Fourth Grade

Superhero Self Portraits

The fourth grade self portraits were funny and whimsical. The kids had a great time designing the costumes and superpowers. We used simple ovals to build a complex shape- the human form. These were done with pencil and Sharpies.

Logo Design

This was the first in a group of three projects with a business slant. Students designed a logo with Sharpies on sheets of aluminum that they embossed and engraved.

Shoe Contour Drawing

As preparation for the clay shoe sculpture, students did contour line drawings of their own shoes, paying extra close attention to decorative details, laces, seams, and soles.

Clay Shoe



Using what they had learned from closely observing real shoes, students designed an original shoe prototype in red earthenware and glazes. This is one of my favorite projects of all and they get a charge out of it too!

Escher Tessellation

The more analytically minded kids really enjoy learning about M.C. Escher and his meticulous tessellations. We created our own by making a tracer from an index card and tracing it repeatedly and transforming some shapes into creepy creatures. These were done in pencil, Sharpie, and colored pencil.

Matisse Paper Collage

These vibrant and beautiful collages were inspired by the cut paper work by Henri Matisse. Students were asked to include examples of both geometric and organic shapes. A sense of unity was established by repeating shapes. We used fabulous Fadeless Paper and some fancy schmancy scissors in this project.


O'Keeffe Painting

Fourth graders examined the paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe and created their own by closely observing silk flowers, antlers, shells, and bones. These are watercolors.

Khan Landscape



These mysterious chalk pastel drawings were achieved with a nifty stenciling process. We looked at the bright and expressive landscapes by painter Wolf Khan as inspiration, borrowing his palette, horizon line, and techniques for creating a sense of space.

Board Game Design



Board game designs are an an opportunity for kids to show their creativity, ingenuity, and sense of humor. These are only the boards- kids also created game pieces, draw cards, spinners, and dice depending on the rules of their game. We used Sharpies and Prismacolor Art Stix, which are woodless colored pencils.

Comic



At the close of the school year fourth graders created comics with markers and pens. These could be humorous, like Calvin and Hobbes, or adventure-based, like Spiderman. Some cartoon techniques we explored include speech bubbles, action, onomatopoeia, simplified characters, outlines, and personification.

Third Grade
Postcard Design

At the beginning of the year, third graders drew an image of themselves, using basic ovals and circles, in a place they have visited or wish to someday visit. Many kids drew themselves at the beach, since that's such a popular summer destination. These drawings were done with sharpie and colored pencil.


Van Gogh Starry Night Landscape

Vincent Van Gogh is endlessly fascinating to kids because of that bizarre ear incident, but his artwork is bursting with energy and life, even when no living things are in the image. Together, we talked about his painting, Starry Night, and created our own version with chalk, white paint, and construction paper. Kids took care to include a horizon line and add objects in the foreground and background.

Leaf Paintings



I collected a variety of leaves for students to draw as fall arrived. We focused on using our observational skills and including tiny details like veins and jagged edges. These have crayon outlines and watercolor, creating a watercolor resist.

Aztec Suns



These wonderfully whimsical suns were built with coil construction of red earthenware clay and underglazes. Additional textures were added with small wooden clay tools, but you can get the same effect with toothpicks. As inspiration, we examined the Sun stone, which is believed to be like an ancient calendar.

Sumi Paintings

Done in the style of Asian sumi, these delicate paintings were created with watercolor and traditional bamboo brushes.

Egyptian Sarcophagus

The Egypt unit is an exciting one for our third graders. They have lots of questions about the mummification process, and I used the sarcophagus of King Tut as an example. A fun way to introduce some of the archeological highlights is to read Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile, by Tomie de Paola. The project itself is paper mache, mounted on a sheet of tagboard, based on a scrunched newspaper and masking tape armature. Then, we painted the dried paper mache with gold tempera or acrylic. While the paint was drying, we touched on hieroglyphics and designed a cartouche in colored pencil. The next week, we added intricate symmetrical patterns, first in pencil, then with Sharpie markers.

Doodle for Google

Each year, Google holds a competition for kids to design a "doodle" that will be displayed on the front page of the Google website. All grades participate, and these are some examples by third graders.

Down the Back of the Chair

When I read Down The Back of the Chair by Margaret Mahy, I was so tickled that I had to try and use it in my art room! It's a hilarious poem about a family that discovers first simple, then peculiar, then plain insane things beneath the cushions of an innocuous chair. Third graders designed their own chairs with corrugated cardboard, construction paper crayons, and Sharpies. Can you tell I love Sharpies? The chair cushion is a little hinged book, and on each page is a small drawing of something "from down the back of the chair." The students chose some logical items such as keys, coins, or paper clips, and some wacky things like fairies, pirates, and rainbows.

Squiggle Drawing

This was just a sub activity, but the result was so lovely! All you need to do to make one is draw a controlled scribble, and begin coloring in all the shapes you discover as the lines intersect. We used marker, but this could easily be done with any coloring media.

Sonobe Ball

I didn't teach this, but one amazing kid did it entirely on his own. I put it in an art show because I was so impressed! There's no glue, only modular origami. This example is called Sonobe, and I can say from personal experience that it's very challenging!