Building self aesteem and positive self talk with Grade 3 and 4

The idea for this project came from observations that there was a lot of negative talk coming from these grades in relation to their own abilities and the abilities of others in the class. I decided they needed a self esteem boost. They had to focus on what they were good at and what others found positive and unique about them. They were asked to write unique qualities about themselves and then their peers did the same so they had a bank of sentences to use in their work.

 

The students used many different skills and mediums in this work and

it took the whole term to complete.

 

They experimented with paint scraping, ink portrait painting, printing with found objects and hand-lettering. I really love the way they turned out and I was surprised more then once about what they felt was unique and special about themselves. I am good at washing up was a great one!

 

 

Aboriginal Art inpsired scratch back paintings

 

Inspired by the bark painting of Johnny Bulumbulum Level 3 and 4 students created their own painting using the scratch back technique. It was the first time I have tried this technique. Some were more successful then others but overall it was a good effect.

 

 

Picasso inspired really wacky self portraits by Grade 3 and 4 students

After analyzing Cubist portraits created by Pablo Picasso to students created their own Cubist self portraits using similar elements. Theirs were created using a collage/multimedia technique. These are so colourful and wacky I just love them!

Emotional clay faces Grades 3 and 4

In their own class the students in Grades 3 and 4 undertook a term theme of 'Puppets'. I thought this would be a good opportunity to study 'The Face' in the hope they could use what they learnt in their own projects in their class. We began by looking at and amazing ceramic artist Johnson Tsang who creates out this world ceramic faces. We looked at how he creates different emotional states using a 3D medium. The students then had to plan their sculptures by looking closely at their own faces in a mirror focusing on what changed on their faces when they were sad or angry or happy. The results were really funny and wonderful and most students did a really good job. Sculpting emotion is not easy and I was impressed by their efforts.  

Comic book characters

Grade 3 and 4 students studied comic book art for the whole term this term and has a great time doing it. We looked at the art work of Marvel comic book artists for inspiration and learnt specific drawing techniques. They were asked to create their own character using their own photos as a starting point. They had to consider their characters personality, their super powers, where they lived as well as costumes. These final pictures became the cover of their comic book. They each created a comic strip using their character to tell a story which was compiled into a book for each student to take home.

They were so engaged in this activity that they worked on it for the entire term and did not get bored. The characters names were really funny!

Australian Landscapes through the ages

I love to do mixed media collages with my students as much as I can and this term with Grades 3 and 4 we studied two artists whose work looks at the Australian landscape in two very different ways. We researched the work of Eugene Von Guerard and Rosalie Gascoigne.
For the Guerard influenced pictures I encouraged the students to really focus on overlapping to create depth and distance and to think about how to create a dense looking scene. With the Gascoigne inspired pictures it was all about pattern and repetition. I think both turned about pretty good but then again I have some pretty great students! The students responses were as follows;

Portraits with Level 3

Term 2 saw us looking at portraits from many different artists. I tried to focus on different cultures, mediums and different points throughout time. The students are starting to identify key features in works and also to use artworks to influence their own art making.


African masks inspired by masks from Africa and Papua New Guinea in their own styles!

I love continuous line drawings they always turn out so funny and dynamic and expressive. We did these as an introduction to the topic to get them ready and tuned in.

Picasso oil pastel portraits focusing on front and side profiles in one portrait using Cubist inspired colours and shapes

Black and white ink portraits inspired by John Olsen

It was a very productive and fun term. They learnt many new skills and techniques and really enjoyed learning about different artists and how they make portraits.