Artists created final self portraits! We thought about how to draw our whole body using shapes and then artists showed themselves in action! Some were inspired by activities they enjoy and others created a picture from their imagination. Artists thought about what colors they needed to use to show themselves and their surroundings.

Artists continued creating self-portraits but this time students used unrealistic colors. We learned about Surrealism and looked at example portraits. We noticed how the portraits had unusual colors, were in unusual places, or had unusual features. Then, students created their own self-portrait.

Students learned about all of the different colors people can be! We looked at example portraits and then practiced picking out colors that matched our hair, eyes, and skin. Then, artists drew a self-portrait!

Students continued practicing creating secondary colors by creating colorful chameleons! Students drew their chameleons in pastel and then used paint to help the chameleons blend into the background

Students reviewed primary colors and experimented with mixing them! Through discovery, students figured out which combinations of primary colors create secondary colors.

Artists began by creating a pastel drawing and then used tempera paint to mix on top.

Students continued practicing thinking about page orientation and created drawings of buildings.

We thought about the necessary parts of buildings: doors, windows, roofs that should be included.

Then, we looked at example artworks. Students noticed how they were able to create skyscrapers if their paper was held the tall way and how they were able to create wider buildings if the paper is held the long way.

Students learned about "composition" and created thoughtful animal drawings.

We looked at Andy Warhol's cat drawings to see how one animal could be drawn many different ways.

We reviewed how in drawings things that artists want to look closer should be bigger, and things that are far away should be smaller.

Students reflected on which way to turn their paper, about what angle to show the animal from, and about whether the animal should be close up or far away.

Students thought more about symmetry and created symmetrical flowers. They learned that the colors and shapes had to match all the way around.

Artists began thinking carefully about placement. We looked at different example collages and noticed if shapes touched, overlapped, or were far away from each other. Students then cut paper and carefully moved it around the page until they found a placement they liked.

Students continued learning about radial symmetry and created symmetrical paintings.

Artists practiced finding the center of their circle and then created lines, shapes, and drawings that went around the center.

Students continued thinking about repetition and learned about symmetry!

We looked at examples of radial symmetry and noticed what repeated. Then students created their own radial symmetry designs using markers and crayons.

Students drew a shape or a line at a time and then turned the paper as they worked.

Students looked for patterns and repeating designs on the clothes they were wearing. We found many!

We talked about how a job artists have is creating clothing.

Students learned how to cut and assemble shirts and pants out of paper and then filled the clothing with patterns and repeating designs.

Students learned about pointillism and we looked at Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Students looked closely at the painting and practiced noticing details. We discussed how Seurat was inspired by the world around him when he created his art.

Students were shown a technique for creating pointillism paintings by outlining first and then filling the outline with paint. Then, students created their own paintings! Many were inspired by Spring.

Artists continued painting and used q-tips to create repeating marks. We looked at example paintings and practiced painting routines and expectations.

Artists this week began painting! We learned about how artists can use stamps and paints to create patterns.

Students then created patterns by repeating and turning their stamps.

Artists continued practicing patterns and were introduced to landscapes! We learned about how landscapes have a front, middle, and back. We brainstormed about different things found outside that could be incorporated into our landscapes.

Artists created pattern landscapes using markers and crayons

Artists looked at Romero Britto's pattern hearts and noticed how artists can create patterns with shapes, colors, and pictures.

Students added patterns to their hearts and then in the surrounding space drew pictures of all of the different things they love

Students learned that in the outside world, a job artists have is designing clothing.

We looked for patterns of shapes and colors on our own clothes and then found them in pictures of patterned sweaters.

Then, artists created a patterned sweater using colors and shapes but could have anything wearing it!

Some students chose to put sweaters on airplanes, trees, and animals and some students drew themselves.

After students finished their artwork, we had fun counting all of the patterns they drew.

Artists read Patterns Everywhere and looked for more patterns in illustrations.

Then artists took time to complete last weeks pattern collages or to begin a new pattern artwork.

Students were encouraged to fit as many different patterns as they could into their artwork!

Artists learned that shapes can be put together to make patterns.

We looked at examples of patterns and then read Pattern Fish! Artists found all of the hidden patterns in the illustrations and then got to work creating their own pattern collages.

Artists continued practicing putting shapes together to make pictures by creating a zoo drawing.

We read Color Zoo and noticed how shapes could be layered and put next to each other to make animals.

Students learned that when an artist doesn't know how to draw something, they think of the shapes first!

Artists this week learned that shapes when put together make pictures! We read Box of Shapes and looked closely at how shapes can come together to make complicated drawings.

Artists then put their shapes together to make a picture.

Artists this week looked at art by Reggie Laurent. They looked closely at his artwork for what shapes they noticed and practiced describing the shapes.

Then, artists created collages inspired by Reggie Laurent. They cut shapes, filled the shapes with lines or other shapes in marker, glued them to the black paper and finished their artwork by tracing around the shapes with a white crayon!

Artists this week continued collaging with shapes.

We read A Pair of Socks by Lois Ehlert and talked about how to draw and collage matching shapes.

Inspired by the illustrations of Lois Ehlert, artists created matching socks using drawn and collaged shapes.

The socks were a great opportunity for artists to practice their cutting skills!

We read Shapes that Roll and students looked to see what shapes they recognized and which were new.

Then students looked at example shape collages and practiced making more intricate collages using as many shapes as they could.

This week we reflected on what we are grateful for.

We read the Thankful Book by Todd Parr and looked carefully at how he uses shapes and bright colors for his illustrations.

Then artists created a drawing of what they are thankful for paying close attention to what shapes they were using.

Artists continued thinking about cities and all the details busy cities have.

We began using scissors and artists cut paper to create shapes to make collaged cities.

Artists learned that when a line goes for a walk it makes a shape!

We reviewed shapes and artists drew cities using as many different shapes as they could.

We looked at all of the different things cities have to draw--like roads, cars, trees, special buildings, people and then artists got to work.

Artists continued looking at lines and practiced collaging.

We learned about the artist Alma Thomas and students observed how she uses lines in her artwork during a guided discussion.

Then, artists created their own lines on their paper. Next, they glued pieces of paper on top of the lines to create an artwork inspired by Alma Thomas.

Artists used lines to create line collages. We looked at the art of Sol Lewitt and noticed all of the lines he used to create his artwork.

Students could create pictures out of their lines or they could experiment with putting different lines together on the page to create something more abstract.

Artists finished working on their Square 1 Art.

Then, we discussed what outlines are in art and students practiced drawing an outline of a flower and filling it with dots. This is a fun inverse project because last week students used dots to construct flowers! Now, they drew the flowers and used dots to fill them.

Students this week participated in Square 1 Art.

We practiced creating more complicated dots by creating dot flowers.

We discussed the importance of coloring carefully and adding lots of detail to artworks.

Students were encouraged to use a mixture of crayons and markers to create their dot flowers.