Students have been learning about colour theory through our explorations in Art. Two weeks ago they learned about the three primary colours – red, yellow, and blue – and created pictures using just those three crayons.  On Friday we used the primary coloured paints.  They heard a story about a mischievous butterfly who got into Mother Nature’s way while she was painting a garden and ended up being very colourful.  They then experimented with paints and a butterfly shaped paper.  They put dabs of paint on one side of their paper, folded the paper closed, and rubbed the two sides together.  The results were many (mostly) symmetrical butterflies.  They made construction paper bodies which they glued onto the wings today when they were dry.  The addition of pipe cleaner antenna finished the look. Students were encouraged to try and have the primary colours close in some spots so that they could flow together to create the secondary colours – green, orange, and violet (purple) – when pressed together.

These are on the bulletin board at the back of our classroom. 

On Friday we had a lesson on the ‘elements’ of art.  We discussed how elements are parts of a whole.   The six elements of art are: colour; line; shape; form; value; and texture.  To explore a few of these elements we did leaf rubbings using waxed crayons on paper.  We will explore each of these elements over the course of this school year in more depth.

Here are a few individual samples of the students’ work.  All of the art pieces are pinned to the bulletin board in our classroom.  Come by and take a peek.

The Grade Ones heard a story about a giraffe who was embarrassed because he felt he couldn’t dance like all the other animals could.  In fact, they were rather mean to him about it.  A wise cricket taught him to listen to his own music, and to be himself, as we are all unique.  He then created his own style of dance.

We did a directed drawing lesson and created our own ‘Gerald’  the giraffe.  They are on the bulletin board in the hallway outside of our classroom.  I think they look great!

Currently on our bulletin boards outside of our classroom.

Students enjoyed creating their own versions of Van Gogh’s “A Starry Night”.

Students have been learning about the period in Art history dominated by those artists known as the “Impressionists”.  We read some stories and looked at some works by Vincent Van Gogh.  Students then re-created their versions of “Sunflowers”.