Tuesday, February 17, 2015

comparing, contrasting, and looking at san diego.

Short week with the holiday and all.

This week the 4th grade classes are continuing to work with value to create depth and contrast in art. At the beginning of the lesson we review contrast and the ways they used it last week to make the foreground stand out from the background. After that, students are working in teams to complete a compare/contrast organizer to help identify similarities and differences in artwork. I give the groups 5-7 minutes to complete the exercise. When the time is up, each group is called on to share a similarity and a difference. I write these on the board and encourage students to modify their organizers if another group offers one that is stronger or more suitable.

This warm up activity ties in with their ELA activities because they were doing the same thing with non-fiction and fiction texts. Reinforcing those common core standards, baby!

                                                                                          


    They looked at an Ed Mell Arizona desert landscape and a Kevin Inman San Diego landscape.                 



Once the warm up was done, I shared a few more paintings that Kevin has done and one by California artist Erin Hansen. We looked at how each of the pieces had contrast in value and size working to create 3d space and a sense of near and far. I also talked about how Kevin works outside, on site when he makes his paintings. He isn't as concerned with detail as Ed is, he is out to capture an impression of the light and color at the particular time he is painting. This helped the kids understand why his work looks "blurry" compared to Ed's.

I told the kids that we would not be a lesson that was as direct in instruction as their desert landscapes. I left several landscapes up on my big screen and I modeled layering landscapes in the back of the room on my easel, but students could use any one of the examples as their inspiration, they could combine elements from different ones, and they could change color combinations. At the end of the lesson, I had students complete a simple stickie for their exit slip- "Which landscape project did you enjoy more and why?" 













This response was on one end of the spectrum.


This was on the other.




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