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Fossil Collagraph PrintsThe 4th graders were learning about fossils as part of their science unit, so we created collographs of the 4 different fossils that they had to identify: ammonite, dragonfly in amber, bird, and trilobite. The students created their printing plates out of cardboard and then used various printing inks to make their fossil prints.
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3D One Point Perspective Names
We learned about one point perspective and used that technique to make our names in 3D. Then the students drew different pictures to describe themselves to go along with their study of Autobiography.
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Mondrian FractionsWe learned about Piet Mondrian in art, and applied fractions to making art inspired by Mondrian's famous grid paintings. Each student started off creating 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16 on their page, and then made other fractions from there. We then used the primary colors to paint in some of the boxes.
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Fantasy Fish
Imagine if fish had arms...or legs...or could play baseball! The 4th graders designed and painted their own "biggie sized" fantasy fish for the art show.
Our Rooms Rock!
We started talking about rocks in art this month as a preview for the next science unit. As a class, we briefly talked about the different qualities of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks, and the students learned to identify each. The first week, students then used their knowledge of rocks to sketch their rooms, but making everything be made out of rocks in their sketchbooks! The following week we briefly talked about perspective and the students made their rooms 3D on a larger scale, and started adding in their rock details. They then added outlining and color to complete their rocky rooms.
Water Cycle Landscapes
The 4th graders have been learning about the water cycle in class. They even had a presenter come speak about it during art! So, we reviewed the water cycle, and then students had to illustrate the various steps of the water cycle in a watercolor landscape painting.
Utah Landscape Silhouettes
In conjunction with their study of Utah landscapes, the students created silhouettes in art. First, each student painted a sunset with watercolors. The next week, we talked about landscapes and the students drew a landscape on a black piece of construction paper including a border. The following week we talked about positive and negative shape, and the students cut out the negative shapes of their landscapes to make a silhouette. They then glued their silhouettes on to their sunset paintings. They turned out beautifully!
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Anasazi PotteryThe 4th graders have been learning about the Native Americans that lived in Utah. A couple of groups from Southern Utah, including the Fremont and Anasazi peoples, are very famous for their white pottery with geometric designs. So, each student created a pinch pot that they carved designs into and glazed using traditional colors.
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Dot Takes a Walk Color Mixing
The famous artist Paul Klee once said, "A line is a dot that takes a walk." The 4th graders took a dot on a walk, and then we practiced mixing secondary and tertiary colors in the spaces that our lines made.
Spelling Word Calligrams
Welcome to the start of a new school year! The 4th graders have started off their year in art creating calligrams from their spelling words. A calligram is a picture created with letters. Learn more about calligrams here! Each student must choose at least one word from their spelling list, and then create a calligram using that word and others if they choose. They are turning out great!
Fossil PrintmakingThe 4th graders have been learning a lot about fossils with Mrs. Black, so we focused on four different fossils and the students made them into prints in art. We first discussed the different types of printmaking, and how to create a printing plate. The students then chose one of the four fossils to create into a collograph plate. The second week we finished creating the plates, and then printed them using brayers and ink.
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Utah CollagesIn conjunction with their in-class study of the regions of Utah, students created a collage about the regions of Utah in art. We looked at collage as an art form, and then talked about ways we could make a collage about each region. Students then created their own Utah and put various pictures, drawings, etc. to represent each region.
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Water Cycle Landscapes
The 4th graders have been learning about the Water Cycle in Science! In art, we learned about landscapes and the three parts of a landscape (foreground, middle ground and background). We also learned techniques to create the illusion of depth in our paintings. Each student created their own landscape showing the water cycle and painted it using watercolors.
Fantasy Fish
The 4th graders have been learning about Fantasy in class, so we talked about what makes something fantasy, and looked at artworks by James C. Christensen, a Contemporary Utah artist who is famous for turning real world animals and people into works of fantasy. We then created fish into fantasy fish and colored those in colorful patterns. When they were completely filled with color, we made them into scratch art by painting tempera paint mixed with dish soap over the whole paper and then scratching into it using a paper clip. They turned out really cool!
Chinese Paper Cuts
We are having a school art show February 6-7 (during parent teacher conferences) and the theme is Chinese New Year! 4th grade is creating Chinese paper cuts for the event, and they are turning out pretty cool. To start off the project, we learned about the history of paper-cut, and also about the concept of notan. We then used the ideas of notan and translated that into creating paper cuts as expansions of squares. We talked about positive and negative shapes and learned about how these connected with notan as well.
Library Display
The 4th graders finished their animals and fables, and these are all on display on the library bookshelves. Come check out their awesome work!
Folklore Animals
4th grade has been learning about folklore in their classes recently. So, we read some fables in art and talked about the different aspects that make up a fable. Then, each student chose an animal that they would want to write a fable about and created it out of clay. We started out making a pinch pot for the body of the animal, and then added or subtracted clay from there. Once the student created their animal out of clay, they had to create their own fable with their animal as the main character and illustrated it.
Turkey Calligrams
In honor of Thanksgiving, we created turkeys out of letters! Calligrams started with Islamic art, but are seen in many places today. Here is a cool website with calligrams from the alphabet to understand more fully what they are! Each student chose words that they thought of when someone said Thanksgiving and created a turkey using those words. They used magazines to find various letters to make their words. It was a fun Thanksgiving project.
Tessellations
4th grade started working on a tessellation project in art in conjunction with learning their times tables in class. We learned about M.C. Escher and his tessellations, and then began to create on of our own by creating stencils that can repeat without having any overlaps or gaps. This website has some pretty awesome information about tessellations!
The next week, we learned about color schemes, especially complementary and analogous color schemes. The students chose a color scheme to use with their tessellation pattern, and filled their whole paper with those colors.
The next week, we learned about color schemes, especially complementary and analogous color schemes. The students chose a color scheme to use with their tessellation pattern, and filled their whole paper with those colors.
From Blind Contours to Monsters
In 4th grade art we have been learning to see with our eyes! Using blind contour (drawing the outlines, never picking up the pencil or looking at the paper), students practiced drawing each other and really looking at the shapes of their partner's face. After getting the hang of blind contours, students then created a Halloween monster using some of the lines from their partner portraits. It was a lot of fun to see how the drawings of people morphed into monsters!
Finished Illustrations4th grade finished up their illustrations this week, and celebrated Columbus Day by created origami paper boats. Here is a link to the instructions for the boats - they can actually float!
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Painted Paper Collage
4th grade has been working on illustrating sentences from the books that they are reading in class, namely Strider by Beverly Cleary, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White , and The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong. The first week we discussed various illustrators and their different methods. Then students painted paper using their knowledge of the color wheel from the week before. We tried to create combinations using either complementary colors or analogous colors. They then sketched out their idea for their illustration. The following week, the students worked on creating their illustrations out of the painted paper they had created through collage. So far they are looking really cool!
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Mixing Colors
Week of 9/17 - This week we learned about the color wheel. We talked about Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary colors, and the learned how to mix those colors with tempera paint. Students had fun trying to mix "the perfect orange" or even a middle gray using the complementary colors.
Sensory Imagery Painting
Ask our 4th graders what sensory imagery is...because now they know! For our second and third weeks of art, the 4th graders created paintings based on music. First, we talked about the Expressionists, a group of artists who created artwork based on emotions. We talked about artists such as Edvard Munch, Franz Marc, and Wassily Kandinsky. Wassily Kandinsky painted "Compositions" as his interpretations of music. So, using sensory imagery, the students created paintings based on two types of music. The first painting was listening to classical piano music, and the second was to action music, and the third was their own compositions as inspired by Kandinsky's works.