Visual Arts Education Program
The Los Altos Art Docent program is designed to provide a comprehensive visual arts education to the students of the Los Altos Elementary School District.
Visual arts stimulate the imagination, enhance observation skills and self-expression, encourage creative problem-solving and underscore the innate relationships between history, culture, science, math and the humanities.
We provide a combination of art appreciation and hands on lessons designed to build on each other from year to year. The art elements are woven throughout the curriculum, so that by the end of sixth grade students have gained an appreciation for fine art, learned a basic art vocabulary and participated in the process of creating their own individual works of art.
Our lessons meet or exceed California State Content Standards for the Visual Arts and complement the academic curriculum.
Art Appreciation Lessons
Students are taken on an adventure of learning about a selection of visual art from the United States and the world by traveling throughout different cultures and time periods as seen through artists’ eyes. Students are encouraged to relate their own life experiences to times past.
Looking at various media and using the vocabulary of the art elements, students learn to describe, analyze and interpret the form and content of art reproductions. Emphasis is placed on individual critical visual thinking skills and the verbal expression of ideas. Students will be able to build on what they learn in elementary school throughout their travels and further study of art and history.
Hands-On Lessons
Lessons in a variety of media, including watercolor, clay, cut paper, printmaking, and drawing are offered in sequence. Our hands-on lessons are technique based and focus on the process of creating art. Every student is successful in that he/she learns a process or technique, rather than focusing primarily on the end result. Each year new techniques, including composition and design, are added to create more sophisticated artwork. By the end of sixth grade, students will have created a diverse portfolio of their own works of art.
LAAD Visual Arts Curriculum
The Art Docent program offers over 40 different lessons to students from Kindergarten through 6th grade.
Animals
Art Appreciation
Length: 30 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
The Art Docent program’s beginning art appreciation lesson uses animals as a familiar subject. Students describe their interpretations of a painting by a local artist and of reproductions by famous artists. The art elements of color, line, shape, space and texture are introduced; and students explore how artists use these elements to enhance content and mood. The concepts of realism, fantasy, repetition, and perspective are discussed and students consider how pictures can give animals attributes they may or may not really have.
Academic Support: Science curriculum regarding identification of animals and their structures; description of similarities and differences in the appearance and behavior of animals. Language Arts regarding sharing information and ideas, speaking audibly in complete, coherent sentences.
Visual Arts State Standards: 1.1, 1.3, 3.3, 4.2
Clay Pinch Pots
Hands-On: Clay
Length: 45 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 2
Students learn how the indigenous groups of Oaxaca, Mexico have long fashioned and used ceramics for utilitarian, ceremonial, and decorative purposes. Clay techniques of “pinching” and “incising” help students to form and design their own clay pots. The art elements of shape, form, and texture are utilized in making decorative pinch pots.
Academic Support: Social Studies curriculum of people and places now and long ago.
Visual Arts State Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 3.1, 3.3, 4.1, 4.3, 5.4
Owl Masks
Hands-On: Cut paper
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 2
Students learn about owls by observing and discussing the features and behaviors of owls through reproductions by John Audubon, and David and Jean Villasenor. They learn the physical and decorative characteristics of a mask by discussing the various art elements found in a mask. Using construction paper, scissors and cray-pas (oil based crayons), students create their own owl masks using symmetry and the art elements of line, shape, color, texture and pattern repetition.
Academic Support: Science curriculum study of characteristics of plants/animals
Visual Arts State Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.6, 3.3, 4.1, 4.3
Family
Art Appreciation
Length: 40 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Scenes of family life and a variety of family relationships are seen in fine art
reproductions. Students observe and discuss a wide range of artistic styles and discover artists' stories about moments captured in family settings. Students continue to expand their understanding of the art elements and begin to recognize differences in painting styles. Students are encouraged to refer to their own families in the process of understanding that the love and security of family life have existed in other time periods and cultures.
Academic Support: Social Studies curriculum in reference to study of the family, differences in family structure and roles of family members, and how families meet their basic needs in different countries.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.0, 1.2, 1.3, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.0, 4.2, 5.3
Clay Creatures
Hands-On: Clay
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Using animals as their subjects, students build on the clay techniques of push, modeling and incising, and add the pull out technique to create a fantasy animal sculpture. The art elements of line, texture, form and shape help students create the specific characteristics of their animal. Everyday tools are used to incise patterns, fur, scales, hair, etc.
Academic Support: Science curriculum study of animals
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.3, 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.7, 2.8, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
Flowers
Hands-On: Cut Paper
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Flowers have always been a popular subject for artists. In this charming lesson, students are shown reproductions by famous artists such as Henri Matisse, Vincent Van Gogh, Marc Chagall, and others. While observing reproductions, children discuss the use of plants and flowers. They discover how the art elements such as shape (round, jagged) and color (warm and cool, bright and dull) are used to create movement and contrast.
Students use scissors to sculpt paper flowers using free form cutting and folded paper (symmetry) techniques. Texture is achieved by fringing and layering. Their three dimensional flowers are then glued on a poster to create a stunning class bouquet. The art elements used in this lesson are shape, color, texture and form.
Academic Support: Science in regard to the study of plants
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.7, 2.8, 4.1, 4.2 4.3
Monoprinting
Hands-On: Printmaking
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 2
Students are introduced to a simple form of printmaking, monoprinting. Several monoprints are created by making a design with tempera paint on an acetate plate and then transferring it to paper. This activity includes painting, take-away, string resist and overprint techniques. They incorporate the art elements of line, texture, color, shape and space in their work.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 2.1, 2.4, 2.7, 2.8, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
Watercolor Fantasy Animals
Hands-On: Drawing and Watercolor
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 2
Students combine sketching and watercolor techniques to create their own fantasy animal painting. Using the art elements line, shape, texture, color and space, children first practice basic sketching techniques using crayons to draw one-minute animals. Next, students are introduced to watercolor techniques; two colors on a brush (mixing primary colors to get secondary colors), pull stroke, squiggle stroke and stipple stroke. Then, using all of the techniques, students create their own original works of art. The lesson is stimulating, fun and the results are amazing!
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 2.7, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
Buildings
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Students observe buildings as a form of art. They compare works of art by Georgia O’Keeffe, Grant Wood, Edward Hopper, Raoul Dufy, and Gustave Caillebotte. Children learn to recognize and use the vocabulary of art to describe paintings of buildings from various cultures and time periods. We discuss the art elements, including warm and cool colors, patterns, shapes & texture. Students are introduced to perspective, complementary colors, and light and shadow to create form.
Academic Support: purpose and use of buildings, vocabulary of rural, urban, suburban; weather and atmospheric effects; past and present.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.2, 1.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.4, 5.3, 5.4
Children At Play, Games & Toys of Yesterday
Art Appreciation and Hands-On
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 2
Students observe works of art by Norman Rockwell, Winslow Homer, Frederick Morgan and others. They compare how children from different time periods spent their free time to children of today. They develop an appreciation of fine art and the art elements of color and line. The concepts of theme, mood and expression (colors and “sounds” in a painting) and perspective (bird’s eye view) are introduced. Prints reflect clothing and hair styles of children from various time periods. A connection with the past is strengthened by playing yesterday’s games, including hoop & stick, marbles, jack straws (pick-up sticks) and others.
Academic Support: Supplements the second grade social studies curriculum of “Then and Now”
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.4, 5.3
Butterflies and Blooms
Hands-On: Watercolor
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 2
Students create their own watercolor flower garden incorporating the life cycle of a butterfly. Students paint fantasy flowers, a fuzzy caterpillar and a three dimensional butterfly. We discuss primary and secondary colors, balance (symmetry) and focal point. Students learn color mixing/two colors on a brush and watercolor techniques: wet on wet, stipple stroke, pull stroke and spiral.
Academic Support: Science curriculum pertaining to life cycles of animals.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.3, 2.2, 2.5, 4.4
Clay Building Tiles
Hands-On: Clay
Length: 60+ Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 2
Students explore the possibilities of clay using incising and add-on techniques; and incorporate the art elements of line, shape and texture to create a decorative building of their own. Students discuss different types of buildings; their own home, igloo, castle, log cabin, tepee, barn, capitol building, church and skyscraper. Students discuss the role of architects and builders. This lesson complements the buildings appreciation lesson
Academic Support: Social Studies curriculum in regard to buildings; representing urban, suburban and rural areas.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.3, 5.4
Matisse Magic
Hands-On: Cut Paper
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Students are introduced to Henri Matisse and his cut-paper compositions. Emphasis is placed on the art elements of color and shape. Students learn the concepts of balance, overlapping, arrangement, warm and cool colors and complementary colors. Scissors are used to sculpt in paper and create a vibrant Matisse-like composition.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, 3.1, 4.1, 4.4, 5.1
How to Read a Picture for Third Grade
A formal study of the art elements in three parts allows students to distinguish and appreciate the compositional techniques (the structural features) used by established artists and how this process allows students to “read” and talk about the content/story of the art. A variety of artists is carefully selected to introduce the students to various historical periods and artistic styles as well as encourage dialogue.
Academic Support: Social Studies curriculum regarding the study of people through story. Students learn how to read a visual story as depicted by artists.
Students draw upon a variety of comprehension strategies including generating and responding to questions, comparing information and making predictions.
Listening and speaking strategies for oral communication are emphasized in these interactive lessons.
How to Read a Picture A
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
The first of three appreciation units designed to emphasize the art elements (color, line, space, shape/form and texture) as the keys to reading a painting. This interactive lesson encourages students to conduct a visual inventory, to talk with and listen to their peers as they analyze the work together and reach an explanation of the content. Artists include Rousseau, Remington, Van Gogh, Matisse, Makoto and a Calder sculpture.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 3.1, 4.1, 5.3
How to Read a Picture B
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
The art elements are revisited using an expanded art vocabulary to analyze art ranging from the Renaissance style of Botticelli to a contemporary California landscape by Hockney. The technique of comparing and contrasting is used to help students enhance their observational skills. Other artists include Rembrandt, Renoir, El Greco, Picasso and Mondrian.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 5.
How to Read a Picture C
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Using art vocabulary cards based on the art elements, students demonstrate their recognition of how the artist has incorporated the art elements to create a composition. Each student participates in this process. The unit features a Hiroshige print, local California artist De Forest, the Mexican artist Rivera and the abstraction of Miro in contrast to the realism of Vermeer, Homer and Bruegel.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 5.3
Experimental Watercolor
Hands-On: Watercolor
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 2
Building upon watercolor lessons from first and second grade, students experiment with new techniques to paint a beautiful watercolor landscape. Techniques include salt, masking tape and wax resist, along with a graded wash technique to create an ocean and sky that fades out to meet the horizon. Color mixing in a palette is used to create a dramatic stormy sky and ocean, a beautiful sunset, or a warm, sunny day. The concepts of color value and positive and negative space are introduced.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.3, 1.5, 2.3, 2.4
Incise Printmaking
Hands-On: Printmaking
Length: 60 Minutes+
Parent Volunteers: 1
Building upon the first grade Monoprinting lesson, this lesson allows students to create multiple prints from master plates they design. The docent describes different print making processes, shows examples and discusses how to create either realistic or abstract designs using pattern, space and line. Students then create their own master plates on styrofoam. In inking their plates, students are free to explore color mixing and how color can affect their line design when printed onto paper.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.5, 2.6, 3.3
See and Draw
Hands-On: Drawing
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Through a series of musical warm-ups; and leaf, car key and dinosaur drawings, students are introduced to continuous contour line drawing techniques. These drawing exercises teach them observation skills; each student draws what they see. Students build upon these basic drawing techniques in their 4th grade “See Shells”, 5th grade “Bike Art and 6th grade ‘Heads and Faces’ lessons.
Academic Support: cursive writing practice
Visual Arts State Standards: 2.1, 2.4
Starry Night
Hands-On: Tempera Paint
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Using the solar system as their subject, students create their own interpretation of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night using tempera paint. They study composition and the use of line, shape, color, texture, space and value to achieve depth, rhythm and movement in their paintings. New techniques of sponge, splatter, pin point, roll brush and dry brush strokes are introduced along with pull and spiral strokes from previous grade lessons.
Academic Support: Science curriculum study of planets, moons, asteroids and exploration of the solar system.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.2, 2.4
Wild Clay Animals
Hands-On: Clay
Length: 75 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Using animals as their subjects, students continue to build upon the clay techniques of pullout, push, modeling and incising to create a realistic animal sculpture. The art elements of line, texture, form and shape help students achieve accurate characteristics, key features and proper proportion of animals.
Academic Support: Science curriculum study of animals and their environment
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.5, 2.5
Art You Know...Mona Lisa to Picasso
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Art You Know gives students the opportunity to visually analyze images that have become familiar in the world of advertising, humor and media communication. The docent guides the students as they discover what makes the original work significant as well as recognizable. Artists include Leonardo, Hokusai, Seurat, Magritte, Wood and Picasso.
Academic support: Visual response and analysis in conjunction with listening and speaking strategies.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5
California History
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Students take a visual tour of early California depicted in artwork from the development of the Spanish missions through the Gold Rush to supplement their study of early California history. Missions, presidios, pueblos and ranchos, the Gold Rush, wagon trains, cattle roping and gold miners come to life as students use the vocabulary of art to consider and discuss what artists portray and how the art elements and principles of design contribute to the success of a painting.
Note: In order to make this an interactive discussion, students should have begun their study of California.
Academic Support: Social Studies
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1
Cityscape: A Lesson in Architecture
Hands-On: See & Do
Length: 75 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Students learn about architecture as a form of art. They learn the vocabulary of architecture, the difference between form and function and what is involved in the process of building various structures (residential, commercial, industrial). Examples of well known historical structures show the progression of architecture based on the invention of new technologies and materials providing an artistic walk through civilization. Students design and draw a building facade (learned or imagined) that becomes part of a class cityscape collage.
LASD Academic Support: Promote understanding of some of the practical (and aesthetic) applications of mathematics.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.4
World of Fantasy
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
This lesson calls on students’ imaginations and heightens their powers of observation using a variety of early to mid-20th century European-American painting styles (primitive, expressionist, surrealist and cubist). The artworks shown depict ordinary objects in puzzling, dream-like and extraordinary settings, and feature various art elements (line, shape, color) for students to describe. The intent is to introduce ambiguity (asking questions rather than offering answers to pictures that have no ‘right’ meaning) in order to stimulate creative interpretation by students.
LASD Academic Support: Oral Language – clearly communicating ideas via speech
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.3, 3.1, 4.3, 4.5
Clay Bears & Quail
Hands-On: Clay
Length: 75 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Using the California State symbols of the grizzly bear and quail, students use clay techniques of pull out, push, modeling and incising to create their own sculpture. They incorporate the art elements of line, texture, form and shape to create accurate figure proportions with the distinguishing long, course hair of the grizzly bear or topknot and breast feathers of a quail.
Academic Support: Social Studies curriculum study of California
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.4, 1.5, 2.3, 4.3
Japanese Brush Painting
Hands-On: Painting
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Students are introduced to the Japanese or sumi-e style of painting, dating back to the 6th century. Black was felt to be the purest color and the white areas of the painting just as important as the black. Relaxing Japanese music captures the mood of the sumi-e painter as students quietly experiment loading paint on the brush, how to respect it, how to hold it, how to apply pressure for different effects, and how the strokes can modify the results. Students use authentic Asian brushes to practice line weights using basic brush strokes (press, run, lift, drag, and tip) to paint sea grass, bamboo and sea creatures. The art elements of line, space, color and value, as well as, the concept of contrast are incorporated to create dramatic black, white and grey paintings on rice paper.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.2, 1.5, 2.1, 2.7, 4.3
See Shells
Hands-On: Watercolor
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 2
Students continue to improve contour drawing skills and watercolor techniques to create an abstract painting of a seashell in the style of Georgia O’Keeffe. After observing art reproductions, each student studies a real seashell in order to observe its line, shape, texture, color and value. Students then draw their own seashell, focusing on the concepts of space, pattern and repetition to create an enlarged seashell drawing.
Students first practice and then use watercolor techniques; two colors on a brush, fade out (value of a color and shading), wet on wet and one color wash over another to complete their artwork.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.5, 2.1, 2.7
American Heritage Series for Grade 5
Academic Support: Social Studies curriculum study of American history and culture. Language Arts in regard to coherent speaking strategies.
NOTE: The American Heritage series provides a visual context for the students’ perception and understanding of American culture. Each unit meets visual arts standards in a unique way and therefore it is recommended that all three be scheduled. The interactive units offer the teacher the ability to observe students’ extemporaneous speaking and critical thinking skills.
American Heritage A: Colonial Beginnings To Young Republic
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Students look at a mix of styles beginning with a limner (anonymous, untrained painter) and compare to more “trained” artists such as Copley and Stuart. The impact of the landscape appears in Hicks and the Hudson River School artist, Durand, while Bingham, Caitlin and Audubon chronicle the western expansion.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.3, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
American Heritage B: Post Civil War and The Westward Movement
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Students explore the expanding American art scene after the Civil War by viewing the different styles of Eakins and Homer compared to the more European trained William Harnett and the expatriate Mary Cassatt. They travel to the “wild west” of Frederick Remington for an exciting conclusion.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.3, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
American Heritage C: The Modern Century
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
The use of vocabulary cards helps students continue critical thinking skills while viewing a range of 20th century styles from the realism of O’Keeffe and Hopper to the abstractions of Davis, Pollock and Rothko and the counter-reactions of Pop artists Warhol and Lichtenstein. African-American notables Jacob Lawrence and Faith Ringgold conclude students’ overview of the diversity of American visual arts.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.2, 1.3, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
Modern Native American Art and Design
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Students learn to recognize and identify which arts come from which U.S. regions based upon unique characteristics and design styles. Their exposure to diverse arts (styles, subject matter and media) is broadened and helps them appreciate U.S. indigenous artists and arts that draw upon a different cultural base than that of European-American artists. Using the art elements and observation skills, students compare and contrast historic and modern Native American arts (expanding their perceptions beyond traditional American Indian art stereotypes). Native flute music played during the lesson sets the mood.
Note: In order to make this an interactive discussion, students should have begun their social studies unit.
LASD Academic Support: Social studies relating to colonization of the U.S., moving West, the impacts of political, social and economic institutions on U.S. culture, and cultural diversity.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.2, 1.3, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 5.2
Bike Art
Hands-On: Drawing
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Using a real bicycle as their model, students identify and describe the art elements found in a bicycle. They create four contour observational drawings of different areas of a bicycle and identify the drawing with the best composition. They learn enlarging techniques to create their final black and white drawing using a variety of line weights and shapes.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 2.2
Clay Masks
Hands-On: Clay
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Following a discussion of the history and purpose of masks, viewing photographs of masks from different cultures and observing actual masks, students sculpt their own clay mask. This lesson furthers students’ skills in manipulating clay. The art elements of line, texture, form and shape; and the clay techniques cut out, add on, imprinting and incising are demonstrated and applied to student’s own original works of art.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 2.4, 2.7, 3.2
Fauve Landscape
Hands-On: Oil Pastels
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Students are introduced to the Fauvist movement of the first decade of the 20th century where French artists (Matisse, Derain, and others), inspired by artists such as Van Gogh and Gauguin, experimented with color. They continued and expanded the trend away from the historical use of color to describe a landscape or portrait by using it to evoke an extra layer of mood and expression. Using landscape forms from Ansel Adams photographs, students create their own “fauve landscape” using the rich color and texture of oil pastels. The results are dramatic and the process fun.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.2, 1.3, 2.4, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2
One Point Linear Perspective: (Part One)
Hands-On: Drawing
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Students learn how to create an illusion of three dimensional space on a flat piece of paper. They draw buildings and trees using horizontal, vertical, parallel and orthogonal lines leading to a single vanishing point on the horizon line. Windows and doors are drawn in the shape of trapezoids. The concepts of size, position, overlapping, detail, saturation of color, atmospheric perspective and 3-D modeling are first shown in reproductions and photographs and then used by students in their own drawings. Students learn how to use a T-Square to achieve an accurate drawing.
Academic Support: Math
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.2, 2.1, 2.4, 2.6, 4.4, 5.1
One Point Linear Perspective: Color, Texture and Shading (Part Two)
Hands-On: Watercolor Pencils and Paints
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Students observe and demonstrate an understanding of perspective through the use of color, texture and shading to complete their drawings using watercolor paints, watercolor pencils and sponging techniques. Saturation of color demonstrates how close objects appear brighter and sharper than objects in the distance. Atmospheric perspective elements such as fog and smog make objects in the distance look pale and faded. 3D modeling, shading on one side of an object, makes it appear to have volume/look round.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 4.4
Watercolor Trees
Hands-On: Watercolor painting
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Using trees as subjects, students create deciduous trees in a forest using the colors of spring, summer, or fall. They paint a snowy evergreen tree using a color wash to create snow. Students use the art elements of color, texture, shape and space, along with watercolor techniques including wet on wet, masking tape resist, stipple stroke, pull stroke, two colors on a brush, wet on dry wash, sponging and graded wash. Students mix colors and learn to make round looking tree trunks using shades of color. Students learn about composition and how placement and size make objects appear closer/farther away.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 2.4, 2.6, 2.7
Ancient Egyptian Art
Art Appreciation
Length: 75 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Using the pre-dynastic Palette of Narmer and the painted sculpture of Seneb and his Family, we introduce students to the conventions that governed the rich history of Egyptian painting and sculpture over the course of three millennia. Students then recognize and discuss these conventions in selected reproductions. We also cover the architecture of pyramids, the symbolism of the sphinx, discuss the Rosetta Stone as a decoding key and follow burial customs throughout the major time periods with tie-ins to geography and religious belief.
Note: In order to make this an interactive discussion, students should have begun their Egyptian social studies unit.
Academic Support: Social studies Curriculum Study of Ancient Civilizations
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.0, 1.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.3
Autobiographical Art
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Students discover what artists choose to reveal (or not) about themselves at a time when their own developmental psychology is at a turning point. Using descriptive vocabulary cards to initiate interaction, each student discusses his/her choice based on critical/visual analysis of how that word is incorporated in the reproduction. Portraits include Frida Kahlo, Norman Rockwell, Vincent van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Rene Magritte, Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun and M.C. Escher for a variety of styles and media. This lesson is the culmination of art appreciation as critical thinking that begins at the primary level.
Academic Support: Language Arts in regard to coherent speaking strategies and Development of Perceptual Skills and Visual Arts Vocabulary
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.2, 1.3, 4.1, 4.3
Mesopotamia
Art Appreciation
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Students are introduced to the art and culture of Mesopotamian civilizations, including Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, Assyria and Neo-Babylon (Chaldean Empire) which correlates with their historical study of Mesopotamia. Viewing works of art of varying media produced over a period of time, students make connections and recognize the artistic similarities between the Mesopotamian civilizations. Comparisons are made between Mesopotamia and Egypt. Students evaluate links and connections between the art elements, themes, and media.
Note: In order to make this an interactive discussion, students should have at least begun their Mesopotamian social studies unit.
Academic Support: Social Studies Curriculum Study of Ancient Civilizations
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.3
Clay Heads
Hands-On: Clay
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Students manipulate clay into a human head with attention to proportion and detail. This unit is the culmination of all our clay lessons. It utilizes the techniques introduced in the lower grades (pull out, incising, score and slip) and introduces melding. Students learn the facial structure of the human head, the way facial features are put together and facial proportions in this 3-D media. Using clay sculpting tools, students express mood and feeling in their character. This lesson complements the Heads and Faces unit.
LASD Academic Support: Reinforces mathematical proportion course of studies
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 2.4, 2.5
Creatures of the Tidal Zones
Hands-On: Printmaking
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Students learn relief printmaking techniques and use various carving tools to cut designs into a printing block. They use the art elements of line, shape and space to achieve the unique patterns and textures found in creatures that inhabit coastal tidal areas. A brayer is used to add color(s), and the designs are printed on paper. Each student experiments with color to produce a variety of relief prints. A final design is printed on Thai unryu paper.
LASD Academic Support: Science curriculum study of ocean features/plants/animals; organisms interacting within an ecosystem
Visual Arts State Content Standards 2.1, 2.4
Egyptian Bird Masks
Hands-On: Cut Paper
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Using cut paper, layering and overlapping techniques, cray pas and gold pens, students sculpt with scissors and decorate bird masks in the Ancient Egyptian style. The realistic characteristics of falcons, vultures, and other important birds are viewed in art reproductions and compared to the stylized characteristics, colors and patterns found in Ancient Egyptian art and jewelry. The unique usage of the art elements by the Ancient Egyptians is applied to student artwork with emphasis on color, line, symbolic shapes and the design principle of symmetry.
Academic Support: Social Studies Curriculum Study of Ancient Egypt
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.4 2.5, 3.1, 5.3
Heads & Faces
Hands-On: Contour Drawing
Length: 60 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 0
Students learn the facial structure of the human head and the way facial features are put together. They expand upon continuous contour and blind contour drawing techniques from previous grades. Observational drawing skills are developed by copying and creating head portraits. Creative expression is stimulated through various directed exercises and problem-solving skills are used to simplify photographs into line drawings. Each student produces a booklet with a series of practice drawings boasting Picasso-like look and feel.
Academic Support: reinforces mathematical proportion course of studies
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 2.1, 2.4, 2.5
Two-Point Linear Perspective: (Part One)
Hands-On: Drawing
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Students learn how to create the illusion of three dimensional space on a flat piece of paper. They draw buildings from the “corner view” using horizontal, vertical, parallel and orthogonal lines leading to two separate vanishing points on the horizon line. Windows and doors are drawn in the shape of trapezoids. The concepts of size, position, overlapping, detail, saturation of color, atmospheric perspective and 3-D modeling are first shown in reproductions and photographs and then used by students in their own drawings. Students learn how to use a T-Square to achieve an accurate drawing.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 2.5, 4.4
Two Point Linear Perspective: Color, Texture and Shading (Part Two)
Hands-On: Watercolor Pencils and Paints
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Students observe and demonstrate an understanding of perspective through the use of color, texture and shading to complete their drawings using watercolor paints, watercolor pencils and sponging techniques. Saturation of color demonstrates how close objects appear brighter and sharper than objects in the distance. Atmospheric perspective elements such as fog and smog make objects in the distance look pale and faded. 3D modeling, shading on one side of an object, makes it appear to have volume/look round.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 4.4
Watercolor Still Life
Hands-On: Drawing & Watercolor
Length: 90 Minutes
Parent Volunteers: 1
Students observe reproductions of still life paintings by Henri Matisse, a master of design, pattern, and color. They learn about composition and balance, color relationship; how pattern creates rhythm and moves the eye through the design and how repetition creates interest.
Using real fruits and vegetables as their model, students first create a contour drawing utilizing the technique of overlapping to create depth. They add pattern and outline objects in ink.
Students then use color mixing and watercolor techniques incorporating the art elements (line, color, shape/form, texture, space and value). Complementary and contrasting colors and shading help to create their own still life paintings in the style of Henri Matisse.
Visual Arts State Content Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.4, 2.5
