[Watercolor Resist Bird Paintings!]
We had a mini vocabulary lesson in art while discussing the word RESIST. We are constantly resisting things, or choosing not to do things we don't want to do. 2nd grade discovered that a watercolor resist painting does the same thing! After drawing beautiful birds with oil pastels, they applied watercolor paint, and watched the two mediums resist each other and not touch!
The students then pushed the creative abilities of their birds. Some became old men birds with canes, many had hats and tiaras on their heads. Even rain boots and glasses! The birds were great, and the stories behind who the birds were, were exceptional!
[Why is Blue Dog Blue?]
Why is Blue Dog Blue? is a FANTASTIC book by George Rodrigue! It is funny, colorful, and artsy from beginning to end. While reading to my 2nd graders, we analyzed the perspective of the artist (integrating reading concepts) in order to figure out why Mr. Rodrigue chose to paint the dogs in the story crazy colors like Mustard, Cherry, Tan, and Emerald.
The students then created their own dog drawings, and painted using wacky color combinations, with a specific concept in mind. When they were finished, we created a classroom art gallery. Each student read their written description that explained why they painted their dog yellow, magenta, teal, orange, ect, and their classmates guessed which was theirs! Some dogs were painted to resemble sports teams, others to remind the artist of their favorite food, and still others painted to match their mother's favorite color. The final products are beautiful!
[Horse Portraits]
After studying different types of horses, the second graders discovered how simple shapes and lines can help draw the shape of a horse head. They then used NEUTRAL colors to create a realistic skin tone and mane for their horse. Details and COOL colored backgrounds were added to make the beautiful final drawings!
[Egyptian Necklaces]
Second graders where excited as they traveled to Egypt is Miss Morningstar's Art Jet, and learned about Ancient Egyptian culture and traditions! Hieroglyphics became the main focus, and 2nd graders learned how to write with hieroglypics and made art in metal with the egyptian writing. The final project was turned into a shiny and fantastic Egyptian Necklace complete with the student's name written in Hieroglyphics!
[Clay Leaf Containers]
We have been using an artist’s most important tools – eyes and hands – over the past couple of weeks as we worked on our leaf projects. First we put on our Artist Goggles, and used our eyes to analyze and draw REAL LEAVES to discover the different parts, pieces, and shapes that make leaves unique. Next we got our hands dirty and created 3D leaves with clay using the pinching technique. We then fired, glazed, and fired our leaves again to finish our beautiful clay masterpieces!! Miss Morningstar’s room was filled with over 100 leaves, and each one was unique with different shapes, size and colors.
[2nd Grade - Line and Pattern Initials]
