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).

1st Grade - Primary Portraits!

First Graders mixed their previous knowledge of the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue - just in case you have forgotten!) with their newly acquired skill of drawing portraits. The students thought it was hilarious to color faces blue, hair red, eyes yellow, etc. The results were fabulous!

Secret blog reader hint: First Grade moms should be on the look out for a very special portrait project in the month of May!!!!

Kindergarten - Self Portraits

Our Kindergarten artists have been working very hard to learn how to draw faces. They have learned that pictures with faces in them are called "portraits" and portraits you draw of yourself are called "self-portraits". First, the students practiced drawing the facial features in the correct place on the faces. Then, the kids used their newly acquired skills to create oil pastel self portraits. Finally, each student created a name card in block letters to hang below their self-portrait. The children's interpretations of themselves were both introspective and exciting!