Cut Paper Penguin

First grade students practiced their cutting and gluing skills when creating this cut-paper penguin. They also learned how faces can show emotion. They discovered eyes play an important part of showing emotion. They chose an emotion for their penguin, and created a cut paper collage to show this emotion on their penguin’s face.

 

Clay Birdbaths

4th graders demonstrated their knowledge of creating pinch pots and using the score and slip method of attaching clay to create these clay birdbaths. They glazed them and added a glass bead to their pot which melted in the kiln and now looks like water in the birdbath.

 

 

Reduction Prints

4th grade students created these reduction prints of the animal of their choice. First they carved an animal into a piece of styrofoam and printed the entire printing block. Then they cut out their animal and printed only that part of the printing block (which is how it gets the name reduction print).

One Point Perspective

Fifth Grade students learned to draw realistic landscapes and cityscapes using one-point perspective. Students used a ruler to create a horizon line and vanishing point. They learned that objects appear smaller and less detailed the further they are away.  

Los estudiantes de quinto grado aprendieron como dibujar paisajes del campo y de la ciudad usando la perspectiva desde un punto. Los estudiantes usaron una regla para crear un horizonte y un punto de fuga. Ellos aprendieron que los objetos parecen más pequeños y con menos detalles mientras estén más lejos.

Circle Weavings

Third Grade students learned to weave on a cardboard loom. They discussed the many purposes for making art and that most weavings are made to be used in some way, whether as clothing or a blanket. Students learned that the loom is what we weave on, the warp strings are what we weave through, and the weft strings are what we weave with. Students used pattern and repetition in their weavings, as most weavings utilize these two elements of design.

5th Grade Sumi-E paintings

Fifth Grade students learned that Sumi-E means ink picture. This is a traditional Japanese style of painting. Artists practice their brushstrokes for years before painting actual pictures. The goal of Sumi-E painting is not to paint a realistic representation of an object, but to capture its spirit or soul in the painting. Students practiced three different kinds of brushstrokes and then used those techniques to paint bamboo, a traditional subject of Sumi-E Paintings.

 

2nd Graders' collaborative suburban neighborhood

Second grade students compared characteristics of rural, suburban and urban landscapes. They discovered that Kalamazoo has all three of these areas. This is their collaborative map of a suburban area.