2nd Grade

Disco Dancers

70's disco music is integrated into this lesson. We talk about dancing and listen to music during work time. Students create observational drawings of manniquins in different poses. This helps them break the human body down into its most basic shapes, circles, reclangles and squares. It also gets kids thinking about how the body moves and changes. Thay can leave the fiqures in their simple form or they can add details like clothes, hair and faces. On our second day of work we use oil pastels and watercolors to represent the shining disco lights. Do they want defined spaces of color or fuzzy mixed edges. Students explore how watercolors react when placed next to each other when little water is used etc...The oil in oil pastels will resist the watercolor and show through.

Self Portrait Collage- In Motion

Sticking with the idea of the human body in motion, students are asked to create self portraits of themselves in the process of doing something active. How do their arms and legs move? What position are they in? What happens at their elbows and knees? How does their back bend? Simple shapes are created and arranged. Students are then asked to think about where they would be doing this activity and what they would be wearing.

3D Paper Disquise

Our challenge this time is how to make paper stand up. Students explore ways to fold, bend and manipulate materials in order to create 3d work out of paper. The idea of symmetry (things that are the same on both sides) is also discussed and explored when creating the basic form for their disquises.

Clay Relief

Just like our 3d Paper Disguises, students create a work that is meant to be hung on a wall. It is flat on the back but projects out from that surface. This kind of art is called a relief. Students are asked to consider which objects will stick out the most and which will stick out the least. As with every clay lesson blending techniques are used to add on pieces of clay.

Paper Mache Sculpture

Students create these whimsical sculptures by manipulating newspaper into various forms and attaching them to a base, in this case a empty soda can. They then apply paper mache, learning the proper techniques for application and paint their sculptures once they are dry. Students must solve balance problems as they construct their sculptures.

Texture Painting

Students discuss the difference between actual texture that feels bumpy, scratch, itchy, fluffy and the way an artist can make something look like it has texture. Students are asked to choose something in the world that is bumpy or scratchy to depict. We then add balled up or rolled paper towels to our paper using a glue water mixture. It dries to create a bumpy surface. Students are then asked to paint their pictures. Implying textures into their background objects through brushstrokes and other techniques.

Proportion Painting

Students look at the book Lizard In The Sun by Joanne Ryder. They are asked to think about how big the lizard is given what they know about the other objects in the picture. They talk about proportion as a comparison of size between objects. They then look at other pictures in the book to see how the artist uses proportion to emphasize different aspects of the story. Students are then asked to create a picture of a small creature such as a mouse, bug or butterfly. How big will other objects in their painting be represented?

Family Painting

Students are challenged to think about proportion once again. Who is in their family and how big is each member compared to the other. Another challenge is composition, how are they going to organize their space so they can fit all the members of their family and how will they organize their background. As always color mixing is important.

Relfections

Students make the leap from painting to printmaking in this lesson while exploring the properties of paint. We begin by discussing what a reflection is and where it can occur in the world around us. We discuss how the object doing the reflecting can change the appearance of the other object, for instance look in a spoon what happens to your face, does it become narrow, wide or even flip upside down. We discuss how ripples in water can effect reflections and what that might look like. Students will "print" their reflections by folding the paper as they work. Students then discuss what they know about paint and how that might effect the reflections they get. What will happen if the paint is gloppy, dry, watery?

Self Stick Rubber Relief Prints

Dream House Prints

Lunch Box Collage

If you could pack your own lunch what would you put in it and how would you organize your lunch box? Where will you put the shapes? Will objects be close together, touching, far apart, overlapping? How would you represent bunches of objects?

Hiding Places

Students are asked to think about where they like to hide. Which parts of the sculpture will be standing up? Will we be able to see all of you or just some parts?

Clay Animals and Babies

This lesson explores relationships in space and gesture. Students are asked to brainstorm different ways animals take care of their babies. They are asked to think about how big the parents will be compared to the babies and how close the animals will be to each other. Will they be touching? Will you build a habitat for them? Will they be connected or separate? Lastly, students are asked to think about how they will use texture to add detail to your sculpture and show the difference between different areas in your sculpture.

Clay People

Students are challenged to create a figure that is balanced while also keeping in mind clay building techniques.

Pipecleaner Sculpture