colorful cacti- 3rd grade style:)

Like the kinders this week, my 3rd graders are also looking at the brightly colored work of Jennifer Willigrod for inspiration in their first color unit lesson. They are learning about warms and cools too.

We are starting the lesson by reviewing how they created tints and shades in their value unit. (cool side note- we heard back from all 3 of our focus artists about those projects:) Then we look at how Jennifer uses the contrast of warm and cool colors to get her subjects to stand out against the background. We talk about how Jennifer chooses plants that are from a warm, dry climate and how San Diego has a similar climate. Lastly, we talk about how Jennifer uses chalk pastels to create her richly colored desert plant drawings. Be prepared to get messy, kids!

We draw out the cacti together and then choose warms or cools to fill them in. The opposite set of colors is used in the background. To wrap up the exercise, students complete an exit slip that asks them how their drawing is similar to Jennifer's, why they chose the colors they did on their cacti, and what they think the most successful part of their drawing is.

 Committing to warm or cool cacti:)

Trying to hold the paper steady by touching empty spots and drawing without resting the drawing hand/arm on the table!

Reflecting and analyzing.

 Instead of using tints and shades to make their shapes look 3d as in previous lessons, students went from the darkest of their warm/cool colors, to medium, and then light.