Fernand Leger's Celebrations

2nd grade students studied artwork created by French modern artist, Fernand Leger (1881 – 1955). It was discussed how this artist used colors to tell a story, many times this story was showing a circus or party environment. He also used thick black lines to outline forms and show movement. Students chose one of three themes: party, parade, or circus. They were then encouraged to overlap forms and fill up the page with different sized objects and people. Students first sketched in pencil, went over these drawings with black tempera paint, and (when dry) added color using colored pencils.

Mosaic Horizons

3rd grade students learned about primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. They first created color wheels identifying these colors. On a separate sheet of paper, students drew yellow lines on one half of the page and blue on the other. This represented the horizon line- the ocean and the sunshine-filled sky. Students then glued their color wheels to this paper followed by pieces of paper to fill the space, showing that the ocean and sky is filled with many colors. The color wheel takes the place of where the sun would be.

I'm a Little Teapot

For this lesson, Kindergartners learned about primary colors. They also looked at cubist paintings to identify shapes in art work. Students then observed a silver teapot and designed their own teapots, complete with red, blue, and yellow crayons and pieces of paper. Students sang "I'm a Little Teapot" before creating their unique teapots.

Finished Early?

If students finish their projects early, they have the option of drawing on a paper shopping bag from the local grocery store. The themes for these drawings are "Our School" and "Save the Earth." I will return the bags to the grocery store for patrons to use. It is emphasized that students are artists and advocates, promoting shoppers to use their bags for other things besides groceries.

Tri-county Art Fair