FIFTH GRADE SUPER HEROES

The fifth graders are finally done with their SUPER HERO project. We began the year looking at figure drawing and used super heroes as the theme for our pictures. I really under estimated how much time this project would take, but the students really enjoyed it.  They had some great conversations during class about what their heroes were doing and some students even came up with ideas for villains and super hero side kicks.

I introduced the project by showing the classes short video clips, of some super hero cartoons from the past.  Do you remember Under Dog, Atom Ant, Mighty Mouse or Bullwinkle and Rocky? Is that going to far back for you? How about Power Rangers?

Then after some quick demonstrations on drawing action figures, the fifth graders were ready to go to work. Heroes were drawn, and color was added using markers, crayon or colored pencil. Backgrounds were designed and painted using watercolor.  Last, styrofoam was added to the back of each figure and they were hot glued into the backgrounds. This gave the finished pieces a three dimensional look.

When finished each student took some time to write down some information about their subjects. What was the heroes name? What were the super hero powers? What were the weaknesses?

Hero:  Muscle Man       

Powers:  Fast and flexible and glows in the dark.

Hero: Nature Girl and Nature Bunny

Powers:  She can make flowers grow automatically to make the world a better place. She likes saving endangered animals.

 

Hero: The Shadow Samurai

Powers:  The shadow samurai can generate awesome blue plasma balls and she is a martial arts master. Her blue sword can penetrate anything and I mean ANYTHING.

Weakness: Her weakness is, well fighting in the rain because then she can't see. She'd have a disadvantage and would rather stay indoors.

Second Grade Color Wheels

 

This is one of those projects that didn't exactly turn out as planned. But I think I like the end result here even better. Second graders, at Emerson looked at the color wheel and talked about various color families on the wheel. (Primary, Secondary, Intermediate etc.) Then they used scrap construction paper to create their own color wheels from torn paper. Many of the kids were having trouble with the concept of spacing their paper scraps evenly (mosaic style) and building a thick layer of color for each color on the wheel. As a result some color wheels were smaller than others. So I assembled them all together on our hall bulletin board and tah-dah, a beautiful group composition.

Fourth Grade Oil Crayon Drawings

Fourth graders at FMI have been learning about the elements of design this week. I have done this project in the past, but I am really excited with the way they are turning out. We discussed the art elements line, shape, color and space individually and they created these striking compositions using oil crayon.

 

THIS WEEKS CREATION

I saw this on Pinterest and had to give it a try. The kids loved it.  Just hot glued crayons to a canvas board and applied heat with a heat gun. Sooo easy !!!!!!

NAME GAME

Fourth Grade students have been working hard to complete their name game figure drawings. This is my example. It was a great way to introduce figure drawing and it also helped me learn their names, since most of their faces were new to me. We spent some time looking at lettering styles and the kids did a great job of carefully lettering their first name down the center of 12x18 drawing paper. Markers were used to add color and really make their name stand out. Then for the real fun. Adding the figures around each letter. Students could create human figures or opt for animals, robots, or aliens. I think they did a great job.

ART FOLDERS

All classes K-5 are keeping an art folder this year. These are some of the cover designs done by fourth and fifth graders.  I like to use a folder instead of a sketch book, so that pages can easily be removed or added as needed. Students have specific drawing assignments to complete for their folders as well as free drawing activities. It is also a place to keep handouts on projects that we are doing, information on artists, work sheets, and rough drafts of work. The art folders stay in the art room and are sent home at the end of the school year in June.

FLYING CRAYONS

Many of you may be wondering just what "Flying Crayons" are?  No, there are not projectile crayons flying through the air in the art room. Flying Crayons are actually winged paper crayons, classes receive when they have had a great day in art. Getting a crayon to present to their classroom teacher is a great incentive for younger students to actively and positively participate in class. I started using this idea several years ago. It is so simple but some times the simplest ideas are the best.