Van Gogh Silhouette

Description: In this project, we started with a black piece of construction paper where we glued various colors, sizes, and shapes of tissue paper on. We then went over the whole thing with a gel medium that when it dried it looked shiny. We then made patterns of movement all over the paper with all different colors of oil pastels. We had to be sure to use hard so the movements looked real and bold. Lastly, we made a silhouette of our choice on another black piece of construction paper and glued it on the bottom of the original construction paper. With this assignment we had to put a golden ticket with it that had three interesting facts on it that we learned about Vincent Van Gogh.

Extension Activity: I would have the students use a piece of black construction paper and instead of gluing on pieces of tissue paper I would have them glue on pictures of their family members. They could still go over the pictures with the gel medium. Also they could still do the movement patterns around and through the pictures. After they got done with that, I would have them write a short summary about each family member and what makes them special. Lastly, they would display their project with their summaries of their family members.

The Dot

Description: This project was called the Dot. The story behind it was; this kid was supposed to draw something in class and he couldn't draw. He sat there for a few days and after a while he just made a dot on his paper. The teacher couldn't believe how beautiful it was and told him to put his name on it. We used a coffee filter where we wrote our name on it and then used all types of medias to decorate it.  This will be a great way to show students that we are all unique and different in how we decorate our dot.

Extension Activity: For an extended activity, I would have students get in pairs of two with a partner and not show each other their dot they made. Each student would make a dot for their partner based on how they think their partner would make it, based on personality, attitude, etc. They then could discuss with each other why they put the things they did on each other's dot. This would be a good activity to do at the beginning of the school year to really get to know their partners.

Mrs. Preszler's 50 min Lesson

Description: During Mrs. Preszler's 50 minute elementary art lesson, we learned how to draw upside down, made glasses, and refreshed on our warm and cool colors. For our pre assessment, she gave us a sheet where we practiced upside drawing. Then she modeled for us how to make the red glasses that we used to look at our final projects. We then picked a picture that we wanted to draw to scale on the paper upside down with light blue, which is a cool color. We had to remember to draw the picture lightly. We then drew over the drawing with a pattern made up of warm colors, red, orange, and yellow. We then could look through our glasses and see the picture that we had drawn with our light blue. The glasses drew out the warm colors and we were able to see the cool color. We then put our drawing on a piece of paper with three facts about that animal. This way, when it is on display, the facts can help the people guess the animal before they use the glasses.

Extension Activity: For an extension activity, I would have the students write a short story about their safari animal they drew. They would have to be specific and use lots of adjectives. I would make sure they incorporated some of the elements of principle and design, like, rhythm, movement, pattern, color, value, etc. This writing would get the kids really engaged and excited about what they are writing about. I would be sure to tell them to make sure they also write about what they can see, smell, hear, touch, and feel, it's important to include the five senses. When they are done writing their story, they would share it with the class.