Creating A Positive Classroom Culture

At the beginning of each school year I love getting my classes involved with planning for and creating a personalized positive classroom culture for the rest of the year ahead. I currently teach ten grade 1-5 classes made up of 2 classes per grade level meaning I see roughly 200 students per week. That is a lot of student input on how to make our art room a welcoming, happy, and meaningful place for everyone!

All classes are involved with deciding on essential art room agreements. We do this through think, pair, share sessions and keep track of everyone's ideas on large pieces of paper. These ideas are then grouped into categories so we can choose 4-5 simple "art room promises" for everyone to remember.  After we have decided on which promises we will go ahead with, each grade is responsible for designing something to personalize our special art room for the year. 

Grade 1: Essential Agreements
After taking part in brainstorming and discussing important art promises, grade 1 students jump right in to art room routines in order to practice and remember our agreements while getting used to a new classroom and starting our first unit of the year.

Grade 2: Art Action Wall 
Grade 2 students also begin with their unit right away, participating in a variety of fun activities. One of the activities that fits in well with our abstract art unit is a focus on Kandinsky. The students listen to a variety of music and paint with colors, lines, and shapes based on how the music makes them feel. They do this in small groups on large pieces of paper and this used for our art action wall where we celebrate students taking their knowledge outside of the art room!

Grade 2's finished action wall is a true work of art! I can't wait to see what type of student led action happens outside the art room this year. 

Grade 3: Essential Agreement Display
Once our essential agreements have been narrowed down, Grade 3 students are in charge of designing the art room promise display. They all vote on a theme after we do a group brainstorm. Every year it has been something different but I have to say this year is my favorite! Across both of my Grade 3 classes the theme with the most votes was a Galaxy Theme. After the theme was voted on, the students worked in small groups and decided what should be included within the display. After another vote between both classes, they decided on including a rocket, astronaut, planets, stars, comet, and of course a UFO with an alien.

This takes quite a lot of planning on the student's part but the process they go through sets them up well for art lessons the rest of the year! They thoughtfully plan out materials and color choices, they create a design,  they work together, and we have a blast doing it! Isn't their final work incredible?

Grade 4: Learner Profile Posters
Grade 4 students work in small groups and have the challenge of creating a poster that reflects how they will utilize a specific learner profile within the art room. To make things even more fun we take photos with the iPad and use the WordFoto app. Here are some examples of this year's Learner Profile Posters in the art room!

Grade 5: Inquiry Cycle Design 

This is new for me and the students this year, and is very much at the moment still a work in progress! Between working on our first unit, small groups of students are in the process of designing a simple inquiry cycle for each table in the classroom. Some students are drawing and others plan to take photos of each stage within the inquiry cycle.

My students and myself love our art room that we have planned for and created together. It's going to be a great year of art ahead!   

Large Scale Collaborative Backdrop

I am so proud of these students for tackling such an enormous project! We had a blast working on this (giant!) backdrop for the annual whole school music performance as part of our after school art club. 

The theme for this year's music performance was based on the book The Kapok Tree by Abigail Thomas. The students used the book for inspiration in order to start their design. They each chose which animals, plants, and rain forest flowers they would like to draw and set to work drawing and planning out their ideas. 

Each drawing was individually scanned and uploaded to PhotoShop so we could piece together the final image as a whole. (This was a very similar process to how another group of students took part in the Library Mural from a previous post) The students decided on the final scene below after copying, pasting, and rearranging their drawings on PhotoShop.  

Once the final scene was complete the image was projected onto large rolled canvas that I had previously cut and hung in the gym. The students then traced their original drawings on a larger scale. When the tracing was complete we laid out the canvas and started by painting the tree and background first. Details in the plants and animals were added last. 

This small group of students worked so hard, they even dedicated their lunch recess to come in to paint! Their enthusiasm, creativity, and effort was appreciated by all! 

Movement Unit

My second graders started this unit by inquiring into movement and body shapes within art. They began by comparing and contrasting different artists and how movement is portrayed in a variety of ways and styles. Our focus was on Keith Haring and we discussed the simple contour lines and shapes within his work. The students then set off in their sketchbooks drawing poses of their choice, practicing different lines and shapes to show their chosen movements. Before we started sketching, we viewed this short animated clip of Haring's work. It definitely inspired some new poses as well as dance moves!  

 

After the initial practice sketches, the students were split up into small groups of 3 or 4 students. As a group, they needed to design a body shape in a moving pose of their choice. They also needed to decide on colors and details that would influence the feeling of their final piece. Once students had practiced and designed in their sketchbooks, they recreated their plans on a larger scale and the real fun could begin! 

One person from each group was traced on large paper in the pose their group had chosen. They worked together to add their colors, lines, shapes, and designs.   

When all their work was finished each group presented their final piece to the class describing their final title and artistic choices within the piece. During critique we also discussed our accomplishments as well as any challenges we faced while working as a group. The students loved talking about each other's final work and had a lot of questions for one another. They were very proud of what they had accomplished together! 

Dot Day Collaborative Painting

Back in September, my PYP classes celebrated International Dot Day with Peter H. Reynold's fabulous book "The Dot". I had posted previously about the dots that my Kindergarten and Grade 1 students created that were then framed to make an installation piece. I would also like to share what my Grade 3 students were creating during that same time as it was good fun and resulted in some beautiful work!

We had just finished up discussing Kandinsky and his famous circles while reviewing color mixing and complementary colors, so International Dot Day was a perfect time to put previous knowledge to good use!

To start off we read the book "The Dot" together and discussed the students thoughts about the story.
We focused on how mistakes in art should be thought of as an opportunity to make something new, not an excuse to give up.

I then split the students into two groups and gave each group a large piece of paper. Each group was instructed to make a circle painting full of patterns and colors of their choice, while being supportive and respectful of all their group members.

The students shared their ideas and worked hard together to create these colorful master pieces!