2/3s Paint Self-Portraits

The 2/3s spent some focused time looking in their mirrors and trying to capture their features and coloring. Once drawn, these are painted with tempera paint.

Checking in the mirror

Painting the face

Mixing the right color

Painting the background

Matching the hair color

Placing the eyes in the oval

K/1s Draw, Paint and Stuff African Animals

Each K/1 student is studying a particular African animal. In art they draw their animal working from a photograph, and then paint it with watercolors. Once this is completed, they again draw their animal, but this time on very large

Painting a lion

A giraffe is carefully painted

brown craft paper. This animal image is painted, duplicated and then stuffed with newspaper and sewn together with yarn. They will find their places in the classroom celebration of African work at the end of the school year.

Painting the big cobra

Cutting out the meerkat

Adding spots

Painting the second side for the gorilla

Sewing an elephant

Sewing the leopard

Part of the classroom display with paintings and animals

The zebra up close

Animals outside the African hut

AHut with occupants

The hyena finished

The beginnings of the hyena

4/5s Draw Self-Portraits

Annually all Parker students in grades K-8 draw or paint a head and shoulders self-portrait. It is wonderful to see them all displayed in the hall and to notice the developmental differences through the grades. The portraits are then turned into the next year's school calendar. The 4/5s begin this lesson by discussing different shapes of faces and the placement of facial features in relation to each other. Looking in the mirror they notice what they really look like and then try to capture that using colored pencils.

Beginning the self-portrait

Adding the background

The head takes form

Checking with the mirror

4/5s Draw Tangles

The 4/5s tried their hands at drawing tangle designs. A single line loops around the paper dividing it into numerous sections. Each of these sections is then filled with contrasting black and white patterns creating visually intricate designs.

Designs beginning to fill

K/1s Begin Self-Portraits

Careful observing

Annually all Parker students in grades K-8 draw or paint a head and shoulders self-portrait. It is wonderful to see them all displayed in the hall and to notice the developmental differences through the grades. The portraits are then turned into the next year's school calendar. The K/1s begin this lesson by looking in the mirror and noticing the shapes they see and where their features are in relation to one another. They first draw their image and then add tempera paint.

Painting the background

Finishing the portrait

Careful color mixing

4/5 Jazz Collages

Putting the different collage elements together

Placing the center of the composition

Drawing the trumpet

Some final details

Working on a drum

Nearly complete

Making it jazzy!

The 4/5s have been listening to jazz and learning about the collages of Harlem Renaissance artist Romare Bearden. Bearden portrayed many jazz musicians in his numerous collages. Using his art as a jumping off point the students began their work by drawing instruments such as drums, saxophone, guitar and clarinet that were brought into the classroom. Then these were worked into collages using brightly colored paper. Accents were added to create the mood of that energetic style of music.

K/1 Make Maasai Necklaces

Coloring the rectangular bottom piece

Coloring the disk

Finished!

Group finished!

Gluing the bottom piece on with care

As the K/1s began their unit on Africa they learned about the Maasai people of East Africa and the flat collar, beaded necklaces that they craft. Noticing the geometric patterns that the Maasai design, the students drew and colored their own patterns, adding the rectangular bottom piece with beads hanging from it.