Canopic Jars

So these beauties were started wayyyyyy back in December before holiday break, they were finished up upon our return in January and I'm finally getting around to posting them. So this was quiet the project.

This project went along with our Ancient Egyptian unit. The fourth graders looked at canopic jars and discussed the uses and the reason behind the animal heads on each jar. Then students brainstormed ideas for their very own canpoic jar. The next several classes were spent building up the form around a yogurt cup with newspaper, masking tape and paper mache paste. This part really stretches some students thinking, having to transfer a 2D drawing to a 3D sculpture.

After weeks of building their creations it was finally time to paint. My students simply used tempera paint which they then covered with a paint on clear acrylic sealer to prevent the paint from chipping off.

 Since wrapping up Ancient Egypt we have zoomed forward thousands of years to look at astronauts and outer space with our next art with science unit.

Weaving Crocodiles

First grade has been working on a project that has many, many steps and took just as many class periods to finish. Now they are finally complete and the results are totally worth the wait. To finish up our Ancient Egyptian theme students have been making weaving crocodiles. The idea for this project came from art teacher Cassie Stephens. You can check out her blog here.

First students learned about the ancient art of weaving, how it is done, what it could be used for etc. We also learned Ancient Egyptians used weaving all the time! Students decorated their strips of paper with patterns and designs cut out from colored construction paper. After the strips were decorated students assembled the weaving.

After the weaving was finally complete, which was a big project all on its own we began to create the different body parts to turn our weaving's into crocodiles. Students cut out tails, which we stamped with green paint and cardboard. We also created the crocodiles mouth, which we made into puppet mouths. This added an extra day to the lesson and was a tad difficult but the students love the fact that they can make their crocodiles mouth open and close.

Hieroglyphic Name Design

Third grade recently finished these really cool Egyptian Name Designs. Students were introduced to the Ancient Egyptian language and we discussed the artistic choices the Egyptians made every time they wrote, since it was a picture based language. Once students had a handle on it they drew his/her name inside a pre-made cartouche (basically a fancy Egyptian oval). After that students were introduced to the idea of foil relief. Each student took his/her name design and traced it onto a piece of metal foil. After all the tracing and pressing to get their designs in relief they colored it with sharpie markers. Then witha little black spray paint and steel wool we have nice distressed tin name designs.

The second step of the project was creating the frame. We discussed complimentary colors (colors that across from each other on the color wheel). Each student drew a design around their frame which they painted with a pair of complimentary colors. Students were amazed at how many different colors one could get by simply mixing different amounts of their complimentary colors together.

Elementary Egypt

Greetings everyone.






So for the past several weeks my students have been learning all about Ancient Egypt. I find everything from this time period so fascinating and it would seem my students do as well. They are full of insightful questions and numerous students have brought in Egyptian books, statues etc from home to share with me!

Anyways at the start of this unit I decided I wanted to dress up the front of the room to fit the theme. I looked at my twelve windows that connect with the hall and was struck with the idea to put a mural in those windows. I mean how long could it possibly take? Two weeks later I finally got around to finishing the mural and hanging it the windows, plus sprucing up Rib's tank and table area with Egyptian items. Overall I was pretty pleased and the kids really dig the                                                                                             area.



Now for a glimpse at one of the many cool Egyptian projects done by my students. The fourth graders were introduced to the drawing style of the Ancient Egyptians. We learned that the Egyptian artists followed certain rules when drawing the human figure. They were taught to draw using a grid system that led to the figures always having what Egyptians deemed the right proportions. They also chose to draw different parts of the body from different angels. Students then used grid paper to draw the way Ancient Egyptians did  including animal heads. Once students completed their drawings we transferred the images to Styrofoam plates for printmaking.

The following class was spent reviewing printmaking. We talked about the tools used and the procedures we needed to follow in order to make the printing go smoothly. . . as smoothly as it can with 25 fourth graders.  Students then got to work making two practice prints. On this first day of printing I only let the students use black ink.

The last two classes were spent making colored prints. Some using only one color and then eventually using two colors on one print. The students really enjoyed getting to choose what two colors they wanted to use together. Once all the printing was finished I had students choose his/her two best prints and mat them. They all came out super awesome.

More Than A Month Later!

Well after a 21 day winter break, Martin Luther King Jr Day and four additional snow days we are trying to get back into the swing of things in the art room. Here we are already at the very end of January! Where did this month go?

Since returning from break I have started clay with my Kindergartners and fifth graders. Unfortunately for the fifth graders due to cold days their clay projects have been bagged up for nearly two weeks! Yikes! Hopefully by next week I will have some progress shots of what they are working on and some nicely painted Kindergarten clay pics.

For now I want to show you some projects I wanted to upload long ago but honestly I was just to lazy to do.

Back during my Ancient Egyptian unit my fifth graders learned about King Tut and the mummification process.  I found this video about Tut which I edited down to a little ten minute video that really got the kids thinking and asking really great questions. I liked this video because it focused on the art that was found in the tomb and the sarcophagus design. Really cool stuff.

Anyways after that I had students lay down on pieces of paper and trace around the outline of his/her body. Many chose to have a friend help with this part. They also traced over their own hands. This gave them the basic mummy outline. Then I demonstrated how to divide the face into proportions and add the facial features. From there they could choose how to decorate their Egyptian sarcophagus. These were outlined in marker and colored with crayon.

This was a very successful project and the students really liked it, although I think one reason they liked it so much was because they got to work on the floor.

         

Pyramids

Okay, okay so I'm a huge liar. I did not post right away. Well I'm posting now! I recently finished up a unit on Ancient Egypt which the kids were really excited about. For my first graders we learned about the pyramids; how they were built, why and so on. We also looked at a lot of different pictures of the pyramids at Giza and talked about the art word perspective. I wanted them to understand the concept that when things are in perspective they get smaller the farther away they are and larger the closer they are. The three pyramids right in a row were a great example of this. After that we drew our three pyramids in perspective. We also included a camel and the Nile river.

The following week we outlined the drawings with permanent markers, and I'm proud to say no tables, clothes or hands were drawn on! Then we completed the pictures by painting them with watercolors. To make the sky different than the river we made it look like the sun was setting.