The past two classes, the kindergarteners have been talking about South and Central America. Our art is inspired by the beautiful hand made molas by the Kuna Indians outside of Panama. Molas are colorful, layered textile designs, that typically focus on geometric shapes, an animal, or a scene from every day life. In the designs, the central idea is encompassed by lines, shapes and patterns. For our paper mola, I asked students to think of an animal that might live in South America.
I showed them how to create layers around that image and they used pre cut paper strips, and some geometric shaped stickers to add their finishing touches, students even cut their out and began to wear them. I love the contrast of the colors against the black paper! It is fascinating to look at these molas and compare them with the collage they made from pre cut shapes back in October, found here: karasartcart.weebly.com/kindergarten/when-a-line-bends-a-shape-begins
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Two classes ago, the kindergarteners learned about the diversity of cultures in Europe. For our project, I brought in some Matryoshka dolls and let students observe the way they were decorated. Using paper and colored pencils, students designed and assembled their own pop up traditional Russian dolls. I asked student to think of a theme for their dolls and to draw symbols that connect one doll to the next. It was fun seeing the "families" they came up with.
After a long "layover" due to Spring Break and report card conferences, the kindergarteners have returned to their around the world travels. This time leaving Asia and venturing to Africa. After sharing facts about Africa's geography and climate from our Atlas, I shared a renowned art form with them- folktales. The kindergarteners are just finishing learning about folktales with their classroom teacher, so I read "Anansi the Spider" by Gerald McDermott featuring Anansi, the iconic folktale character of the Ashanti people in Ghana. I love the artwork in this story. Students were able to recognize the symbolism used to illustrate Anansi's six sons. For instance, his son "River Drinker " has a symbol for water, "Cushion" looks like a pillow "See Trouble" has four circles, or four eyes that can see in all directions. After the tale, I had students choose a character they wanted to create, and practiced counting 8 legs, as well as fine motor skills while cutting out symbols and folding the legs into crinkles.
As they created, I told them the folktale of how a spider such as Anansi, inspired the art of weaving textiles in Ghana, eventually inspiring the symbolically colored, geometric patterned, woven textile, kente cloth. I brought in samples of kente cloth and left students with labeled art forms from Africa to look at after they were done working. Check out the photos of Anansi and his sons in the photos! The students had a half day on Friday, so we took a break from our regularly scheduled world traveling to celebrate Earth Day. I read "The Earth Book" by Todd Parr and talked to students about how to put their ideas into a poster. They started with their big idea, then thought of a title. From there, I encouraged them to tell their message with pictures. They did an awesome job!
Before Spring Break, the kindergarteners "traveled" more throughout Asia and settled into India. I talked to students about the tradition of mandalas, and how to create them using radial balance. Students looked at examples of mandalas and noticed that the designs remind them of elements of nature, such as leaves, flowers, spider webs, etc. Using a doted line template, student started at the center of their mandala and made sure each "slice" was the same. I am so impressed!
This past Friday, the kindergarteners said goodbye to Australia and hello to Asia!
I showed students examples of Chinese ink paintings and talked about value (the range from dark to light within a color). Students told me that in order to make a color lighter you should add white paint and to make a color darker, you should add black. Since we were using ink, I demonstrated how to get a dark, medium and light value using water. All students watched me paint some bamboo that I brought in, since nature is often the subject of Chinese art. Students worked while I played traditional Chinese music, and stroke by stroke they created paintings of a bamboo forests showing a great range of value and attention to detail. Afterwards, they explored books about Asia countries such as, India, China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. I love these! On Friday, I read "Australia ABC's" by Sarah Heiman, to the kindergarteners to introduce some new facts about Australia. Afterwards, they went back to their tables and wrote a post card from Australia to whomever they wished. I LOVE their drawings and their notes are fantastic! We couldn't leave Australia without stamping our passports, so we closed class by students getting stamps and checking off another continent. Where to next?
On Friday, the kindergarteners set off on another trip, this time to Australia. I read facts from our Atlas, ranging from the climate, the animals, and how children go to school. They then studied Aboriginal dot paintings and learned the meanings of some frequently used dot painting symbols. Students used Q-tips to create their own dot paintings. They were asked to have their art tell a story using Aboriginal symbols. We will return to Australia during our next class.
Last Friday, we officially began our "trip" around the world by looking at the parts of our Atlas. After learning that we are more likely to see more penguins than people in Antartica, the kindergarteners set out to make their own penguins, adding fluff for texture. We also began a new routine of getting a stamp in our passports every time we "travel" to a new continent. Students practiced using their scissors and cutting out shapes to construct their Antartica keepsake.
On Friday, I told them that our first trip around the world will be back in time, over 30,000 years ago. What better place to start our world tour of art, than the beginning of drawing. I read the book "The First Drawing" by Mordicai Gerstein which does a great job setting the stage for younger learners to understand the early human need to draw. After the story, I showed students photos of real cave art and asked them to pretend that they were a cave family with friends at their table. Together, they would create a collaborative cave drawing on a large piece of paper. I dimmed the lights and played sounds from a cave on my phone, to help these creators get in the zone. Using chalks and oil pastels, the kindergarteners did an amazing job working together and creating cave drawings! they also made a small version to take home with them.
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