Kindergarten - 2nd Grade

The theme for the first nine weeks was definitely color! We discussed warm and cool colors, primary and secondary colors, and complementary colors in all grades. Here is what Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grae have been up to...

Second Graders discussed the work of Romare Bearden and his collages. The students were tasked with locating warm or cool colors in magazines and using the images to create a collage.

This next project is a favorite for First Graders...Kandinsky's Concentric Circles! We looked at a powerpoint presentation of Kandinsky and his work. The students learned that he was from Russia, and his first name was "Wassily". After dividing their papers into eight smaller squares, the children used tempera paint to recreate one of Kandinsky's most famous images.

Kindergarten used bright shapes to create designs in construction paper. Each child was asked about their art. See some examples below!

First 9 Weeks Retrospective! (3rd - 5th Grade Edition)

Well, the blogging has been a bit lacking his year, but on the bright side, I have taken lots of pictures!!! Instead of backtracking through all of the work from August, how about a "retrospective" or "best of" from the first nine weeks with a whole hearted promise to be more diligent in the latter half of the semester? Deal!

Fifth Graders began the year like the other grades learning color theory, but THEY got to use paint! Here are some examples of their hand mixed color wheels:

Fourth Grade put their knowledge of color to use by creating warm/cool landscapes with oil pastels. The object of the lesson was to show how warm colors come forward in space and cool colors recede. The resulting landscapes were gorgeous!

Third Graders also learned about warm and cool colors, but they channeled their skills in a more geometric fashion. We discussed polygons and overlapping before the students began their abstract designs.

Things to keep an eye out for:

The Fifth Grade has been working on an interdisciplinary art project with social studies to create line patterns with the borders of US states. Next up...portraits!

In addition to color, Fourth Grade has been busy learning about line, pattern, mood, and portraits. They will delve into paint soon for their monochromatic portrait series.

Third Grade also studied line and pattern when they looked at Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian. They recreated his primary color paintings made from intersecting straight lines. This week, they began a self portrait project that focuses on Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo.

Stay tuned for info on Kindergarten through 2nd grade!

Recent Kindergarten Work

Kindergarten artists jumped into spring with painting of frogs. They followed directions to use numbers and letters to create their froggie drawings. See if you can find the "2" in the leg or the upside down "U" on the head.




After learning all about how to draw a realistic portrait (see self portrait projects!), we decided to investigate an artist who broke all of the rules when it came to portraits - Pablo Picasso! The kids thought it was super fun to mix all the facial features up and even leave some off the portrait entirely.





Finally, the kids used varying shapes of sponges to create floral arrangements with paint. They also learned a little about symmetry by folding colored paper in half and cutting a design to create a vase for their flowers.

100 Year Old Portraits - 2nd Grade

What will look like when you're 100 years old? Will you have gray hair and wrinkles? Will you wear a funny hat? What will you do? Will you have grandchildren or GREAT grandchildren?

That is exactly what our Second Grade artists asked themselves for one of our latest projects. After learning the elements of a portrait, the students drew self portraits with a twist - they were 100 years old. They students thought about how their face would change over time and what kind of clothing they would wear. Finally, the student accompanied their artwork with a mini-artist's statement explaining what they will be doing when they are 100 years old!

Symmetrical Springtime!

First Grade artists learned about symmetry by drawing butterflies with matching wings! They tried very hard to draw wings with symmetrical designs and add symmetrical color as well. The paintings are gorgeous!

Fifth Graders in The Dickson Herald!

Centennial Fifth Graders were invited to participate in an art contest put on by The Dickson Herald. Their work is currently on display at the Herald office at 104 Church St. and has appeared in the paper twice!!! You can vote for your favorite Centennial artist for $1 per vote, and all proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society. Participating Fifth Graders include: Hannah Flatt, Danny Castellanos, Diamonique Russ, Abigail Murks, Paige Johnson, Kaitlyn Brown, and Mrs. Ward's entire homeroom class.

Mrs. KK goes to Washington...and Baltimore.

The National Arts Educators Association held its national convention in Baltimore this April. This was a fabulous opportunity for art teachers from around the world to gather and share ideas about lessons, materials, and education research. I was especially interested in workshops that involved reaching diverse learners, and I came back with SO many great new ideas! I can't wait for next year :)

An example of one of the fabulous presentations I attended - a teacher who visited Cambodia to learn about Cambodian culture and art. She then took her experiences back to the students in her classroom.


Mrs. KK with Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan (or at least a cardboard cutout of him).