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Sunday, June 16, 2013

Pure Creative Expression - 4th grade




The end of the school year is coming on quickly!  My district has six half days left starting tomorrow!  Where did the year go?!  So many creative goals accomplished and so many more I ran out of time for!  Friday was the last art class for this group of 4th graders until next year...  My challenge to them was to create something with any or all the materials they had at hand.  I put out markers, glue, scissors and cut up painted papers on their tables to start them out...  On the back table was a plethora of art supplies they could also choose from should they wish! It felt like an episode of Iron Chef! Here's your ingredients, what can you do with them!






The kids eagerly set to work!  Some exclaimed as they were working that this was one of the best projects we did all year!  They loved the open ended creative exploration of ideas!






This student created a three-dimensional form!
The bottom ring/stand was grass and the horse was attached to it!






Another three-dimensional piece...
A bird in a nest form made of overlapping heart shapes!









This piece evolved into this...






She incorporated the Q-Tips that other classes had painted with!






This piece had many evolutions!  It started out as an abstract oil pastel sketch.  She wanted to try painting white over it to see what happened...  Other colors were then painted over that...






This was the end result!






Some painted realistic pictures...






Some created collaged, multi-media pieces...






Some pieces started realistic and then became free and more painterly...






This phrase sums up the entire creative experience! 
I can't remember where I found this picture on line...  If it's yours please let me know so I can give you credit/link back!






This mess at my desk sums up the chaos of the past two weeks!
All those pieces have since been finished and are off my desk!






This is a recent creation I made to cart my stuff back and forth to school.
I wanted to have a tote that said, "Warm weather is finally here!"






This is what left of the table signs!
They have definitely seen better days and are ready to be disposed of!






On another note...
Thursday I took my daughter to upgrade her phone (she decided she wanted a smart phone instead of a new laptop for her 8th grade graduation gift).  She walked out with a new phone and I walked out with an iPad!  I had planned on getting one over the summer but...  After upgrading our phone plan Verizon made me a deal I could't pass up!




Now mind you I am the farthest thing from being skilled at technology however, I plan on creating one lesson for 3d, 4th and 5th grade for next school year that incorporates them having to utilize the iPads we have at school (21st Century skills people...  Not that I have any...  LOL).  So I will be playing around with different apps to see what I think will work for my art program.  Personally, I don't find making art  this way interesting at all.  I actually need to be able to dig into what I'm creating with both hands.  Don't get me wrong...  It's interesting...  It just doesn't get my creative juices flowing!  I think it has interesting aspects for some art history next year and I am checking out different museum apps. We shall see...  :)

If you are still in school like me have a good week!  If your out for the Summer...
I'm jealous! 

Enjoy!

Mrs. C  :)

6 comments:

  1. Love the creative artwork, love the crochet bag you are using and good luck with the ipad, I love mine.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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    1. Thanks! The bag is the African Flower one i had commented on your blog about making while you were working on yours. I'm getting more use to my IPad...I will play with it some more this summer! :)

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  2. Happy summer! Here's the best app EVER for the summer: Netflix ;)

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  3. Oh, I always loved open-ended days like that in school! We sometimes called them 'funky Fridays' (at least when it was actually a Friday haha) and it always inspired wonderful creative problem-solving and explosions of imagination.

    Now - about those table color labels... A few years ago, frustrated with paint-worn and mangled table labels, I cut out a circular stencil and spray-painted a colored circle in the center of each table. It worked like a charm, and several years later they haven't even needed to be re-touched!

    Finally - about that iPad. I love, love, LOVE my iPad - have had it for a year, and am writing this comment on it right now, but I don't use it for a lot of art. Like you, I like gooey, messy, tactile art (and BIG too!). And I think kids spend SO much of their day using technology as it is, I think that we do them a disservice when we start turning our elementary art programs over to the instant gratification of the iPad. The kids NEED to dip their hands in gooey papier-mâché paste, and drip paint out of a big fat brush, and so on! We need to preserve hands-on art programs! But for your iPad, there is so much you can do, whether it is simply playing games, listening to music, exploring the Internet, or editing photos, or any of a zillion other things you can find FREE apps to do! Have fun with your new toy!

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    1. It was a fun activity with that group of kids! I'm starting to get used to my IPad... I did load some fun games onto it and some apps i want to play with for school. I see my classes using them for more art history / exploration kind of stuff. I did find a couple of apps the kids can draw/paint with that I'm sure they would like. I have to find out how to save print things they do on them. Supposedly we are getting a wireless printer in the IPad room so the kids can print out their work...(until we run out of ink and the powers that be say sorry we're not purchasing anymore for the year!) Hope your having a good summer! :)

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