P.S. 39
Kindergarten
Printmaking - Kindergarten felt and described the surfaces of some objects, then made crayon rubbings of textured plates. They read ABC by Bruno Munari and scratched alphabet characters into styrofoam plates. (Horizontally flipping letters on their plate in order to print forwards.) Children who chose a letter from their initials were asked to dictate a title beginning with the letter other than their name. They printed in small, teacher assisted groups.
Students made prints by stamping. They individually printed with a colored ink and a rubber letter stamp set and were encouraged to make phonetic connections–such as "G" with green ink.
Children printed on top of their previously made crayon rubbing prints using pre-sliced potato halves and tempera paint. They were asked to consider how placement, color and overlap might form a pattern. K-classes also collaboratively painted large heavyweight paper with sponges and then potato stamped on top.
Painting - Students first practiced holding brushes and learned about color mixing with ratios of paint. They looked at Castle and Sun by Paul Klee and mixed one primary color with black and white on gridded paper. Next, they were read Mouse Paint and were assigned to mix all three secondary colors from primary, again on gridded paper.
On plain paper, kindergarten made grey tone tempera paintings after listing of types of lines based on body movements. They interpreted how lines and shapes may represent ideas in a painting by Joan Miro and explored painting in a variety of colors.
Classes practiced with watercolors. They benefited from repeated instruction to keep the sets clean by mixing on their paper or side palette and washing their brushes before changing colors.
Collage - Classes discussed, what is a collage? Through arranging torn paper and pre-cut shapes students understood they could quickly make different compositions. Classmates modeled favorite activity poses for one another to inspire different figurations. They counted to 10 while applying glue to finalize a favorite pose.
Kindergarteners practiced how to hold and cut with scissors. They cut colored paper and explored arrangements of their shapes before gluing onto construction paper backgrounds. Next, classes looked at Sea Shapes. After asking students about animals they know, they were prompted to try to combine shapes to represent a real animal.
An illustrated book by Bill Peet inspired made-up animal-collages. Students dictated a sentence describing their idea.
They also practiced writing and illustrating stories about their fictional animal in copy paper booklets. 
Sculpture - After a discussion about balance and 3-dimensional space in a pop-up book, classes discussed how they might change paper and use glue to help balance it. Students changed their paper in a variety of ways to make a pop-up collage.
Following this, kindergarteners identified six different shapes in a set of plastic pieces. They used modeling clay to help fasten and balance them, and they also used the pieces as stencils to draw their sculptures.
Finally, students reviewed changing clay in a variety of ways. They coiled, slabbed, pinched, as well as slipped and scored. Each created a portrait and a ceramic standing sculpture.
1st Grade
Students used crayons and watercolors to explore wax-resist layering. They learned how to adjust watercolor opacity by changing the water-to-pigment ratio. Classes were asked to create a picture with a text about something they did over the summer.
Next students discussed Vincent Van Gogh's portrait of Joseph Roulin and generated a rubric of what made a "good" portrait. These included carefully observed shapes, lots of details, as well as color and background. They were given demonstration to begin by drawing large shapes in pencil before using sharpie and watercolor to create a portrait of a classmate.
After singing and looking at Bling Blang, a singable picture book by Woody Guthrie, 1st graders were asked to design a dream home. Classes also looked at architecture by singer and visual artist, Butch Hancock. They designed smaller versions of dream houses for prints.
Collage & Sculpture - 1st graders looked at collages by Eric Carle. After making some paper rubbings, they used this paper in a collage exploration. Next they were asked to create a collage about winter. They were also given instruction on how to slip and score clay to translate these ideas into clay sculptures.
Painting - Students looked at a painting by Henri Michaux. They discussed abstract, how to mix grey with black and white tempera, and created paintings using a variety of line and shape.
Next they discussed symmetry and identified geometric shapes in Islamic tiles and Hindu mandalas. They used measurement and a coordinate plane to make symmetrical sketches on graph paper and worked with tempera again to create symmetrical paintings using primary and mixed secondary colors.
1st grade classes reviewed their Earth Science studies and then were asked to mural paint their studied landscapes on canvases.
2nd Grade
Printmaking - 2nd graders discussed patterns heard in music as well as seen in musical notation. They made pattern drawings with repeated imagery on graph paper before reviewing printmaking, using styrofoam to print multiples.
Printmaking - 2nd graders discussed patterns heard in music as well as seen in musical notation. They made pattern drawings with repeated imagery on graph paper before reviewing printmaking, using styrofoam to print multiples.
Students continued talking about music and how musical instruments work. Using colored pencils, they were assigned to invent an instrument and include a manual explaining how it works.
Drawing & Sculpture - Classes looked at Native American masks and were asked to sketch an idea for a mask that would give its wearer a supernatural power. They reviewed how to use air dry clay to construct their mask.
Next students learned about comics. They talked about personification and used colored pencils to make strips about their mask power with onomatopoeia.
Collage - 2nd graders reviewed working with scissors. They cut, combined and arranged at least 10 shapes in different figural compositions/poses before gluing self-portraits.
2nd graders wrote more comic strips about how they got somewhere using pen and watercolor. Next they chose a panel from their strip to make into a pop-up book page, combining collage with text.
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Painting - Students first made studies in line, shape, and color after discussing paintings by Wassily Kandinsky and Robert Delaunay.
2nd graders discussed cityscapes by artists, James Rizzi and Red Grooms. They were asked to create a painting about their neighborhood accompanied by an index card text description. Finally they collaborated to create a group painting along this theme on canvas.
3rd Grade
Video - After reviewing storytelling traditions, including shadow puppets, 3rd graders each authored and illustrated folded paper books. Next, they collaborated to construct shadow puppets and rewrote their text as silent movie title cards. They enacted and video recorded their stories with digital cameras.
Video - After reviewing storytelling traditions, including shadow puppets, 3rd graders each authored and illustrated folded paper books. Next, they collaborated to construct shadow puppets and rewrote their text as silent movie title cards. They enacted and video recorded their stories with digital cameras.
For a hand drawn animated video, one 3rd grade class was assigned to represent weather, while another class explored an open-ended theme.
Following a trip to the Rubin Museum 3rd graders did some calligraphic drawing from observation of kale.
Thinking more about gesture and continuous fluid form, classes looked at contour line drawings and wire sculpture by Alexander Calder. They made both left and right-handed contour line drawings with pen, and explored sculpting with wire and marker caps. I pre-drilled wire-sized holes in the caps we had saved for reuse.
Drawing & Painting - Students reviewed shading to allude to volume on a 2-dimensional plane. They depicted shadow observed on styrofoam spheres and ovoids through blending charcoal with their fingers and tissues. They practiced this again while mixing color oil pastels for self-portraits using mirrors.
Classes discussed La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat and were asked to create watercolor paintings about places where they have seen lots of people from memory. These also became tempera paintings.
Collage & Printmaking - 3rd graders cut, folded over, and pasted symmetrical designs using two sheets of contrasting construction paper. Next, students created symmetrical drawings from observation of butterfly photographs. They transferred and printed them using styrofoam plates on canvas in order to create a work for a school auction.
Drawing - After watching a video about the exponential scale of the universe, students were asked to animate outer space. They learned how to sequence a series of drawings to create an animation. Pacing outlines helped plan ideas before working on 4 x 6-inch cells.
4th grade studied Pop Art. After looking at a Converse sneaker watercolor by Don Nice, students determined that careful attention to shapes plus use of light and shadow to add a sense of 3-dimensional space were important factors in making realistic drawings of their own sneakers.
Next, classes examined Roy Lichtenstein's process of appropriating comics and were assigned to create a comic that sourced an idea or image from a randomly assigned New Yorker magazine cover. Again they worked with pencil, pen and watercolor.
Students also were shown collages by Pop artist, James Rosenquist. They directly mixed commercial magazine as well as wrapping paper motif clippings with drawing.
Printmaking - Classes looked at a Pop-Art portrait print by Shepard Fairey. We talked about its context in appropriation and street art/graffiti and connected it to the concept of Internet memes through its use of text and image. Students used Photo Booth application to take a photograph of themselves, some experimented with effects. The photographs were all edited in Photoshop (using adjustments->threshold) to separate areas of dark and light and then printed. Students then traced over the dark areas while marking into a styrofoam plate placed underneath the edited photograph. Next they inked the plates and hand-printed their images on black paper. Some students included text.
Sculpture - 4th graders continued a discussion on Pop, looking at Monkeys (Chair) by Jeff Koons. We reviewed clay assembling techniques and students balanced freestanding ceramics while explaining how their ideas related to mass-produced culture.
5th Grade
Students practiced varying opacities and mixing watercolors with brushes after discussing a watercolor by Abstract Expressionist artist, Paul Jenkins. They looked at a drawing by artist Dawn Clements and practiced observing, pencil drawing and watercoloring flowers on unfolded paper bags.
Students practiced varying opacities and mixing watercolors with brushes after discussing a watercolor by Abstract Expressionist artist, Paul Jenkins. They looked at a drawing by artist Dawn Clements and practiced observing, pencil drawing and watercoloring flowers on unfolded paper bags.
Classes made studies in 1-point and 2-point perspective, demonstrating a knowledge of horizon lines, converging lines and vanishing points. Using these techniques they made architectural drawings from memories of spaces within their homes as well as perspective proposals for school renovations, particularly ideas for the potential development of P.S.39's mysterious attic.
5th graders reviewed the terminology of comics.
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| Part of an intro to comics exercise |
After studying more comics they first storyboarded autobiographical strips then final drafted, organizing their drawings and text on 12" x 18" paper.
5th grade reviewed how to register a series of open-themed drawings to depict motion over time. They collaborated to create this class animation.
Painting - Students learned to color mix tones. First they made studies in primary color, then attempted to color mix grey tones using the primary colors and white. Next they applied tone mixing to depict light and shadow observed in green peppers.
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| 50 x 36-inches |
Classes collaborated to create a painting of the school. We went over Chuck Close's pixel method of painting, and worked from printed copies of a photograph. Students created corresponding grids on both the canvas and photograph. Following these grids, they sketched details of the facade onto the canvas before painting.
Sculpture - 5th graders compared a realist self-portrait drawing by Rembrandt with a cubist portrait by Picasso. They made both realist self-portraits from observation and collaborative, improvised portraits. Next, each student made a figurative sculpture based on their drawings. We discussed examples and differences between relief and freestanding statues, then 5th graders attempted to engineer balanced armatures. They mixed flour plus water, applied paper mache, and then finally painted.
5th graders cut, folded over, and pasted symmetrical, pop-up designs using colored construction paper. After looking at some architectural models, students also collaborated to create an open-themed, wall relief sculpture using cardboard and hot glue.
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Yearbook Elective 5th graders designed a yearbook cover and various themed content. Each 5th grader also made a personal page in art class. I supervised and edited all content for an 80-page yearbook printed by Irvin Simon.
Displays for school events included: a book sale featuring work on paper, a PTO auction with murals on stretched canvas, a visual art show exhibiting artwork from all 400 students.
