Saturday, August 30, 2014

Back to School with International Dot Day Projects

We just completed our first week of school, 2 1/2 days with the students and we are off and running with projects for International Dot Day.  My teaching focus for this year will be writing artist statements using great artistic vocabulary and connecting and understanding the Elements of Art.  My older classes experienced a few AHa moments as we reviewed the elements of art and reflected on how our art making projects had incorporated multiple elements throughout their years. The students caught on as they began to remind me of their favorite projects and what they had done to represent the various elements.  The big one was Form and the realization their clay projects from previous years were classified as forms. I planned to have each grade connect to the elements in a conscience way with their "Dot" compositions.  The one on the left is from a fourth grade student.  The assignment was to demonstrate space in their composition.  We review past concepts of placement on the page, overlap and size to show space.  The small works (4" x 4 1/2) were then framed in a swirly frame as in the book "The Dot" by by Peter H. Reynolds.
I will share other projects as they are completed.  Fifth grade students are being challenged to create a composition that will reflect three of the Elements.  They will then write an artist statement defending their choices and explaining why they chose the Elements.  Third grade students are creating a dot based on something they might have experienced during the summer based on the dot shape.  I was particularly amused by some of the ideas they came up with for their dot.  I will share when they are completed, you must see the ferris wheel!  Second graders have turned their dot into a symmetrical image reflecting positive and negative spaces as they practiced effective use of scissors.  First grade classes have analyzed color mixing, some by creating a dot only colored with the primary colors and others by designing an original color wheel.  They used the primary colors to mix the secondary colors on the wheel.  I am hoping to have bulletin boards full of dots by September 15th for International Dot Day and prior to Meet the Teacher night.

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