Henri Rousseau Jungles with Value Scales

One of the required artists for Fourth Grade is Henri Rousseau.  We start off with the DVD of Dropping in On Rousseau (The kids STILL love Puffer even at this age) and then discuss some of his prints after. Since we only have 35 minute classes this pretty much is the first day of the project.

On the second day of the project we start talking about value scales and how value can be used to create distance.  I do a painting demonstration using tempera paint in black and white plus one color (each student gets to pick their color) and show them how to create the tints and shades to be the foundation for their own Rousseau landscapes.  The rest of the class is spent painting!

On the third day there are always a few stragglers who need to finish painting.  However, anyone who finished last time gets to break out the oil crayons!  Another quick demo to remind them that small = background/far away, medium = middleground, and big = foreground/closeup and then they are off and running to create their own jungles.

My apologies on only having half finished ones to share!  I forgot my camera on the last day before these went home and only have pictures of the middle of the process!

Even Monsters Need Hair Cuts

 

 So, this probably should have been posted back during October - so my apologies if it seems off-season.  I found the book pictured above at our school book fair and instantly knew what I wanted to do with it.  Since it doesn't specifically mention Halloween, I felt reasonably safe using it.  After reading the story, we discussed the different shapes used to make the faces of the monsters in the book.  I did some quick demos on the board of how to create facial variation using the shapes we'd just discussed.  Students had the chance to then pick the monster they wanted to draw and then show them needing a haircut (insert a line type review)!  I did this with Kindergarten through 2nd grade with great success.  I was even able to leave it for a sub one day and was still pleased with what the students came up with.   Enjoy the examples below!

Vampires were triangular.

Frankenstein was a square.

Wolfmen seemed circular (although judging by the eye lashes, this one is a Wolfwoman.

This student couldn't decide which one to draw so she just made a three headed monster.

3 Heads look even better in color!

One student liked the wolfmen enough to draw one on their own and bring it in to me.

Once Upon a Northern Night

I first learned of this book from reading Patty Palmer's blog over at Deep Space Sparkle.  I bought my own copy and fell in love.

The first project I used it for was a simple monochromatic landscape with my second grade.

As we read the book, we not only talked about where the light, medium and dark colors were but also about accent colors - using a color to draw attention to something important.  The kids had fun pointing out the accent color and stating why that object was important for people to notice.

Following the story we set up with place mats, brushes, and trays with only black and white.  I demonstrated working lightest to darkest (snow first, then the gray trees and then the black shadows).  I was really impressed with the results.  The kids did a really good job with this.

I had only one of my six second grades finish in a single class.  Everyone else took two classes.

Some of the works in progress and the completed landscapes: