1st Grade Art

Henri Rousseau became 

famous for his paintings of rainforest scenes even though his only experiences with wild animals and plant life were through zoos, botanical gardens, and books. 1^st graders tried their hand at drawing realistic jungle pictures, although the fluorescent paints certainly give them a unique look.

Kindergarten Art

The  Kindergarten has just finished a paper weaving and added snowy hills, a snowman, and an environment. The edges of their hills and the edges of the snowman were shaded with pastels to add a little contrast to overlapping shapes.  A repeated pattern of snow will be drawn in the woven “sky” with crayons and glitter.

2nd Grade Art

Second grade have finished their snowman portraits, always one of their favorites. They created a close-up of a snowman, creating texture by using a dabbing motion with the brush. Pastel shades of paint (tints) were made by mixing secondary and primary colors with white. Water thinned paint and large glittery flakes were used in the backgrounds to create a wintry atmosphere (not unlike our current weather here)!

Third Grade Art

Before Christmas break the third graders created portraits of nutcrackers either as a close-up or pictured in an environment. Nutcrackers were drawn from observation with black Sharpies and colored with permanent markers. Drawing with materials that cannot be erased helps the children draw with care since the option of erasure has been removed.  They learn to think about how to turn unwanted lines into, as the book says, A Beautiful Oops! One of the most important parts of learning how to use your mistakes is to remember not to scribble it out. A big black blob is awfully hard to disguise.  Collage materials (jewels, glitter, shiny dot strips) were added if desired.   Although they weren’t finished in time to display before Christmas on their bulletin boards, look for them at the spring, April K-8, Art Fair.