Symmetry, Color Mixing, and Ndebele Art- 5th Grade

Objectives:
- We can identify the key characteristics in artwork of the Ndebele of South Africa.
- We can create artwork, in the style of the Ndebele, that uses symmetry, color mixing, bright colors, and bold outlines.

I wanted to jump right into the school year with a challenging, colorful, and fun project. I remember studying the Ndeble (En-Da-Be-Le) of South Africa during my African art history class, back  in Art school. I looked up projects that other teachers have been doing around the country, and saw THIS lesson over at http://artteacheradventures.blogspot.com. It's an excellent lesson, and decided to try it out in my classroom. I adapted the lesson, as best as possible, to Tennessee Art and Social Studies standards.

Standards:
Tennessee Art Standards:
1.5  Recognize and demonstrate levels of craftsmanship. 
2.1  Analyze and apply the elements of art.  

6.2  Identify connections between visual art and social studies.

    
Tennessee Social Studies Standards: 

1.01 Understand the diversity of human cultures.

1.02 Discuss cultures and human patterns of places and regions of the world.

I scoured the internet and put together a folder of pictures of Ndebele artwork, both historic and contemporary. Ndebele mostly paint these intricate designs on the outside of their houses, but in recent times, the designs have spread to clothing, cars, and canvas paintings.

We started out by identifying Africa using Google Earth, and then specifically locating South Africa. I walked the kids through the visual examples of the Ndebele artwork and discussed the traditions and processes behind the artwork. I made sure to emphasize the following Art vocabulary words during our discussion.

Symmetry
Primary Colors
Secondary Colors
Tint
Shade 
Outline

I supplemented the lesson using My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me by Maya Angelou. It is a lovely book, filled with excellent pictures, telling the story of the daily life of a young Ndeble girl in modern times. My class enjoyed seeing all the visuals in the book and realizing that this is a contemporary form of artwork in the world.

Image via Amazon

I gave every student a 11"x17" sheet of watercolor paper. Since the Ndebele do not use rulers, I told the students that they would have to free hand their symmetrical designs. We started by creating a large "X" from corner to corner on our papers. The rest was up to the kids. They had to create a symmetrical design, using the style of the Ndebele as inspiration. Students then traced their pencil lines with thick black paint.

Sketch and outline

On the second and third days of the project, students were given red, yellow, blue, white, and black. We discussed how to mix paint, with me giving demonstrations at the beginning of each class. The remainder of the goals for the project were to fill in the entire painting with at least one from each of the following categories.
Primary
Secondary
Tint
Shade

Primary colors, black, white

Mixing colors!

Assessment consisted of a post test. The test asked students to identify the primary colors, the secondary colors, tint, shade, and information about the Ndebele. If I were to do it over again, I would have started the unit with a pretest as a way to better monitor student learning. Ah well, next time I guess! I thought the artwork turned out pretty rad. This lesson was a neat way to learn about world cultures, and color mixing. Yay!

Heck yah! That kid can paint!

Mythical Maps - 4th grade

I just want to say, first off, that I LOVE making maps. Once, after a particularly spirited read of some Tolkien, I made a map of Middle Earth. I did. I'm a nerd. I'll admit it. I dyed some canvas and used pen and ink at my kitchen table for days and days. In the end, however, I had an amazing map. It's now hanging in my living room, to impress all of my nerdy friends.

That being said, kids love maps as much as I do! We look at examples of old historic maps off the internet, talk about pirates, and mythical islands. Kids love this stuff! The best part is that we can incorporate 3rd grade Science standards. Here, let me show you.

Standards:
Tennessee Art Standards:
1.5  Recognize and demonstrate levels of craftsmanship. 
3.1  Select and demonstrate subject matter, symbols, and ideas in one’s own artwork.   

6.2  Identify connections between visual art and science.

    
Tennessee Science Standards:  

GLE 0307.7.1 Use information and illustrations to identify the earth’s major landforms and water bodies, and be able to identify these on a map 

Look at that! It's like the Science standard was just written for ART class! Two birds, one stone! So, I started class out with a tour of the planet on Google Earth. We looked at islands out in the middle of the South Pacific ocean. I zoomed in, and lead the students in a discussion, identifying key landforms and bodies of water. After the visual tour of islands, students and I brainstormed as many landforms and bodies of water that we could think of, and I wrote them on the board.

Prior to this lesson, I spoke with the 4th grade teachers and asked them map skills that needed reinforcement. They asked that I review key and compass. I added these to the goals of my project.

After this introduction and brainstorming session, we had just a few minutes of class left. I gave every kid a piece of paper and instructed them to rip the edges off and crumple the paper. We slipped the paper into a bucket of shallow water, where I placed 6 or so tea bags. I let the paper from each class sit for a couple of hours, and before leaving for the day- I laid the paper out to dry on the tables overnight. Viola! Old looking paper!

Tea Stained Paper

Weird contrast, but you get the idea.

 During the next lesson, we traced templates to make a key, drew out our mythical islands, and a compass. Students were required to create at least 3 landforms and 3 bodies of water. These were to be written out and indicated on the back of the student's paper.



I gave kids colored pencils, explained the purpose of the key, and turned them loose. Students were encouraged to be as creative and unique as possible. They could name their islands and cities, color in the maps, and create interesting mythological places. I was pleasantly surprised by how many of the kids drew volcanos! Ha. Here are some "work in progress" shots, as well as finished projects. I definitely feel that kids are more familiar with landforms/bodies of water, as well as cool art techniques and processes. Like I said, art integration is key!

Work in progress.

Finished project!

Sorting by Size, Shape, and Color - K

This is a very simple way to begin the year with Kindergarten. It helps me gauge where students are cognitively, in comprehension, and basic motor skills. For years, sorting by size, shape, and color has been a math standard in kindergarten. With this year's switch over to common core standards, the objectives are slightly different.

Standards:
Tennessee Art Standards:
2.1  Identify the elements of art. 

6.2  Identify connections between visual art and mathematics.

    
Math Common Core:  
Geometry K.G Identify and describe shapes (squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, hexagons, cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres).

Using these standards, I place a large heaping pile of tangrams on each table (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangram). The goal is to sort the tangrams by color or size, depending on the length of the lesson. Students are encouraged to talk to one another throughout the sorting process. This open communication helps them work together and achieve the goal.

(It also reinforces that we share EVERYTHING in the art room!)

Sometimes we make it a group race, with stickers as the incentive. (I usually try to make it so that every group wins somehow, and every kid gets a sticker. Come on, we all love stickers!)

All a jumble!

Nice and sorted!

Concentric Shapes - 2nd

In the first project of the new school year, for 2nd grade, I decided to start with basic shapes. This builds cumulatively off skills learned in 1st grade, e.g. lines, space.

Standards:
Tennessee Art Standards:
1.4  Recognize and demonstrate levels of craftsmanship.
2.1  Identify, understand, and apply the elements of art.
6.2  Understand connections between visual art and other disciplines in the curriculum.

Math Common Core:  
2.G.1 Recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes, such as a given number of angles or a given number of equal faces. Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes.

Objectives:

• We can create artwork that shows the properties of Shapes. We can use color to define shapes and space.
• We can show that shapes can have sides, angles, and other mathematical features.

Shape - A 2d (flat) object that encloses space

Lesson 1:
First, we review the concepts of space. It's a fairly abstract notion, and sometimes I think it's difficult for kids to grasp. I like to have them wave their hands in the air. I point out that as long as they are not touching anything, they are moving through space. It is the area around us.

Knowing that a shape is an object that encloses space, we start by drawing basic lines. Once the line returns to it's starting point, and it encloses space, we have a shape. I ask the kids start listing shapes, and we draw them out. As I am drawing, I consciously draw all mathematical shapes with straight lines and angles on one side, and curvy shapes with rounded edges on the other. It is an easy way to introduce geometric and organic shapes.

See?

I know what you are thinking. Circles are sometimes classified at geometric shapes, because they are inherently mathematical. Still, when I explain this to the little ones, I keep it as simple as possible. Straight lines and angles are geometric. Curvy and rounded lines are organic.

Lesson 2:
The next step is to take the information learned about shapes and to put it to good use. Each student is instructed to draw a variety of geometric and organic shapes on their papers. I wouldn't do more than 4 or 5 shapes total. The idea is create concentric shapes that both expand around the shape, and get smaller within the shape. Complete this until the entire paper is filled. I was nervous that kids wouldn't be able to comprehend this process, but other than a few here and there, most all were able to complete this step virtually unassisted.

Take a look!

Students were then instructed to fill in each layer of space with a different color. The end result is a fabulous, colorful, and unique design. Students have learned about geometric, organic, lines, angles, space, and color- all in one lesson! Check it out.

LINES and Snakes - 1st

"Lines and Snakes" is the first project of the year with 1st grade. I orginally saw this idea over here on. http://artteacheradventures.blogspot.com. I wanted to take this lesson and adapt it to Tennessee standards, and some lessons that I have done in the past.

I like to start the year off with a simple unit, introducing lines. I have found that while most 1st graders are familiar with several kinds of lines, so few of them are actually able to articulate to me the definition of a line.

Line- A point that moves through space

Abstract, right? It's a difficult concept to teach little minds. What's a point? What's space? What do you mean that this little dot is going to move through space? Huh???

Lesson 1- Introduction to a Line:

I start by placing markers or crayons on every table. I prefer markers, because of the opacity of the marks. Every student is instructed to place the tip of the marker on their paper, and lift it back up. 

"What mark did that leave behind? Why yes! That is a dot!"

"How do I make a line? I'm going to make this dot (or point) Move Through Space! Let's move through space like a straight line!"

"Now let's brainstorm as many lines as we can think of. Bumpy, straight, wavy, vertical, zig zag, dotted, loopy! So many different kinds of lines!"

Lesson 2: Line Snake

Tennessee Art Standards: 

1.2  Demonstrate an understanding of a variety of techniques.

2.1  Identify and understand the elements of art.

6.2  Identify connections between visual art and other disciplines in the curriculum.    

Math Common Core:

1.MD.1 Order three objects by length; compare the lengths of two objects indirectly by using a third object

Objectives: 

*We can create artwork that shows our understanding of Lines. 

*We can measure units of length when creating our Line Snake artwork.

In this project, we are going to take the knowledge from a previous lesson and apply it to our Art projct.  After a review, we discuss the shapes of snakes and then draw a snake on our paper, using a curvy line. The snakes should be nice and fat, so as to allow room for our patterns. The snakes will be divided into FIVE separate sections. How many lines will we need to create five segments? (Four!) Each segment will house a different kind of line. See?

Students will then complete filling in each segment with a different kind of line pattern. Upon finishing the snake, students should fill in the background with a variety of lines.

Last step... Watercolor! Since we so lovingly drew these little masterpieces with crayon, they work perfectly for our old friend, the watercolor resist! Oh man, these drawings look amazing with that extra splash of color. This is an optional step, of course. I just think they look fabulous.