1st 9 weeks in the books, early October

Our ninth week of school was a great week for reflecting and catching up. Most classes did final touch-ups, began Artsonia uploads, and critiqued their works and those of peers. The annual fall still life is also up and ready for drawing! 

On Friday, I totaled our Class Dojo points to see who had earned their Art Star (10 points) and which classes get the treat for top points per grade level. Those lucky art stars will get a handmade star crayon as a reward :).

First and second graders have been learning about the "Nouns of Art" - people/portraits, places/landscapes, and things/still lifes. We made family portraits and goldfish still lifes and then critiqued them using The Art Stack - both of these sheets can be found on my Teachers pay Teachers page.

Third graders began assembling their "Not Dots" pieces inspired by the book The Dot, when the main character Vashti "paints a dot by not painting a dot" using negative space. Using scissors and hole punchers, we filled a page with holes and layered it over a brightly painted background.

Fourth graders also used The Art Stack critique with a buddy and completed their ASL hand contours.

Fifth graders began using viewfinders and creating thumbnail sketches which were enlarged to create a cropped composition in watercolor. They chose bicycles or animals for a complex subject.

I am also working on a mural in the main hallway for our character education program called 7 Mindsets - each month we focus on a positive thinking concept, and the mural is filled in for that portion. I designed it to be fun and colorful like the things that inspired me when I was a kid, like Schoolhouse Rock and PBS shows from the 70's. Here is how it looks after the first two mindsets: 

Thanks for stopping by, and all the resources here can be found on my Teachers pay Teachers page: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists