The kids continue to impress as a routine is taking root in our digital classroom. We are working with more fourth grade standards, especially in math with some student tackling multi-digit rounding and others being introduced to the partial products algorithm. We reintroduced our Benchmark reading program and used Microsoft Forms to share answers. We did some work with prefixes and abstract nouns and ended the week with a directed draw of Flamemallow.
We are thirteen instructional days into distance learning, so the kids did the most obvious thing you would do during our morning Zoom: they drew Pugicorns.
For this lesson, students selected a building they have visited or wanted to visit one day. To do this, they used Google Maps and the Street View. After drawing their building and adding details, they mixed colors to create a mood in the background. This was followed by selecting and applying analogous and complimentary colors for their building.
For this art lessons, the students completed a series of careful observations of art made by indigenous cultures. They learned that Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest believed an animal could represent a person. In turn, they reviewed images of different animals before selecting one, created multiple quick sketches, painted a full representation, and added textures.
Check out the goals the students set for themselves in 2020.
We completed our Enchanted Lands project this week and the final pieces are terrific. We first explored the idea of background, midground, and foreground through classic pieces of art. Then we played a game in which students drew images matched to magical elements, they identified.
Their understanding was then leveraged to create art that included painting a setting and collaging. (Incidentally, thanks for all of the magazines!)
It took several lessons but students finished their comic book covers. To get us there we studied several classic pieces of art through an instructional approach titled “careful observation.” We learned about silhouettes, types of shapes and lines, and the importance of have a backstory before drawing.
Students also learned different strategies for using water colors. This culminated in what you see below: a lot of great art!
The class was quite fortunate in being selected for a visit by the Sierra Watercolor Society. This is a group that helps students understand watercolor technique and color theory before having the students compose their own watercolor piece. This was a nice experience and it was great that our classroom got to participate.
Students finished their Enchanted Lands following several days making careful observation of art by Albert Bierstadt, Erik Johansson, and Salvador Dali; learning about foreground, mid-ground, and background; studying setting and magical elements; and how to use paint and collage to build out their piece of art.
Although it was just a four day week, and student hadn’t been in school for 23 consecutive days, we got a lot done! We learned to multiply decimals and relate this to our understanding of fractions. We studied surrealism, sensory details, and word play as we moved further into the Phantom Tollbooth. We wrote with an emphasis on tone. We did a close read as we started our work with We the People. And we began a Doodles Academy Project.
Room 360 