Bishop Elementary

Art Class

Fourth and 5th grade classes rotate each week between art and music classes. That means the elementary student attends art class one week and then music the following and so on. There are 3-4 classes to each grade level with an approximate 200 students total that attend the fine art classes. Each art class is 40 minutes for each class.

The students, through their elementary years, learn about art through the use of various mediums and various techniques. Examples:

oil pastels, drawings, ceramic clay, animals serigraph printing,

graphite, stick shading ,ceramic clay, pinch pots, potato printing,

crayons melts, ceramic clay, chess games, faux etching,

contour marker drawings, ceramic clay, coil vessels, plastalina chops

air-brush,, splash ceramic slab, dolls, string printing

egg-tempera painting, paper mache masks (paper bags), cup weaving,

acrylic painting , paper mache masks (balloons), burlap pull,

brush pouncing, paper mache bowls, yarn painting,

eraser drawing, paper mache props, etc.

Many of the projects carry a multicultural theme and during the projects or assignments, specific music is played while the students work, such as Chinese Bamboo Flute and French Regional Songs for paper mache projects or actual Indian chants for pictograph drawings on faux paper bag buffalo hides and miniature canoe models.

The Art Room

The art room is a double-sized classroom. The classroom size allows for safe and easy storage of student projects as well as ample work space. The art room has various art related centers for the student. Students may visit centers when they have reached a stopping point in their work, completed their work, or on a designated center day.

1. Draw and Fold Center

OBJECTIVES:

Promote interest, develop perception, and develop skills in drawing and folding.

A. Drawing Books a variety of choices such as cartoon characters, sea life, cars, fantasy, fashion, etc. to spark enthusiasm in drawing.

B. Light Tables enables students to learn “how to draw” by tracing. This is the same idea young students use when first learning how to write, they trace letters.

C. Chalk Board a fun drawing medium.

D. Etch A Sketch develops hand-eye coordination.

E. Spiro graph stimulates interest in complex motifs and patterns.

F. Stamps encourages decoration and reinforces the idea of printmaking.

G. Lite Bright drawing with colorful lights is not only fun but it takes thinking.

H. Origami Books 3 different books of projects and techniques for young people.

2. The Reading Cave

OBJECTIVES:

Promotes reading and the illustrations in the books are used as references for art projects.

3. The Computer Center

OBJECTIVES:

Promotes technology as a viable tool in every subject

A. Disney’s Magic Fun drawing program: draw with markers, paint, tooth paste, sea

Artist Classic shells, gems, etc.; learn to draw Disney characters; add music to

your drawings; use backgrounds and characters to make a picture.

B. The National Museum offers a grand tour of famous paintings in a fun and exciting

of Women in the Arts informative format.

Collection

C. Print Master Create banners, cards, posters, etc. with templates

or use your own imagination.

D. Maurice Ashley A super program for EVERYONE! Maurice Ashley makes

Teaches Chess learning chess fun! Learn through private lessons or build on

skills through challenging and fun chess exercises.

4. The Chess and Pente Center

OBJECTIVES #1:

Foster analytical, critical, creative and lateral thinking; Encourage social interaction;

Promote positive self-esteem.

OBJECTIVES #2:

Students design and make their own games later in the year.

Art Aces

Art Aces is a creative challenge within each grade level 3 - 5, for each six weeks reporting period. All students work on projects in a designated medium (for each reporting period). Every assignment is automatically considered for a probable Art Ace category.

Determining Categories

1. Majority of students demonstrate new concept.

2. Majority of students have satisfactorily completed exercise, assignment, or project.

3. Degree of difficulty.

Judging

Each exercise, assignment, or project has criteria, generally:

1. First and last name on paper.

2. Demonstrates concept.

3. Complete work.

4. Degree of difficulty.

5. Creativity (Originality).

6. Neatness.

Winners from each grade level are awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons. Winners’ names are announced during the morning announcements.

UIL Art Contest

The purpose of the Art Contest is to introduce students to the rich and varied world of painting. It is an event that is opened to only the 4th and 5th graders. It is a team competition that consists of 4 people. Three people compete and the fourth person is the alternate. The students learn:

1. How to spell the artist’s name and title correctly. The paintings are Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, American, etc.

2. History about the artist.

3. Art elements of the painting.

4. Historical time periods (renaissance, baroque, rococo, neoclassicism, etc.)

5. Definitions.

Chess in the Art Class

Chess is more than just a board game. It stimulates thinking. It activates the player’s inner eye to think and to visualize a “means to an end.” Chess has the player shifting mental gears or various ways of thinking such as:

1. Analytical Thinking - problem solving by the dissecting a problem.

2. Critical Thinking - problem solving with intense examination.

3. Lateral Thinking - problem solving with indirect solutions.

4. Creative Thinking - problem solving with individual and unique personality.

5. Strategizing - making a plan or plans to carry out.

6. Memory - strengthen memory with familiar themes.

The person who plays chess must think. Thinking exercises the various thought processes.

There are also intangibles such as positive self-esteem, team work, and social interaction. All the different disciplines are intertwined and each and every discipline plays its important role in human growth. Brain pathways are opened because of physical and mental activities.

Chess is another rung in the ladder of the learning process.

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Art and the Chess game

Aesthetics

Artists around the globe have taken the chess game as another flexible medium of creativity and have turned out incredible works of art. There is almost no limit to the kinds of materials used in the design and making of a chess set. Games have been carved in obisidian, antler, rock crystal, soapstone (steatite), marble, and rare woods, such as Tagua nutwood and mahogany. They have been cast in precious metals such as gold, silver, and copper. Games have been encrusted with onyx, rubies, emeralds, and even diamonds. They have been inlaid with seashells, mother of pearl, and portrayed in fine porcelain.

Activities

1. Make a Geometric Chess Set

Students will use stoneware clay to model a geometric set.

2. Make a Cookie Chess Set

Students will use stoneware clay in slab form and make a cookie set.

3. Make a Thematic Chess Set

Students will use stoneware clay to model a geometric set and then build by

additive and subtractive means to model their desired set.