Ancient Greeks

This Term my year 5 and 6 classes have been investigating Ancient Greece. Their literacy text has been the tales of Odysseus. I have had great fun this term and really wanted to share this outcomes of this terms art.

 

Ancient Greek Architecture

 

We began the term looking at Ancient Greek architecture and how it has had an impact on architecture today. We looked at the different columns and what they represent. the children then set about making their own Greek column

 

we used PVA glue to secure art straws to a piece of plain A4 paper. Whether the paper is landscape or portrait determines the height of the column. The children experimented with different size straws and the spacing between them. Once they had covered their pieces of paper we created cylinders by stapling them.

 

The children then added a square of white painted card board to the top and bottom. The children then had the option to add decoration to the column to create one of the three designs we had looked at.

As a plenary we looked at a power point of Greek architecture around the world and identified which style of column had been used.

 

 

 

Art Room Assessment Strategies

Top 5 Assessment Strategies for the Art Room

1) Target Rulers - My younger classes love this. As a school the children generally have a target for both maths and literacy which they know and have stuck in the back of their books. When I introduced this strategy the children really took to it like ducks to water. Again I got the rulers from a website. Each ruler has a list of focuses for the children to work on. i.e cutting, gluing and pencil control etc. I just circle the focus most appropriate for the individual child. Each ruler in then stuck in the back of their sketchbooks which they have out most lessons. The children can ticket the focus if they feel they have met the target and you can sign it off when they move on to the next focus. click here for the target rulers.

2) Show and Tell - I use a USB web cam to link to the IWB and show children's work at various points during the lesson. The children whose work it is then have to justify how it meets the success criteria for that lesson. The children love being chosen to have their work shown on the interactive whiteboard and the rest of the class show thumbs up or down if they feel it meets the success criteria. This is a great way to remind the children to use the success criteria as they work not just as a tick list at the end. It also gives those who may of left something out of their work time to make any changes they need.

3) Peer Assessment Burger - This is a new strategy for me. I have seen it used in literacy lessons and thought I would adapt it for art. I was luck enough to find a template already click here. This works great for plenaries and early finishers. Children need to be in pairs and swap work. each child fill out the burger with two what went well or what I like comments as the bread. The meat of the sandwich is one comment or sentence about what could be improved.

4) Exit Tickets - Again not a new concept can be used in all subjects. Each child fills out an exit ticket about what they have learnt in the lesson today. This is great for you as the teacher as they can be looked over at a later date and inform planning. The children holds onto their ticket as the line up and as they walk out the door they stick their ticket to the board by the door. My most favourite comment to date is 'If I shut up and get on with it I get more work done' . For copies of the exit tickets click here.

5) Learning Walk - This can be done at any point in the lesson but I tend to use it at the end as a whole class assessment process. Each child after clearing up puts their work on their table. The class stands behind their seats and then has two minutes to walk around looking at others work. When the time is up they have to pick somebodies work to stand behind. No more than one person per piece of work. This means everyone gets an advocate for their work. Pick children at random to say why they chose this particular piece of work and assess it against the success criteria.

Charcoal Robots

 

Using Tone and Value

 

Most children generally get the concept of light and shade from early in KS1 or even earlier but getting the children to include it in their art work in the correct way can be tricky. Whilst studying the Ted Hughes book The Iron Man I though it was a perfect opportunity to teach using value in a picture. I wanted the children to create an Iron Man portrait so though using the medium of charcoal was the best way. The children would be able to blend the charcoal which would help seeing the value scale.

 

 

I began with a medium value charcoal and blocked in the shapes then asked the children to do the same. I was more than pleased when I didn't see 30 picture the same as mine. They had really experimented with the shapes to create different faces.

 

 

 

I then spoke about light sources and how the places where the light hits is the brightest getting darker as they light was blocked. We discussed which areas we would shade and which would be highlighted. They were then given a free reign to colour the eyes and background. I must admit this particular class amaze me when they use soft pastels and charcoal, the results were outstanding for their ages.

Ted Hughes - Iron Man - Robots

Designing Robots

 

Ted Hughes book the Iron Man gave me the perfect opportunity to introduce the children to the process of design. We gave the first two sessions out of the four purely to the initial Define, collect, brainstorm and develop stages.

 

 

As a class we brainstormed and collected ideas for what type of problems we could use a robot for solving. Using their sketchbooks the children designed at least 4 different robots using a range of shapes and sizes. In the second session they had to choose one to develop further. Redrawing their design on a larger A3 scale. This was a great opportunity for them to change anything they didn't like or add ideas they had collected from looking at others work over the last week.

 

Our third and forth sessions concentrated on selecting junk materials with the correct forms to create a model of their robot. After the first session I took the decision to buy large amounts of aluminium foil and silver tape. They covered a multiple of sins giving an over all metal look. Trying to paint a wide range of plastic and cardboard junk was not practical.

 

 

Thankfully, we have a Scrap Store locally and one trolley full of bottle tops, jar lids and plastic button were more than enough for the children to use for finishing touches. The range of shaped and sized models the children created were fantastic. The purpose for each robot also varied from chicken cooking robots to homework doing robots. My favourite has to be the boyfriend robot dressed in tuxedo.

 

After the process I encouraged a verbal discussion on the final two stages of the design process feedback and improve. What would they of done differently? As they built their robots what changes did they make and why? This really helped them understand the design process as a continual cycle.

 

  

Life Size Sarcophagus

Sarcophagus Decorations and Pharaoh Faces

 

Another ancient Egyptian project that linked well with the class historical topic. Year 5 and 6 had visited the British Museum in London and collected sketches of Egyptian sarcophagi and the decorations the Egyptians had painted. I then came up with the idea for a two part project.

 

First the children used A1 sugar paper taped together and in pairs drew a life size sarcophagus shape. They then used metallic paint to create backgrounds and paint hieroglyphs they took sketches of at the museum. This was an opportunity for the children to paint hidden messages using the Egyptian hieroglyphs. 

 

 

 

For the second part the children use oil pastels and water colours to create an Egyptian pharaoh portrait. I used the video for the children to draw along with on the IWB so they could all see each step, rather than myself modelling each step with some children needing it repeated.

 

once finished, the children chose which of the pairs portraits would be cut out and stuck on the sarcophagus. Those left over were displayed along side in a pharaoh portrait gallery.

Mummies and their Pyramids

Ancient Egyptian Pyramids

 

 

Using mathematic nets to create these Ancient Egyptian Pyramids with individual mummies provide great opportunities for the children to use their mathematical knowledge of shape. We began by drawing a square based pyramid net on cardboard. This was done with a year 5 and 6 class so they already knew about the properties of shapes and the angels in an equilateral triangle. Most of the children could use this in their work. The cardboard I used was thick and their was a need for sharp scissors and adult support.

 

In the second session the children then created decorations for the inside using Egyptian hieroglyphs and painted the outside with a yellow base and drew brick patterns with pencils and felt tips. You could use tabs in the net to secure the sides together but I went for simple hole punch in the top tied with a pieces of string as the children were drawing their own nets.

During our third session the children created their mummies for the inside. I have seen this done with salt dough but I wanted to include as many maths opportunities as possible so went for the tin foil and masking tape. The children were given a couple of sheets of tin or aluminium foil. I modelled using the foil to create different 3D forms - which once put together would form their mummies. then with the second sheet of foil they wrapped in around to make the sarcophagus shape. Finally to give the mummy an authentic look we tore small strips of masking tape and wrapped it around the mummy as bandages.

 

   

Chihuly - Changing States

 

 Melting Cups

 

 
 
 
Artist and Glass blower Chihuly is a great modern artist to use for a science art cross curricular link lesson. You Tube has a number of great videos showing Chihuly blowing glass and creating colour rich glass sculptures. Beginning a lesson by discussing the process of Chihuly and even playing Ping Pong critic can really enthuse the children.
 
 

 
 
I then gave the children a clear plastic cup. the size will effect the amount of curling and the speed in which it melts. The children then spent 10 minutes decorating their cups using sharpie (felt tips just aren't up to the job). Again this decorating stage is a great opportunity to encourage use of warm or cool colours or even pattern and complimentary colours. Once decorated the children placed their cups on cooking trays ready to go into the oven. I had already pre heated the oven to just around 50 degrees. The cups don't need to be in the oven long on a low heat so the children can sit and watch the process with the light on in the oven. They watched as the cups sank and curled, some even flattened. At this time it is great to bring in the science questioning. Why is this happening? What state is the plastic in now? Is the process reversible or irreversible?
 

 

The cups do not take long to melt so keep your eyes on them once the begin to bend you only have seconds. The whole process took lasted about 30 seconds from beginning to end. Space them out on the tray as some do fall over. Be careful they are still very hot when you take them out leave them to cool for a good five minutes before moving.