Evil Twin: 4th Grade

This project was a lot of fun! I walked students through how to draw a portrait. We drew our faces step-by-step together. Students had to finish in that first class. During my prep, I photocopied each portrait twice. That means each student had their original plus two!

I explained to students that one portrait needed to be colored like how they really look. The other portrait was their evil twin! Students loved coming up with how to make their alter-egos look.

My example:

When both portraits were finished, I had students bring me their two portraits. Using the paper cutter, I chopped the portraits up together into 1-inch strips! Students reassembled their portraits, alternating between good and evil sides. Each student ended up with two portraits!

Here is my finished example! Fun, right?!

Lions: 4th Grade

After working on some really intense projects, I gave fourth grade a break. Students drew a lion head and glue magazine strips to create a mane!

 

 

Keith Haring: 4/5th Grade

Here are some of the finished works from 4/5th grade! This project took WAY longer than I expected. Most of the students are still working towards finishing! They look really awesome though.

Aren't these cool?! I can tell my students are very proud of themselves, as they should be!

Keith Haring Figures: 4th-6th grade

I've been working on a Keith Haring project with grades 4th, 5th, and 6th. The way my classes are, I do not have any class that is completely 5th grade. The 5th graders are combined either with 4th or 6th. At one of my placements, there is a second art teacher who teaches two classes that I never even see. It's complicated to understand at first; don't stress over it!

My reasoning for explaining that first is to explain why there are only two different projects!! Both projects start out the same, but the information is put together differently for the final art project.

The first day, I displayed pictures of Keith Haring's art. I started out with the subway graffiti pictures. The students thought it was very interesting how he made his chalk drawings with other people always there watching. I showed some of his later works and talked a little bit about the Pop Shop and how he enjoyed working with children. Teachers need to take extra caution when choosing examples to display in class!!

I do my best to make art relevant to the students personally. I played a Sesame Street video (there are a lot of choices on YouTube!) that uses a wall Keith Haring painted in a gymnasium. Some students claimed to have seen it before, which is great!

I also found photographs from Google images of celebrities wearing Keith Haring's art on their clothing! The students love these photos. It really makes the artworks "cooler" to them.

 Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Kelis and Rihanna wear Keith Haring's Art Inspired Clothes

Beyonce wears a Keith Haring necklace in her music video, Move Your Body.

I chose not to show this video in class since Beyonce is a talented, provocative dancer.

However, the video is available on YouTube for those who may choose differently!

Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly) also seems to be a fan of Keith Haring! 

After all the pictures and videos had been shared, I had students practice drawing people in Keith Haring's style. I told them that their behavior was a test for how we would spend the next class: FREEZE DANCING!

Yes, I played 80's music (or really it ended up being a mix of fun, appropriate songs from the 80's, 90's, 2000's and now). I had a table (group of four) go up and dance for the rest of the class. When I paused the music, the students froze and those sitting down picked one of the poses and drew it on their papers. Every one was required to get up and participate! Even if the student did not want to dance, I told them to pick a pose when the music stopped. The students loved this activity.

The next class, I had students pick 2-4 (the number depended on which grade) poses to use for the project. 

This is my example for 4th grade:

Please excuse the left side, my blue marker was kind of dry!

I had the students begin by folding their paper in half. The students were to draw one pose in the middle of each half. On one half they use cool colors, and on the other they use warm colors!! I demonstrated how to trace around the figures using my Elmo. I felt so encouraged when they begged to stay in art class! They love this project! I found this idea here: http://ourartlately.blogspot.com

This is my example for 6th grade:

I instructed students to fold their paper into fourths (I demonstrated this for them as well). I had my students color the sections in with markers, while in my example I glued paper down instead. The students receive one color of paper (cut down to size!) and are to draw one of the figures they selected on it. I really push for them to draw them large because 1. it looks better and 2. it's easier to cut!

Students raised their hand when they had finished the first figure. I checked it and either gave constructive criticism, i.e. draw the legs/arms thicker, or gave out the other three colors. Students cut out the figures and glue them on a section with a different background color. The students trace around the figures with black marker and add motion lines. I was inspired to do this lesson while visiting this blog: http://dalimoustache.blogspot.com

I'm excited because both of these projects will look amazing hanging up in the hall!! The students all seem to remember the artists name! I will post student examples when they are all done!