3rd Grade - Graffiti

I moved this project to third grade this year, and was pretty pleased with the results.  It's a great way to introduce a "big idea" to the group, and break that idea down into a single word.  We use some graffiti techniques to make our words as interesting as possible, and finish it with some careful coloring and background.

3rd Grade - Album Covers

A new project for 3rd graders, but one we did last year with 5th graders.  For the few weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break, the third graders pretended to be award-winning musicians designing their debut album cover.  The goal was to get the album cover not only eye-catching, but also reflective of the type of music they would make.  So, we studied a handful of album covers and talked about how we could tell one looked "country" or "pop," and used their ideas in our own album design.  Each 3rd grader had to invent his or her own band name and album title, too.  Check out a few awesome examples.

3rd Grade - Ink Monsters

Stefan Bucher's Daily Monster channel on YouTube is the inspiration for this project with 3rd grade.  Also something we've been doing in my room for a long time, I probably enjoy this as much as the kids do.

We spend the first class trying to figure out how Bucher makes his monsters just by looking at his finished art work.  Then, I spread some ink on their papers using a toothbrush, and the third graders use a straw to blow the ink around and make a funky shape.  Then our job is to use that shape as part of a monster we make up.  Maybe the shape is hair or feathers or a mouth or something.

By the end, we take it step further by making up some context for the project.  We fill out a questionnaire asking a bunch of random questions that prove the third graders are thinking about their artwork beyond just what it looks like.

3rd Grade - Genius

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite projects.  It's simple with a lot of room for creativity. 

We start with a discussion about ancient Rome and how they believed in this being called a genius that lives in your soul.  The genius basically helps you live your life.  It can give you ideas and keep you interested in something.  In the art room, we take that idea and run with it. 

We ask ourselves, "What am I good at?" and decide what the genius would look like if it helped us be good at that thing.  So a kid who's good at baseball might shape his or her genius like a baseball or put it on a baseball diamond. 

This project is a great confidence boost and really gets interesting with the variety of ideas that students put on paper.

Getting Our Groove Back - Goofing up

The typical beginning of the year projects in my Art room involve risk taking and problem solving at each level.  I mentioned before that the fifth and sixth graders are blasting through their own ideas and materials with Choice, but the 1st through 4th graders had a different challenge the first few weeks.

I like beginning the year with projects like these because it sets up the idea of experimentation.  Each grade level tries something new, and it's not easy (for most).  It takes hard work to fix our "mistakes" and not give up on our piece.  That's my main focus for the kids.

Work hard.  Don't give up.

Take risks.  It's going to be okay.

So the first graders have to turn a "mark" I make on their papers as their drawing into something so that it looks like it always belonged there.

The second graders drew with 2 hands and had to figure out how best to hold their markers and keep their papers from sliding all over the place.

Most of the third graders had to draw with their opposite hands.  At the end of the lesson though I did have one group hold a marker in each hand to see what they could come up with.  Here are a few hilarious pictures of that struggle.

The fourth graders did a blind contour drawing, where they drew a partner without looking at their paper.  The emphasis was on paying attention to detail and understanding that it's okay to mess up as long as we don't quit on our ideas.

What's new in Mr. Schmidt's Art Room

Reading just completed our first full week of school and I don't think I'm alone when I say this has been the smoothest 7 day start I've ever had.  It's great to see familiar faces and not have to learn a thousand new names this year, but it helps to get a refresher.  This year, we started off with a name tag so that I could refresh on names and faces and get back into the swing of things by week 2.  It's a simple trick that helps me get back in the game and it's quick to fit in at the end of class after we go over the Art Room Rules and Classroom Procedures.

What else is new?  

I'll be updating (hopefully) weekly with finished projects from 5th and 6th graders who are moving into "Choice-Based" Art Ed.  Basically, students are given the responsibility to explore their own ideas using a variety of materials each day they are in the art room.  They experiment and problem solve at their own pace, and are free to indulge their own interests and fine-tune their personal artwork.  It's extremely student-centered and wide open, and it will be a process to get into a groove, but so far so good.  Here are couple pictures of the 6th graders in action.  Stay tuned for pictures of completed projects as this experiment rolls forward.