Students are introduced to art room routines and common materials during this project. We explore different kinds of lines: straight, zig-zag, wavy, curly, dotted, and diagonal. Students are introduced to "Mr. Paintbrush" and are taught how to take care of his hair, or how to appropriately use and clean a paintbrush. 

Students learn about the primary colors, while observing Piet Mondrian's work. They then are introduced to glue sticks, and how to properly glue small papers to one larger paper. They are given pre-cut squares of different sizes, and pre-cut strips to create this artwork. Students practice observing an artist's work, and do their best to create an artwork similar to the source material.

Students listen to the story Color Monster, and discuss the 5 different emotions color monster feels, and what colors each emotion would be. Red for angry, yellow for happy, green for calm, blue for sad, black for scared. Then students each draw their own color monster, drawing eyes and a mouth that fit the emotion for their color monster. Students also discuss repeating patterns and create a pattern to make a background for their color monster

Students learn about rainbow order, using various books and media. After discussing rainbow order students draw six birds on a telephone line using simple shapes, circle, triangle, straight lines. Then students color the birds in rainbow order. This gives students a chance to talk about the idea of rainbow order and then also put their knowledge of rainbow order into practice.

Students learn about the warm and cool color families, and discuss how the warm colors make us feel warm like a fire or the sun, and the cool colors make us feel cold like winter or the moon. Then using a stencil for the main circle and basic shapes and lines for the details. After drawing the sun and moon, and details that fit each students add color to their artworks using paint and are reminded of the techniques they learned in an earlier project for taking care of the paintbrushes.

Students explore the use of simple shapes. Discussion starts by defining that a shape is a line that goes all the way around and comes back to where it started. Then students are given time to draw shapes and cut them out of their construction paper. While they are working students think about what kind of robot they want to create, and what it's job would be based on what it looks like. After drawing and cutting out their shapes students glue all of their shapes onto their paper, making sure to go around the paper's edge three times with the glue stick and rub the papers together to glue them solidly. Students then verbally give an artist statement to be added to their artwork. 

Students learn about shared experiences and are inspired by the book Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.  After listening to the story, students discuss things they have experienced in their own lives, some shared and some not.  Students paint their papers, and then work negatively scraping paint off of the paper using the back end of their paintbrush to add texture. The owl is created doing a step by step drawing with students modeling drawing softly, erasing after tracing, and adding smaller details as they work. Students complete the project after assembling all of their papers into a landscape and drawing silhouettes of the people going Owling.

Students listen to the story Winter is Here by Kevin Henkes. After learning what an experience is, something that happens in our life, students are encouraged to share experiences that they have had, and experiences that they share with their class mates. Some examples given often include the first day of school, snow days, playing at recess with friends, meeting a new teacher. Students then use a negative painting technique of scratching texture into paint to create a windy sky with snow. Shapes and scissor techniques are reviewed while students cut out and glue on their houses and trees.

Students are introduced to sculpture and clay modeling techniques. Students start by becoming comfortable with the model-magic used by squishing stretching and playing with it. After a few minutes of individual exploration students watch a demonstration of how to roll a ball, and a coil, and how to create a "slab" by flattening the clay with the heel of their hand. Following this demonstration students use these techniques to create their own turtles, and add details using washable markers.

Students are introduced to the art of portraiture with this project. Students begin by listening to the story It's Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr. After listening to the story students discuss what makes them different from their classmates, their hair, personality, families, what they like and what makes them the same as their classmates, their teacher, their school, their community. Students then create a self-portrait using simple shapes and lines, making sure to add details to make it look just like they do.

Students celebrate spring while creating this artwork after listening to the story Fireflies by Julie Brinkloe. After listening, students discuss where creatures belong, outside creatures belong outside and inside creatures belong inside. Fireflies are outside creatures and students get excited about creating a jar of fireflies that they can keep forever. Students watch a modeled demonstration showing them how to create the fireflies glow, grass texture, and sky textures. Then students work to create these textures in their own artworks.

Students are introduced to Still-life artworks by watching an engaging Sesame Street video. After watching the video, students discuss what items can be used in a still-life artwork and how to use their skills of observation to help them draw a still-life. Then as a class students work together to decide on the right shapes, sizes, and locations to use to draw each fruit.

Students learn about the art of ancient people, how it was created and why they created it. Students are introduced to the art through a national geographic video, and then participate in discussion about the symbols used in this art and how the ancient artists got their materials (they couldn't go to the michaels down the road). Then students use observation and simple shapes to draw their own cave art animals and symbols that work together to create a story.

Students continue their exploration of ancient art by learning about the art of ancient Egypt. Students begin by learning about mummies and the significance they held in ancient Egypt. Then students draw their own mummies, adding rows of repeating patterns going across the sarcophagus. To create the background of their artwork students either create a papyrus texture using liquid watercolor, or create 'papyrus' out of strips of brown paper bags. The final touch is to write a secret message on their papyrus using heiroglyphics.

Students create a 3D artwork showing mastery of color mixing and sculpting. Students begin with model-magic in white and the primary colors. We review what primary colors are, and then we use our clay to mix the secondary colors. Students use basic sculpting techniques learned in kindergarten, rolling balls, coils, and creating slabs to create their palette and paintbrush. 

Students are introduced to Henri Matisse by listening to the story Henri's Scissors by Jeanette Winters. They discuss the different shapes that Matisse used in his artworks, organic and geometric. Using their new knowledge about shapes students create a collage that uses both kinds of shape styled like Matisse.

Students explore texture in art after listening to the book Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown. Students create texture for their tigers and backgrounds by using sponges and scraper tools with their paint. After painting students use simple shapes and lines to draw their own tigers. After assembling students add their own artworks to their online portfolios, giving them even more control over how their art is viewed.

Students learn about artist Keith Haring while listening to the story Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing by Kay Haring. They discuss how Haring was passionate about sharing his art with the world, and he shared his art with the world by creating murals, paintings on buildings so that everyone could enjoy his work. Students then worked together as a grade to create a collaborative mural, each student adding a figure to the paper creating a beautiful Haring inspired artwork.

Students are introduced to the art of self-portraiture while learning about artist Frida Kahlo. After watching a short biography about her life, students discuss why she became and artist and how she used her art to help her body and mind heal. Students then create their own self-portrait styled after some of Kahlo's most famous self-portraits, with the option to add an animal they feel represents themselves. After completing the artwork students upload their artwork to their portfolios and add an artist statement telling viewers what they wish the world knew about them.

Students learn about symmetry in art and explore the concept through individualized art making. After becoming engaged with the topic through a symmetry game, students are modeled how to create a symmetrical vase shape. The demonstration is given while purposefully making mistakes for the students to correct, such as using different colors on either side of the line of symmetry. Students are then given various materials to create their own symmetrical vases. 

First graders read the book Pattern Bugs by Trudy Harris. We noticed that there were patterns in the words, patterns in the shapes, and pattern in the colors. Then we drew our own bugs by looking for basic shapes in the bugs body we could replicate. Finally we added our own color and shape patterns to our bugs. Where would your pattern bug be camouflaged best?

Students review the art of self-portraiture while exploring the social-emotional topic of learning from mistakes and problem-solving. The project is introduced using the book Even Superheroes Make Mistakes by Shelly Becker, and students talk about mistakes and how to approach them with kindness. Students then draw a full body portrait using basic shapes, working to use symbols and other details to show their superhero power. These artworks are uploaded to their personal portfolios with an artist statement telling viewers what is super about the artist. 

Students review the elements of art with this initial project. Each student draws an animal using large basic shapes and drawing from observation from a reference sheet of animals. Students create texture in their background using repeating lines and patterns. The animal is set out from the background using the warm and cool color families to create contrast and make the artwork easily readable. 

After learning about symmetry students explore the inverse and create asymmetry. Students begin by reviewing symmetry and how we created it. Then students are introduced to the vocabulary "Asymmetry" and are given a monster idea sheet in order to create a monster that is not symmetrical. Students are encouraged to ensure that there is nothing on their artworks that are the same on both sides, different eyes, arms, and even colors. 

Students are introduced to Abstract Art through the work of Wassily Kandinsky. They are introduced to the artist using the book the Noisy Paintbox: the Colors and Sounds of Kandinksy's Abstract Art by Barb Rosenstock. Students discuss how Kandinksy created art that was not one particular picture, but rather a collection of lines and colors that show feeling. A demonstration is given, emphasizing a spontaneous way of creating art, with little thinking but doing what feels right for that moment. Students are then given time to create their own Kandinsky style Abstract artwork.

Students are introduced to Cubism and the work of Pablo Picasso in a continuation of learning about Abstract Art. Instruction begins with a short video about the creation of Cubism and how the artists Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso wanted to show objects from many points-of-view. After discussion of the shapes that we see in the artworks and how the artworks make viewers feel students create their own Cubist portrait of a person. Students are then challenged to use bright, 'un-natural' colors to finish their beautiful artworks.

Students are introduced to large scale installation art  and sculpture with Jamie Burmeister's Vermin.Me. After watching Burmeister's video explaining his project students discuss the creation of his work, how he sends his work all over the world, and how to project uses many different tools to reach viewers. Then students create their own vermin, and decide where to have their vermin 'infest'. Vermin are created using a variety of materials, chenille sticks, pom-poms, fabric scraps, etc. Students then use a green screen program to add their vermin to the location they want to infest. 

Students continue their exploration of sculpture with this model magic cupcake project. We start by creating our base cupcake using the pinch pot technique. Students can decide if their cupcake is artwork that is just for display or if their cupcake is artwork that is functional  by using the inside of the base as a dish for storing trinkets. Students then plan and create their cupcake toppings, creating a realistic or silly cupcake. 

Students explore architecture and how art and math work together after listening to the story Iggy Peck Architect by  Andrea Beaty. The class engages in a discussion around architecture focusing on how architects design buildings for a specific purpose. Then students design their own buildings for their chosen purpose, making sure that the building has features that help it meet its purpose. Using cardboard students create a relief sculpture of their buildings. Students then add this artwork to their portfolio, writing an artist statement explaining what their building's purpose is.

Students create a landscape artwork after listening to the story Giraffes Can't Dance by  Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees. Students create a giraffe dancing expressively using simple shapes and lines to show movement. The landscape background is created using a gradient painting technique and a subtractive painting technique. Students use oil pastels to create small details to bring their artwork to life. 

Third grade artists started learning about value, the lightness or darkness of an object! We practiced creating different values with just a pencil by first creating a value scale. Once we were confident we created an artwork using only pencil shading. Each section that we created included every value from lightest light to darkest dark. What other artworks could be made using just pencil shading?

Third grade artists are continuing their exploration of value through creating tints and shades! We started by learning that a tint is when you add white to a color, and a shade is when you add black to a color. Using this new information we painted a value scale with tints and shades in order to make an ocean scene. After the paint was dry we added silhouettes of ocean animals and made sure to color them all the way in so it looked like a real photo! Would you go swimming in our oceans?

Third grade artists started out this project by creating a zentangle. A Zentangle is an artwork that uses many detailed patterns in different sections of an artwork. People who create zentangles use the artwork as a way to help them feel calm rather than angry, anxious, or upset. We learned that emphasis, which is a point to focus on in an artwork, can be done with size, shape, or color in an artwork. We used color to create emphasis by choosing to use either warm or cool colors for most of our artwork, and using one color of the opposite color family in one of our sections. The one section of the opposite color family really stands out! Ask your student if they remember what colors are warm and what colors are cool.

Third grade artists learned about creating space in an artwork to make it look 3-D. We learned about a technique called 1-Point perspective. Using a ruler and a pencil we made our buildings all look like they were next to a road and getting further away from us. Then we got designing and created our own buildings, as wild and crazy or as realistic as we wanted to. What kinds of buildings would you put in your silly city?

Third grade artists read the book "Tar Beach" by Faith Ringgold, we noticed that her paintings each tell a story. We were inspired by her story quilts to tell a story of our own using only pictures. We thought of a happy memory that we love and we each drew our happy memories. We made sure to only draw details that help tell the story. We hope you enjoy all of our happy memories!

Third grade and fifth grade artists were inspired by artist Gary Hirsch and his Bot Joy project. Hirsch is working to make a positive difference in the world through his helper bots. Each bot that he makes is programmed to help with a specific emotion such as joy, bravery, love, and strength. As each bot spends time with its person, it learns routines and is able to tell when the person needs a burst of what it is programmed to do. Gary Hirsch asked us to steal his idea! We talked about how because the original artist has given us permission to use his idea that it is okay, but we can't just take an idea without permission. We then each came up with some positive jobs for our bots to be programmed to do. What jobs would you like a helper bot to help you with?

Fourth grade artists learned about the Gothic period of art, and how the invention of the pointed arch allowed for a new style of cathedrals to be built. While looking at gothic cathedrals we saw many beautiful stained glass artworks and were inspired to create our own! We drew our image and then split all of the biggest sections into smaller shapes. What would a stained glass window in your home depict?

Fourth grade artists learned about Books of Hours from the Gothic art period! Books of Hours are a book of hourly prayers that people of the time would carry with them throughout the day. We looked at the illuminations, or decorations, on the pages and noticed that they turned an ordinary book into an incredible work of art! Original Books of Hours were often decorated with real gold so they were incredibly valuable. We drew inspiration from the idea of having a book to carry around with positive reminders to refer to through the day, and created our own books of affirmations. We filled our books with positive reminders that we felt were important to us, and illuminated our books with beautiful drawings. Each artist chose their favorite page from their book to share with you all here!

Fourth grade artists learned that Calligraphy is the art of writing! We watched a master of Islamic calligraphy work and tell us about his process. Then we observed an Ottoman Tughra, or seal. A tughra was essentially a very fancy kind of signature. We created our very own tughra inspired seals by connecting all of the letters in one design. We then added more detail and decoration to our seal by adding patterns into the shapes that we made with our letters. Now we just need to find some important documents to use our seals on!

Fourth grade artists learned about the art of Islamic architecture! We spent some time observing a mosque called the Blue Mosque and we identified what kinds of shapes are used when designing a mosque. We identified triangles, squares, rectangles, and half-circles used. We used what we observed and learned to design our own mosque building, making sure our mosque included domes and minarets. A minaret is a tower that is specific to a mosque because it is used for the call to prayer every day, which makes it a very important part of the mosque!

Fourth grade artists observed examples of Islamic art. We learned that these designs can be found in religious spaces as well as non-religious spaces. We observed that the designs create a circular pattern and use something called Radial Symmetry. We carved our design into a square of styrofoam using a pen then we colored the styrofoam with markers. When we pushed our colored styrofoam onto damp paper our design was printed onto it! We turned our design each time we printed it so that our designs all created a circle! What kind of patterns can you see in our artworks?

Fourth graders looked at Chinese porcelain created long ago. We noticed that the porcelain was mainly decorated with only blue. With research we learned that this is because the first one was decorated with cobalt and then fired at really hot temperatures. Cobalt gets painted onto the pottery and it looks black but after it gets heated really really hot it turns into a bright blue shade. We started by creating our own bowls using plaster. After letting the bowls dry we drew inspiration from porcelain plates and bowls that we saw to create our own designs on our chinese porcelain inspired bowls!

Fourth grade artists were inspired by masks from the continent of Africa. We observed that each mask serves a representational purpose for the person or people that created it. While each tribe creates their own unique masks, many African masks are used in ceremonies such as coming of age ceremonies, weddings, and many other celebrations. We were inspired by the process of representing an idea through a mask. We each thought of an idea or theme that is important to us, and then created a mask that portrays that idea through pattern and design. Can you identify what all of our masks represent?

Fourth grade artists are inspired by the portraits of the founding fathers of the United States of America. We started out by gathering observations of the portraits of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and other men that founded our country. We noticed that the portraits all had the subjects in a three-quarters pose, with a gradient of color in the background, and somber expressions. We emulated these observations in our own self-portraits. After creating our self-portraits, we wrote an artist statement about how we were going to change the world, just like these famous men changed the world in their time.

Fourth graders learned about Thomas Jefferson‘s Monticello. We learned that though it looks like one story on the outside Thomas Jefferson actually built three floors in Monticello. We drew inspiration from his tricky architecture to create our own buildings that look different on the inside than you would expect.

Fourth graders learned about Pop Art, and how it is art that portrays common objects. We created our own artworks styled after Andy Warhol’s portraits of Marilyn Monroe using our own everyday objects. Then we learned about complementary colors, and how they sit directly across from each other on the color wheel. Each artist chose the pair they wanted to use to paint around their objects. Finally we added a finishing touch of a frame with black paper to make our artworks museum ready.

Fourth graders observed the artworks created by Modigliani. We noticed that his style of drawing a person was very unique. The faces of each person were long and oval and the necks were Longer than next naturally are. We created our own self portraits in this style and color them with oil pastels. What was your Modigliani self-portrait look like?

Students observed the artwork of American artist, Georgia O'Keeffe. O'Keeffe is well-known for her dream-like landscapes depicting the land forms of New Mexico and the Southwest. Students were inspired by her works of art, creating their own landscapes depicting the dramatic desert land forms and skies. O'Keeffe also enjoyed observing the forms of bones found scattered throughout the desert. Students each observed the skull of a bison, creating different values and textures. In the end our landscapes and skull observations were combined for a complete work of art!

Fifth grade artists learned about proportion and how it is the way things are measured against each other. We used proportion to create our own faces and added the small details to make our drawings look just like us. Then we created a zentangle in the background of our artwork. Zentangles are artworks using small detailed patterns in each section of a paper. Zentangles are a strategy that some people use to help themselves calm down when they are feeling angry, anxious, or sad. What kind of patterns do you see in our zentangles?

Fifth grade artists learned about the artist Michelagelo. We looked at his artworks and noticed that the paintings and sculptures that he made all told a story. We drew an artwork that told a story through the drawing, these stories came from our own lives, books we enjoy, and even fairy tales! Then, we colored the artworks like Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, upside down. Thankfully it took us only a few days, unlike the four years it took Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel. How many of the stories that we drew can you recognize?

Fifth grade artists learned observed the artwork American Gothic by Grant Wood. American Gothic is one of the most famous american paintings and is often the inspiration for parody. A parody is an imitation of a piece of work  (art, music, books, and more). Many parodies of American Gothic replace the two people with recognizable characters or people. Fifth grade artists each created their own parody of American Gothic using characters or duos that they chose.

Fifth grade artists learned about art curators and what they do for museums! We learned about how art curators look at art from all over the world and pick what artworks will be in their museum and where in the museum they will be! After learning about what an art curator is and does we curated our own art galleries. We chose themes for the gallery, named it, and chose artworks that fit our theme. Then each curator designed their gallery in real life! If you were a curator what kind of gallery would you create?

Fifth grade artists learned about the Hudson River School. This was a group of artists that lived in 19th century in America. The artists painted beautiful and detailed artworks of landscapes, emphasizing the beauty of nature. We were inspired to use watercolor techniques to create our own beautiful landscapes of birch trees! We added masking tape to our papers to cover up where our trees would be. Then we showed what time of day and year the artwork is taking place in with the colors that we chose to use. When our paint was dry we added details to help tell the story even more, like a fence and the shadows behind our trees! What time of year is your student's artwork taking place in?

Fifth grade artists learned about the Hudson River School artists, these artists started a movement of art. They decided to create landscape artworks in a time when most artists were focused on making artworks portraying people. Hudson River School painters created artworks that made the viewer feel small and insignificant compared to the vast wilderness they painted. They used a technique called Atmospheric perspective to add depth to their artworks and make it look like landscape features were far off in the distance. We created our own atmospheric perspective by creating mountains that get lighter in color value as they get farther from the viewer. Then we added more detail by adding something to our sky that also showed atmospheric perspective!

Fifth grade artists continued their exploration of Baroque art while looking at architecture from this time period! We started by first creating a drawing of a hallway that was in perspective. We used one point perspective for this, so any horizontal line that we drew connected to our vanishing point. After creating our base each student got to make their own very ornate, beautiful hallway. It is so wonderful to see how each student made this artwork their own!

Fifth grade artists explored the Baroque period of art. The Baroque period is often described as a time of extravagance! During this time a technique for the creation of art was gaining popularity, it was Chiaroscuro (Key-are-oh-skoo-row). Chiaroscuro is when an artist uses really strong contrast, or really dark darks and really light lights. We created still lives on black paper so that the colors of our oil pastels really stand out. We practiced creating shading using our oil pastels to create a realistic looking 3D artwork!

Fifth Grade artists created artworks that were all their own idea. We started out our artistic process just like a professional artist might, with brainstorming and sketches. Each artist chose a theme for their artwork, the materials they were going to use, and brainstormed ideas for their project. We each did sketches of our ideas in order to solidify what we wanted our finished work to look like. Then we started to create. Each project is completely individual to the artist that created it!

Fifth grade artists were inspired by flags flown for Kodomo No Hi in Japan. Kodomo No Hi is Children's day! The flags we are inspired by are called Koinobori and are in the shape of a carp! Each of us drew our own koinobori and we colored it so that it represents whether we are a son or daughter. Children's day is on May 5th and we are so ready for it!

Fifth grade artists learned about color schemes! A color scheme is a plan for making colors that work really well together. We learned about complementary, triadic, and analogous color schemes. Complementary colors are colors that are right across the color wheel from each other. Triadic colors are three colors that are equally spaced from each other on the color wheel. Analogous colors are three colors that are right next to each other on the color wheel. We used one of these three color schemes to choose colors for a dragon eye that we sculpted out of model magic! These are some fierce dragon eyes!