6th Grade First Project: Elements and Principles

For my first 6th grade project, we work on reviewing the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design. 

Students begin with notes on the elements and principles and begin learning about bubble/block letters. We then talk about how sometimes the space you have to work in is not always a square with straight edges. I demonstrate to the students how to 'fit' their letters into a circle. 

• Then we talk about the difference between a 2nd grade design and a 6th grade design. I demonstrate how they can take a very simple design and by simply adding more to it, they can turn it into a more advanced idea.

• They add their initials into the shape of a circle and then add designs and patterns in and around their letters. Some hide their letters and some decide to make them obvious to the viewer. 

• They can use markers or colored pencils or both. I am really impressed with this years results. 

Can you find their initials??

The Puzzle Project 2017

Each year I begin 8th grade art with The Puzzle Project, inspired by Tim Kelly's idea as seen here: 

I talk about unity in art and unity in life. We have a big class discussion about why unity is so important in today's world. We tie in ideas about bullying and war and politics and religion. We talk about how everyone is different and everyone looks differently and acts differently and talks differently, and how beautiful we are all together. 

The idea is that each student can use whatever materials they want, and whatever ideas they can think of to represent themselves and their thoughts. Each student will create an individual work of art, that will be a piece of a larger collaborative installation with all 8th grade art students. 

The overarching theme is diversity, awareness and acceptance. We are all different, but we all fit together in this world like the pieces of a puzzle. 

I order 30"x 40" foam board sheets. I get two 20" x 20" puzzle pieces out of each sheet. I created a template and trace it onto the 20" x 20" pieces. I cut them out using an Xacto knife when the student is finished. 

Here are some images from this years first semester puzzle project. 

This is my second example

This is my first example

This student said this about her piece "This is how I feel inside" 

"I just love to draw trees, there is something magical about them" 

A little outside time for art. 

Writing in Art... WHAT?!?

I always hear it.. the moans and groans about actually having to write. in art. How dare I have them do something other than create art in the art room.

We all know the focus in education is reading and math.. so what can I do to support that without compromising my own curriculum?

I came up with two small things, that will not only reinforce some of the core concepts that are being focused on in other classes, but also will help them to 'Think like an Artist!'

If students have art on Monday their classes are about 10 minutes longer than Tuesday-Friday classes. At my school we have something called I&E- Intervention and Enrichment, and its only Tuesday-Friday for about 30 minutes... but Ill get into that another day.

READing Into a Work of Art

So anyway, Monday classes complete a R.E.A.D during the first 10 minutes of class. They come in, and there is a work of art projected on the board (different for each grade level.) They are required to write 4 complete sentences.. a Response, an Evaluation, an Analysis and a Description of the artwork:

They have to write the artists name and the name of the work of art at the top. This one in particular was in response to Keith Haring's "Andy Mouse"

I really enjoy being able to see the things they write, and this lesson gives them the opportunity to be exposed to the work of other artists, and to actually think about what they are looking at, not just seeing it. 

TAG IT! 

Another opportunity that students in my class get for reflection is their peer reviews in the form of TAGs. Each time a student finishes a work of art they must get another student to TAG it before they turn it in. They get a post-it and give their artwork and the post-it to another student who has to

Tell the artist something they like about the work

Ask the artist a question about their work and

Give the artist a suggestion. 

The student then sticks the post-it to the back of the artwork and returns it to the artist who can then turn in their work.

We have just started this process and this is the first year I am trying it, so in a few months, ill update how its going :)

Spelling is not always a strong point with middle school students...  "variety" "designs" and "maybe"  :)

Elements of Art First Project 7th Grade

So all of the middle school art teachers in our county get together once a month to discuss issues related to our professions and things that are relevant to our classes and students. We met this past Wednesday and one of the things we worked on were curriculum cards which are uniform for each grade level regardless of school. We all try to align the skills and curriculum that we cover for each grade level.. but as you know all teachers are different, as are all students/classes so attempting to align curriculum is tough sometimes.

One thing we could all agree on is that we cover the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design with all of our grade levels. We agreed that we all have students in 6th grade and never have them again, some students we have only in 7th or 8th grade and some we have all three years. That makes it tough to build on knowledge each year because we teach so many different levels in one class. 

This brings me to my first 7th grade project. We are just ending our third week of school and having my 7th graders every other day for 85 minutes, it sometimes takes a while to complete projects. Project #1 consists of the Elements of Art but also Color Theory- in review of the complementary colors. 

• Students begin by finding the middle of their 12x12 page. They then decide which type of line to use (straight, curvy, wavy, etc) and draw two of that type of line to each corner. 

• We review block lettering and various ways to create them and students are required to include their name in one space and the other 3 are up to them as to what word or name they want to draw. The remaining 4 spaces are reserved for designs and patterns utilizing the elements of art (line, shape, color etc.) The spaces with their name and other words/names must include the complementary color sets (red/green, orange/blue, yellow/violet) and the design spaces can be whatever colors they want. 

Here are some of the ones that have been completed. 

Let's talk art journals

Ok so most teachers have a warm up routine for the kids as they come in. 

...I didn't used to, until two years ago. 

We do not have bells between classes because of our schedule so I was having students coming in to class in waves. I got tired of starting directions 50 times, so I decided I needed a warm up that they could work independently on each day. LIGHTBULB: Art Journals! They have evolved from a completely open ended assignment "hey kids you can draw whatever you want!" To a designated subject- which gets rid of most of the "I don't know what to draw" and the "I can't draw" complex. 

All students are 'trained' to come in and get their journals out each day. 7th and 8th grade have 20 minutes every class day (X/Y schedule, 85-90 minutes) 

And 6th grade has 10 minutes (every day semester or X/Y nine weeks 40 minutes) it is a graded weekly assignment. 

Week one: Cover.

The cover is made of poster board, it's 13"x 9.5" This year I printed their names so they would be legible. They were instructed to draw 6 lines from their name, and had to include the word Art, and a quote of their choice. The remainder was up to them. 

As you can see, the results vary. I like the organized directions to get them started but then I love to see their individuality come out with the rest of it.

Each week 8th graders are to choose a quote (I have 3 on the board to choose from or they can come up with their own quote via the internet) they have to write their quote on their page, attempting a font other than their own handwriting. They then have to 'fill the space' however they see fit:

7th grade is assigned a word each week, and this year they have to use a particular font. The rest of the page is up to them, this weeks word was School: 

Last but not least, 6th grade. They have a short class time, 40 minutes so I assign them a topic. This week they were to draw an imaginary creature: 

My students never cease to amaze me!