2nd Grade Pattern Animals

The second graders have been learning about patterns and motifs in art. They learned that a motif is the actual design that is repeated and a pattern is when a motif is repeated over and over again. We looked at many patterns and brainstormed different patterns together as a class. We then used that knowledge to fill in our animals. Don't they look nice? YES!!!

2nd Grade "Value"-able" Jewels

Second graders have been hard at work learning all about the element of Value. Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. We can get value by mixing white and black with a color. The students began this project by making a symmetrical jewel. Symmetrical means that if you fold it in half, it would be the same on each side. After making their jewels, the second graders picked a color of tempera paint, plus white and black, to paint their project. I'm impressed with these very "value"-able jewels!

2nd Grade Jim Dine Hearts

The artist Jim Dine LOVED hearts. He did many paintings using hearts as this theme. We drew inspiration from Jim Dine and the color wheel as we made these hearts. The students had to incorporate all the primary and secondary colors in their artwork. Can you name all six colors?

2nd Grade Clay!

The 2nd graders had a great time creating clay pinch pots. We learned about the element of form and talked about how form is 3-D. That means the art pops out at you, it is not flat! After mastering the concept of form, we used clay to make a pinch pot and then glazed them. The 2nd graders are so proud of their artwork, and so am I!

Finished Penguins!

I am in love with these penguins that the 2nd graders have finished! They look incredible! Nice work 2nd grade!

Painted Penguins

Hmmmm... I seem to be on a penguin theme this year :) The kids love, them, though and always get so excited to draw and paint them. These second grade penguin paintings are turning out great! We have been talking about depth and overlapping. We learned that depth is the amount of space between the front and the back of the picture. Art is so awesome because even though the piece of paper is flat, we can make it feel like there is great depth (a lot of space) between the front and the back. We talked about how overlapping is a way to show depth. When one object hides another, it's called overlapping. I know that the object I can see all of is in front and the object that is partially hidden is in back. The second graders are doing so well at soaking up these concepts, not to mention being perfect penguin painters! :)

2nd Grade Hidden Hands

We have been talking a lot about geometric and free form shapes in second grade. Can you find the geometric and free form shapes in these pictures? How bout our hidden hands?

2nd Grade Cities

The second graders worked hard on their collage cities and they turned out so creatively! Each city has its own story and I love listening to the kiddos share their ideas! They get so excited about the happenings in their city and love to add detail!

First Projects!

We're starting the year off with gusto here at Big Woods! The kids are all working hard and putting their creative minds in gear. Here are a few pictures of what we've been working on!

Second graders are doing a fabulous job on their collage cities! I am so impressed! We discussed the element of Line together as a class and made sure we knew which lines were vertical, horizontal and diagonal (kind of tricky!). We also talked about exciting lines like zig zag, wavy, and curved lines. They took all of their knowlegde about lines and began to cut out buildings and details for their cities. Nice work! We are going to add more line details later with a thin marker. I'm excited to see the end results!

Fourth Graders are working on a project celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. We are learning about the Kuna people who live on the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama. The Kuna make beautiful works of art from layers of fabric called Molas. The colors and details are so vibrant and interesting... the kids love talking about them.

We started making our own Molas out of construction paper... I'll be sure and post when they are done! Looking good so far :)