O'Keefe inspired Butterflies

Third Grade students looked at artwork by Georgia O'Keefe and read various books about her life. In one book, "My Name is Georgia" by Jeanette Winter, students discovered that Georgia O'Keefe created large artworks of small things like flowers, partly because she wanted people to see things the way she saw them. Students then drew and colored another small thing; butterflies. Students looked carefully at a picture of a butterfly and tried to capture as many details as they could. They colored their butterflies with chalk pastel. 

 

 

 

Don't let the pigeon...

Kindergarten students have been learning about the roles of authors and illustrators in children's books. Students read the book, "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!" by Mo Willems. Then students had an opportunity to see what it is like to be an illustrator and drew the pigeon from the book. Then students had an opportunity to see what it is like to be an author by writing a new rule for their pigeon. Finally, they painted their pigeon with watercolor.

Don't let the pigeon ride a horse.

Eat candy.

Grow a ponytail.

Eat corn. 

Fart on the bus.

Paint his toenails.

Clay Leaves

4th grade students created these beautiful fall leaves by rolling a slab of clay, pressing a real leaf into the clay and then carving the shape out of the clay. They used a drape mold to curve the clay into a bowl shape while it dried. Then, after the clay leaves were fired in the kiln, they used glaze to give their leaf a fall color.

 

Emotional Monsters

 

First grade students learned how faces can show emotion. They discovered eyebrows play an important part of showing emotion. They chose an emotion for their monster, and created a cut paper collage to show this emotion on their monster’s face.

 

 

Collaborative Urban Landscape

 

Second grade students created a collaborative urban landscape in the style of James Rizzi as part of their study of rural, suburban and urban landscapes. Rizzi is known for creating cityscapes that feature buildings that have human characteristics like hair, arms, and faces.

Second grade students have been comparing characteristics of rural, suburban and urban landscapes. They discovered that Kalamazoo has all three of these areas. Urban areas have museums, tall buildings, and not many houses. Students decided that the area around Bronson Park and the Kalamazoo Mall could be considered urban. They discovered that suburban areas have many houses, parks and schools. They decided the area around El Sol could be considered suburban. They learned that rural areas have a lot of farms and barns. They discovered that Kalamazoo even has areas like this! If you get on the highway and drive for only 10 minutes, you will see farmland and barns!