January 2015
We started the new year with the primary colors! Red, yellow, and blue are three colors that cannot not be made by mixing paints, but mix to make all the other colors! We watched a short film called Rainbow War, which is about both color mixing and being kind to people who might be different from you. Then we red Mouse Paint, by Ellen Stoll Walsh. We then used "a mouse foot" to run around into the primary colors to make new colors. We looked for the secondary colors; green, orange, and purple.
december 2014
These cats speak for themselves!! We colored, painted, stamped, cut, and colored again! The kindergarteners practiced, played, and learned so much during this project! My student teacher Miss V. helped make this project so successful!! Thank you Miss V!!!
November 2014
Ask your kindergartener who loves circles and their answer will probably be KANSINSKY and "ME"!! We had lots of fun zooming around these shapes!
March 2014
We have done so much in 2014! I will share with you our Kindergarten LOVE portraits! We worked on how to draw a person's (ourselves ultimately) portrait! We started with the focus on the face and an OVAL. Then moved to the strong neck that holds up our smart brains. Finally we talked about our wide and round shoulders! Students got to show their letter smarts by drawing the letters L, V, and E to finish off our work!
December 2013
We have done so much and it is hard to find the time to share it all. Hopefully you received the Mr. Bones paintings and cat paintings that we did in October and November.
Now we are starting a symmetrical mask project! We look at our own (or our neighbors face) and see how things are same on one side, as they are on the other. We look at masks in the past and present and discuss why they are and were used. Then we start our own symmetrical mask on a plate. We will finish these with a stick so they can be held up to their face!
Our final 2013 project will be using stamps to decorate a gift bag for the holiday break!
Now we are starting a symmetrical mask project! We look at our own (or our neighbors face) and see how things are same on one side, as they are on the other. We look at masks in the past and present and discuss why they are and were used. Then we start our own symmetrical mask on a plate. We will finish these with a stick so they can be held up to their face!
Our final 2013 project will be using stamps to decorate a gift bag for the holiday break!
October 15, 2013
We have moved from circles to squares with the kindergarteners! After talking about the properties of squares and rectangles, identifying how they are the same and different, we practiced drawing some of our own! After practice we assembled some rectangle robots! Students did great putting together their robots, but the bulk of this lesson is about using a glue bottle! As you can imagine, having little budget, glue is a precious commoditiy (usually at the end of the year, but we start conserving now)! Here is a good rhyme to use with your little ones: "Just a drop, not a lot. if it's a lake, it's a mistake!" That says it all!
September 10
Kindergarteners are practicing CIRCLES and looking at the art of Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky was a Russian abstract artist that painted a beautiful picture of circles! Kindergarteners use their fingers and arms to trace circles in the air. After some fun and crazy practice, we are ready for paper!! Students make colorful circles and zoom their crayons around a circle race track.
Time travel to March 25th
We started talking about our faces and the concept of symmetry this week! We looked at a few different mask ideas and the kids were able to use the Promethean board and outline some symmetrical parts of the masks! Each student started their mask with the "face parts": eyes, nose and mouth. Next week, we will add some more symmetrical designs to the mask. To finish these, we (I) will cut out the eyes and add a stick handle.
January 7
We are starting off the year with a small project for a fundraising opportunity (there will be more information about that later), but then we will start an ELMER THE ELEPHANT project. We will enjoy the book ELMER by David McKee and then start making beautiful paper for elephants. Everyone will trace and cut out their elephants from that paper. Each student will have the opportunity to name their elephant and a lable will be made for each. The elephants will be displayed on a large paper painted like the jungle. Look for these at conferences in March!
November 26
The kindergarteners Finished their cats by painting them beautifully! Painting is still a learning experience for us all, so we took extra care and tried our best. These cats went home before Thanksgiving break. I hope you all enjoyed them!
We are now focusing on the 3 primary Colors (RED, YELLOW, AND BLUE). The proimary colors are special for 2 reasons: #1, They mix to make all the other colors. #2. You cannot mix colors to MAKE them. In order to make this knowledcge fun and exciting, we watched the ONLY VIDEO I ever show in art class, Rainbow War!! It is as fun as iit sounds! We will continue working with primary colors and see what other colors we can make :)
We are now focusing on the 3 primary Colors (RED, YELLOW, AND BLUE). The proimary colors are special for 2 reasons: #1, They mix to make all the other colors. #2. You cannot mix colors to MAKE them. In order to make this knowledcge fun and exciting, we watched the ONLY VIDEO I ever show in art class, Rainbow War!! It is as fun as iit sounds! We will continue working with primary colors and see what other colors we can make :)
October 15th
So, I got a little ahead of myself when I said the next project was Mr. Bones. We learned a little about an artist named Vincent Van Gogh and his painting Starry Night, first. We learned a bit about Vincent's tragic life and talked about parts of the Starry Night painting. Students started their work with crayon, Then on the second day of work, they painted (after learning how to put on an apron) over their crayon with watercolor paint to make the beautiful night sky. On Wacky Wednesday (our short time together) I read them a story called Camille and the Sunflowers whick is a story about Van Gogh and his time in Arles France. They were really excited when they saw a painting they recognized, Starry Night, in the story.
Up next: Mr. Bones, I promise.
Up next: Mr. Bones, I promise.
October 1st
Kindergarteners have finished their circle project and moved on to rectangles and squares. After talking about the similarities and differences between the two shapes we started playing with them. We moved them around on our paper and constructed RECTANGLE ROBOTS! Students are still learning how to glue and are practicing that skill. After the robots were constructed, students took another class time to add button and wire drawings in colored pencil.
Our next Kindergarten project is one of my favorites! Mr. Bones will be the next Kindergarten focus!
Our next Kindergarten project is one of my favorites! Mr. Bones will be the next Kindergarten focus!
September 10th
Kindergarteners are finishing their circles by adding a little paint to them!! We are going to move on to another awesome shape, the square (and rectangle--4 corners and 4 sides, they are similar). Our next project is Rectangle Robots! We will discuss the shapes and their characteristics, then, after a LOT of discussion on how to use glue, will construct their robot using paper squares and rectangels. Just a dot, not a lot. If it's a lake, that's a mistake.