2nd Grade Asian Art: Dragon Masks & Matisse

2nd Grade Jellyfish Sculptures

Whenever there is a music concert I always collaborate with the music teacher at our school and create artwork that goes along with the theme of the concert to hang in the commons for their performance.  The K/1 Concert this year was about underwater songs so all the students created and an art project revolving around the great barrier reef which tied into our Aboriginal Art Unit we just did!  The 2nd graders created these amazing jellyfish sculptures.  We talked about all sort of interesting facts about jellyfish.  Students had to choose two analogous colors for the body for their jelly fish that they formed over a balloon.  Once it was dry we popped the balloon and they were left with the body.  Then they chose colored streamers and ribbon that matched with their jellyfish that I hot glued into the center.  They looked great hanging from the ceiling for the concert!

2nd Grade Aboriginal Art

Aboriginal art originated in Australia over 30,000 years ago.  Many of the aborigines traveled long distances and recorded their travels by using symbols.  The symbols they created using only lines and dots in a repeated pattern. Aboriginal art has many of the earth tone colors because they used to make their paint from materials in nature.  UNITY and REPETITION are seen throughout the aboriginal art we looked at because of the repeated dots used to create symbols.  The students were able to create their own piece of aboriginal art using dots and an animal that originates from Australia.  Students also learned how to create the secondary colors from the primary colors.  Students were only given the primary colors and had to mix them to create the secondary colors for their background.

2nd Grade Eric Carle Caterpillars

The 2^nd grade students learned all about Eric Carle.  They learned that he is an author and illustrator of several books including: The Very Hungary Caterpillar, The Grouchy Lady Bug, Brown Bear Brown Bear, and the list goes on.  Students watched a short video clip on Eric Carle’s process of how he illustrates his books.  He does not just paint the pictures; he creates various pieces of painted paper with several different textures and then cuts out shapes and collages them to create him images.  Students were able to be Eric Carle Artists by creating their own textured papers using different colors and printing tools.  Then they cut out shapes to collage a caterpillar onto their textured background.  We also used contrasting colors so their caterpillars would stand out!

2nd Grade African Giraffe's

The elementary art teachers in our district a few years back were about the put together cultural trunks, each teacher houses one at there school (about 20 trunks) and we can check them out throughout the year.  They are great because they have everything you need for bulletin boards and lesson plan ideas to incorporate different culture into art.  I currently have the African trunk so each grade level is doing an African project.  My 2nd grade finished first with some beautiful African Serengeti Giraffes.  We did discussed what symmetry is and they had to create a symmetrical boarder using geometric lines and shapes.   We also discussed contrast and how coloring some areas in black really made their pattern "pop".  Students used tempera paint for sun and tempera cakes for rest of sky.  Finally draw with pencil the acacia tree and giraffe, then outlined with black marker and finally painting in with black paint.

2nd Grade Recycled Owl Sculptures

The 2nd grade students learned all about recycling and why it is important for the environment.  Students also discussed how artists can recycle materials to create a piece of art.  We then talked about what a sculpture is and the difference between 2-D and 3-D art.  Students were able to recycle card board into an amazing owl sculpture.  We finally discussed what texture is and students peeled off a layer of cardboard to create texture in their wings, beak and eyebrows.  Aren't these a WHOOT!

2nd Grade Molas

2nd Grade Color Mixing Fish