fifth grade
(Art]Room]News) fifth grade
Mrs. Baker McDonald International School Seattle, WA
February 2015
Our Current Unit of Study:
Monochromatic Still Life We finished our monochromatic still life paintings! It was the longest period of time these kids have spent on one piece of work. They showed incredible perseverance and autonomy week after week. The end result is much bigger than just a painting. Not only did we learn a lot about paint mixing and composition, we worked on developing our growth mindset. Growth mindset is when students believe their talents and abilities can be developed through effort and persistence. At the end of every class, we reflected on a mistake we made and what could be learned from it. This simple exercise facilitated a lot of really helpful dialogue around learning from mistakes that I hope carries over into other subject areas. When mistakes are accepted and even celebrated as an authentic opportunity to learn, amazing things happen! This still life depicts a paper airplane and globe using only black, white and blue tempera paint.
Essential Questions In every unit, there are some big questions we’ll explore while looking at and making art. Here are the questions we’re pondering during this unit:
How do artists create work that communicates? What role does perseverance play in creating works of art?
Learning Objectives Here are the things I want students to know and be able to do in this unit:
I can recognize and create tints and shades I can recognize and create monochromatic color schemes I can use overlapping and placement to create depth in a 2D picture I can visually document objects of personal significance I can persevere through a multi-step process I can create a still life that communicates my interests/ personality
Looking Forward Now that we’re done, it’s time to start our unit on portraiture and US history. We’ll look at pieces from the National Portrait Gallery and learn how to “read” a portrait like a piece of text. Then we’ll begin creating our own portraits.
Mrs. Baker McDonald International School Seattle, WA
February 2015
Our Current Unit of Study:
Monochromatic Still Life We finished our monochromatic still life paintings! It was the longest period of time these kids have spent on one piece of work. They showed incredible perseverance and autonomy week after week. The end result is much bigger than just a painting. Not only did we learn a lot about paint mixing and composition, we worked on developing our growth mindset. Growth mindset is when students believe their talents and abilities can be developed through effort and persistence. At the end of every class, we reflected on a mistake we made and what could be learned from it. This simple exercise facilitated a lot of really helpful dialogue around learning from mistakes that I hope carries over into other subject areas. When mistakes are accepted and even celebrated as an authentic opportunity to learn, amazing things happen! This still life depicts a paper airplane and globe using only black, white and blue tempera paint.
Essential Questions In every unit, there are some big questions we’ll explore while looking at and making art. Here are the questions we’re pondering during this unit:
How do artists create work that communicates? What role does perseverance play in creating works of art?
Learning Objectives Here are the things I want students to know and be able to do in this unit:
I can recognize and create tints and shades I can recognize and create monochromatic color schemes I can use overlapping and placement to create depth in a 2D picture I can visually document objects of personal significance I can persevere through a multi-step process I can create a still life that communicates my interests/ personality
Looking Forward Now that we’re done, it’s time to start our unit on portraiture and US history. We’ll look at pieces from the National Portrait Gallery and learn how to “read” a portrait like a piece of text. Then we’ll begin creating our own portraits.
