The New Plan

I have decided that full TAB is not my style. Although I have loved the deeper conversations the kids are having about their artistic decisions, the messy classroom and disrespectful behavior I was constantly battling has to go. So I have begun a project based class again, but with the intent to keep each project very open to allow for choice within the confines of the project. For example, second grade is making landscapes using warm and/or cool colors. I showed them an example using collage, drawing, and painting and they are required to show foreground, middle ground, and background.

For the third through fifth grade students, I have the luxury of being able to ask them to bring their Chromebooks and can use Google Classroom to push out content. Fifth grade's focus is contrast, emphasis, and value right now, so I created two different project options and pushed out a Google Slides presentation with step by step photos and a video for how to make each of the projects. Students are independently using the materials to teach themselves how to create one of the projects with me there to clear up any confusion or help when needed.  All four of my fifth grades have used this and although the first class had some technical difficulties, I can confidently say it worked better for all four than full DBAE or full TAB. I remembered to ask two of the classes to show me fist to five (fist being "I hated it" and five being "loved it, let's do it every time!") how they felt about being self guided and saw mostly fives, with a few fours thrown it. I am currently working on materials for three different fourth grade projects using value and mixing tints, tones, and shades as the main concepts.

Here are the projects and resources for the fifth grade projects. We looked at Op Art, and I gave this full class presentation about the movement. At the end of the presentation, I talk about the new structure of the class and how they will access the presentations and videos through their Google Classroom link. If the teacher uploads the resources as "materials" they will be listed under "classwork" and you can create a unit title and even decide what order they are listed in under the title. This worked very well. I gave the two projects a title too and made sure the students knew which project matched each title. Here are the projects fifth grade had to choose from:

LINE DESIGN:
I got this lesson from Art with Mr. E, and he created a great step by step, which is where I got the photos from for the presentation.

Here is the presentation for this project, and here is the video I created for this project. 

CONES & SPHERES: 

I don't know where I originally got this lesson, as it's one I have done off and on for over ten years. It's a classic, but the kids love it. 

Here is the presentation for this project, and here is the video I created for this project. 

Op Art

My fifth graders finally finished their first project! I was amazed that they were still working on it, since they started before I left for my maternity leave. Apparently, they had several classes canceled due to assemblies and field trips, etc. Next year we will use smaller paper so it doesn't take as long!

LEARNING TARGETS:
~Students will understand Op Art
~Students will understand the introduced terms
~Students will create a work of art with value and depth

TERMS:
Op Art: Optical Illusion Art. Art that tricks the eye.
Vanishing Point: The spot where everything disappears.
Value: The lightness or darkness of a color.



We started by dissecting the term Optical Illusion Art and looking at examples of Optical Illusions. The terms were introduced, and then there was a demonstration. They were asked to trace three circles anywhere on the page. I then asked them to make a dot near the center of the paper and use a ruler to make lines coming out from the dot. They had to make an even number of triangles for the project to work. They were shown how to add curved lines in each triangle to create the illusion. After working on that, I showed them that they should color the smaller stripes with a black Sharpie.


Once the lines were colored, I showed them how to do the circles. I asked them to do half a circle at a time. Their lines should start and end at the middle of the outside of the circle, and curve towards the outside of the circle, creating an "eye" on the circle. They then do the same thing, crossing the first and color it in a checkerboard pattern.


Once all the black is colored, we reviewed Value and I showed them how to create not just darks and lights, but many middle values. I stressed that the middle values are what really will make their drawings "pop." Both the triangles and circles should have dark values on the outside of the shape and get lighter as they move to the center. They took forever, but turned out amazing!