Paul Klee inspired fish, 3rd Grade

Here’s a look back at a 3^rd grade project finished a couple weeks back. We began by looking at Paul Klee’s painting, “Goldfish”. This was a great lesson because it allowed us to review a lot of art elements and concepts. We begin day one by creating our center fish. Students use lines and shapes to make a realistic or fantasy fish in the center of their paper. We observed how Paul Klee used vivid, and bright colors to make his fish stand out from the background. We reviewed warm and cool colors and used them to create our fish and habitat. We also reviewed lines, patterns and shapes and used them to create visual texture in our fish.

On day two we focused on the smaller fish and plant life around the edges of the paper, creating a decorative border. We learned that Klee’s, “Goldfish” was painted using two kinds of paints: watercolor and oil paints. The watercolor allowed for thinner more translucent effects. The oil paints for thicker, more vivid colors. Instead of oil paints we used oil pastels to acquire the same painterly qualities. This allowed us to create a watercolor resist! Enjoy these fishy creations made by our 3rd grade artists.

See-Think-Wonder

Part of being a great artist is being able to observe and talk about art. We’ve gotten started many new units of study this year, by answering the following three questions; What do you see? What do you think? What do you wonder? 

This visual thinking routine has encouraged our artists to make thoughtful observations and interpretations when looking at art. I’ve also loved listening to our students develop their own ideas and questions about the art they are studying. It’s been a great lead into a new unit of study. In this case, it was Paul Klee’s, “Goldfish”. This was a great painting to study since there is so much mystery to it.

 

Klee Castles, 2nd Grade

Paul Klee was born into a musical family, but chose to be an artist. For more than 40 years, he created art that displayed his love for color, line, music, and children’s artwork. One things for sure, Paul Klee would love our interpretation of his, “Castle and sun.”  We learned that Paul Klee created abstract art which means art that does not attempt to represent recognizable reality but seeks to achieve it’s effect using shapes, form, color, and texture.

We began this lesson by playing. Each table was given a set of blocks to use, with the goal of working together to build something. When all the blocks had been used, we went around the room to share what we had made. I heard things like castles, bridges, and skyscrapers.

These pictures were taken upon the completion of the lesson during free art time. My 2nd graders loved playing with blocks. 

Paul Klee, Castle and sun, 1928

Before we were given the title of this (above) painting, students used there observational skills to share what they saw. We noticed shapes and lines, and colors and even took a guess at the subject matter.

We used Paul Klee’s quotes,  “A line is a dot that went for a walk.” to get started drawing the roof line of our castle. Next, we drew the doors and windows of our castle. We learned that they can vary in size and shape, and even looked at Paul Klee’s shapes for inspiration. Using our black oil pastel, we also created flags on the top of our castle. Then, we used vertical lines (up and down) and horizontal lines (across, left to right) to divide and create shapes inside our castle. We used brand new chalk pastels to add colors inside our shapes. Students loved blending colors and learning how to control his magical medium.

Here is a look at 2B-D’s castles, 2C will get started on this project this Friday! Since the Book Fair is beginning this week, and the theme is “Sir Readalot’s Castle,” these 2nd grade castles will look great on display. Look out for 2C’s castle creations coming soon.