Since earning my K-12 Art Education degree in April, I have been fulfilling a long-term K-5 elementary art position in a local public school. The past six weeks have been an incredible journey, which I am sincerely grateful for. I am sad that it is coming to a close. Not only have I had a wonderful experience in the art room with the students, I also was welcomed to be an active team member within the school community. I had many opportunities to work with parents, teachers and staff.
Together the students and I have grown to know one another. I have learned their interests and abilities in the world of visual arts and beyond. I helped them to discover how to critique their own work in order to gain some independence with knowing when they are done and when there may be room for improvement.
We have looked at both historical and contemporary artist within our local community and also globally. The students were most taken by realism and interactive art. Our projects have allowed us to contemplate the art principles and methods, while refining skill and knowledge of art mediums. The students created individual pieces of work and also had the chance to experience collaborative endeavors.
At our recent Open House Ice Cream Social families had the opportunity to see lesson descriptions for each grade. Families were also encouraged to take part in art making. We worked on a collaborative painting, made bubble prints, created cut flowers and did yarn bombing onto branches. We also watched 3D chalk drawing of interactive art, which coincided with the 5th grade interactive drawing lesson.
Welcome to the First Grade’s version of the Lascaux Caves.
The original Lascaux caves are in France. Four young men and their dog-named Robot discovered them in 1940. Robot happened to be chasing after a rabbit and jumped right into the cave. The Paleolithic drawings of animals, symbols and human figures within the cave are thought to be about 16,000 years old!
We went on a virtual tour of the Lascaux caves. Using information from the tours and class discussions along with simple animal imagery the students created their own cave paintings.
