2nd Grade Cave Art

2nd graders went back in time and learned all about one of the earliest forms of art: Cave Art! We discussed how art can be used to communicate stories about the past, or tells about the people who created it. After taking a look at some cave art we noticed all of the similarities in cave art such as the use of natural colors, and animals. The class even got a virtual tour of the cave of Lascaux to look at some real cave art!

Virtual Cave Tour

2nd graders made their own cave art by thinking of imagery that could communicate a message about the people of the present. Some created images of their own pets, while others included a hidden message using pictures and symbols. We used some animal stencils, oil pastels, and even experimented with some charcoal to make our own cave art come to life. The class loved crumpling up the paper to create a texture that you might find inside caves. At the end of the lesson the class got to walk through their very own 2nd grade cave (also known as my art supply closet)!

Creating our cave art!

Crumpling up all of the paper!

"Be nice to dogs"

A pet goldfish!

"Things that fly"

"Be nice to nature"

Winter Greeting Card Contest

Every year our school district has a Winter Greeting Card Contest. There were over 200 creative entries, and I can tell students really tried their best! From Madison school there were 3 winners and 3 runners up. I also chose a winner from my 4th grade class at Pleasant Lane. The winners get their cards printed, displayed, and sent out around the district, as well as their winning design displayed on the local tv station (videos to come)! Runners up won the chance to get their cards printed out to take home and give to family members. Congratulations to all of our winners, and thanks to all who participated!

Here are some of our winners!

2nd Grade Weaving

Weaving was the focus of this 2nd grade project! We started by discussing how weaving can be considered art, and how people have used weaving in the past and in the present. 2nd grade learned that weaving uses a lot of patterns. We focused on over, under, over, under for ours! Next, we cut our paper and students picked what colors to put into their weaving. Some students did patterns, while others used a variety of colors! By using what we learned we created some beautiful paper weaving art. At the end of class 2nd grade also got the chance to work with yarn on a real loom!

2nd Grade Silhouette Project

   This silhouette project was a hit with the 2nd grade, and taught us about many new art processes! We started out the project by learning how to do a watercolor wash. Students painted their whole page with water first, and then chose any three colors they wanted for the background. After painting the water on their page, 2nd graders loved adding their three colors and watching the colors spread out and blend together on their paper.

   The next day we talked about negative and positive space, shadows, and silhouettes. With Halloween coming up students were excited to incorporate some of their own spooky ideas to their silhouettes. We drew out our silhouette scene in pencil first, and then finished it up by filling it in with black markers.

I think they all turned out great with some very creative touches!
Here area few finished examples:

I love the colors this student chose!

Look at that creative haunted house and the spooky twisted tree!

2nd Grade Symmetry Bug Jars

2nd Graders had a lot of fun with this project! I got the idea from Artsonia.com, and it has been a favorite ever since. At the beginning of class we identified symmetry and played a "symmetry game". We discussed where symmetry can be found in the world around us, and some of the things we came up with were math, design, nature, and people! Next, I introduced the bug jars! Our goal was to create an environment in the jar and fill it with symmetrical or asymmetrical bugs.

I am so impressed with the ideas the 2nd grade came up with for their bug jars. Some of my favorites included symmetrical spider webs, asymmetrical worms, and beautifully decorated butterflies.

Kandinsky School Mural

My first project of the year was done with help from all of the students at Madison School! On the first day of class students were given a blank 4x4" square to decorate. My only guidelines for the project were that each student had to include: their name, hobbies or interests, and shapes. I mentioned that we were going to collaborate with other classes to create an "all-school painting". Every class was excited to see how the painting would be put together to create their own giant mural! We briefly discussed unity, and how we wanted the result to look good, while still allowing for individual creativity. In order to solve this problem students used shapes just like Wassily Kandinsky did in his painting"Concentric Circles".

Kandinsky "Concentric Circles"

 Students then incorporated their interests by either writing or drawing them in their shapes!

In my example I chose to stay with circles. I made sure to emphasize that their are no mistakes in art. Even Kandinsky didn't make perfect circles in his painting!

After drawing out their designs students learned about the "resist" painting technique and colored in their squares by using crayons and watercolor paint.

The best part of the project, other than getting to know all of my new students, was to see everyone's reaction after our mural was officially installed!

Here is a look at our finished project: