade students created Lego versions of people they like spending time with by combining different shapes and using different emotions by observing Legos.

At Zamorano, kinder and 1st graders created flower fields as well using rows of organic shapes and varying the size of flowers in each row from large to small to represent how far away the flowers were.

week of 5/9/21

Lower grade students at Sandburg created a still life of art supplies we have been using in class. Students observed the shapes present in their watercolor set, paint brush, scissors and glue stick to draw them. They also created shadows and used a crayon resist technique. GATE students created an abstract artwork inspired by the works of artist Milla Schauman- Lehtinen. Students incorporated text into their work while creating line and shape patterns.

At Zamorano kinder and 1st graders created Pysanky eggs from Ukraine incorporating symmetry while upper grades did the same incorporating lines of symmetry in their ovals.

WEEK OF 5/16/21

4th and 5th grade Zamorano students created pop up text art inspired by Bhavna Mehta by choosing a word meaningful to them and making the letters pop up while kinder and first graders created an artwork incorporating images that would make our Earth beautiful.

At Sandburg, lower grades created art inspired by Oaxaca animals - we created the body of a turtle and students had the choice to incorporate parts from other animals. GATE students created a deconstructed still life on a nectarine using oil pastels.

week of 5/23/21

At Zamorano, I started their last rotation and students created flower fields for their first class. At Sandburg, lower grades and GATE students created artworks inspired by Pop art. GATE students picked an onomatopoeia word to use in their work while kinder and first graders picked a positive word of their choice to use in their work.

week of 5/31/21

Sandburg students in kinder and 1st grade worked on florals inspired by the art of Terry Scopes. Students created a variety of flowers, overlapped a few and used black broken lines and a combination of colors inside each flower. GATE students created self portraits taught by a senior at Crawford high school.

At Zamorano, upper grades created Bhavna Mehta inspired artwork incorporating text while lower grades created still life artwork.

week of 6/7/21

We made it to the final full week of school! As I reflect back on this year, I am amazed at the resilience, enthusiasm and perseverance of students. They maintained a positive attitude throughout this year, worked hard and made it happen!

Zamo students in upper and lower grades created Pop art incorporating text. Sandburg students in kinder created sail boats by incorporating shapes, reflection in water and using a crayon resist technique. 1st graders created artwork involving giraffes inspired by the flip flop sculptures of Ocean Sile in Kenya where artists recycle flip flops to create stunning, colorful works. GATE students revisited the works of Hadieh Shafie from week 1and created artwork incorporating text to reflect back on this school year.