Distance Learning Lesson: Virtual Museum Field Trip

Hello artists!

One of the first lessons I assigned to my 6-8th grade students when we started Distance Learning was a Virtual Museum field trip. All of my students were sent home with laptops, but nothing else. So while I was figuring out how to teach art without art supplies to students I had never even met--I decided everyone was going to get out of their houses (at lease virtually) and go on a field trip!

So, there were two parts of this field trip: the Google SLIDESHOW and a FORMS the students would fill out about their trip.

Here's the intro slide--Let's go on a field trip!

I gave the students eight choices for museums to visit. My choices were, at first, based on an article I read from Travel and Leisure. When we were transitioning to at-home learning, I was overwhelmed, to say the least. We had a little but of training and then, poof! We were at home. So when I read the Travel and Leisure article, I thought I had read the answer to my dreams!

Once I started reviewing the exhibits Travel & Leisure suggested, I realized that some of the suggestions weren't gonna cut it for my middle school kids. So, I used some of their suggestions and added a few of my own. You could choose TONS of museums, I was just looking for about 8 choices total and they had to be based on Google Arts and Culture AND I needed to get this done ASAP while my four kids were home and I was setting up classes on Google Classroom (which I hadn't really used before and learning Zoom and everything else). Whew! That was 5 weeks ago and it seems like forever!

Once the students clicked on a museum choice on the slide above they were taken to a slide for that museum.

The slide for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

I put a little write-up for the museum on the slide along with a link that will take them to the Google Arts and Culture page for that museum. 

What I like about Google Arts and Culture is that there's so much on a museum's page, like the one for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. There's exhibits, TONS of artwork, street views of artwork, museum views and a link to the museums official site. 

What My Students Did For this Project

I made my students a VIDEO explaining what I wanted them to do with this project. Again, we're using Google Classroom, so the SLIDESHOW and the FORMS (I'll tell you about those in a minute) were uploaded and assigned to them in Google Classroom. 

Here's what I asked them to do:

1. Look through the slideshow and choose a museum to visit.
2. Click on the link in the slideshow to visit the Museum's page on Google Arts and Culture.
3. Poke around. Visit an exhibit. Look at the art. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click on the link for the Museum's website. Check it out!
4. While you are looking around, set a 15 minute timer. See how many see how many items you can find from the scavenger hunt form. 
5. Pick two pieces of artwork from your trip--one you have questions about and another that you love. Write about those on the museum response page.

I used the forms from Kitchen Table Classroom. I downloaded them (they're free!) and made them fillable forms on Google Slides. Other options would be just having students use printed versions (we aren't allowed to ask kids to print anything at home--most aren't able to) or you could create a google form where they can fill out the info as they go, etc.

How'd It Go?

Almond Blossom by Vincent van Gogh
Image courtesy of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Pretty good! This was the first thing my students did for me and I had never had them in class before (the trimester switched as we were transitioning to online learning). There were some issues, but most of my 6-8th graders were able to complete this project successfully. What I liked about this project is that students were able to select a piece of work that was their favorite and tell me why. This was a nice way to get to know the students!

It was fun to see the work the student chose. Van Gogh was a favorite and so was Diego Rivera. The most often visited museums were The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Museo Frida Kahlo in Mexico. The most often-liked image out of the hundreds they could choose, was Almond Blossoms by Vincent van Gogh.

Do You Want To See What They Liked? 

Some of the surprises that my students said were their favorites.

Sure! Because the artwork was all on Google Arts and Culture, I was able to create an online Gallery of their favorite pieces.This is great because they can see what other students liked and the work can be used for a future project or reflection.

I'm so glad that I had the students "get out" and explore some museums from around the world! If you are looking for a fun lesson to get your students looking at and thinking about art--I hope you give this a try!

End of Semester ART Portfolio Self-Assessment

One of my goals at the end of the semester is making sure that the students leave the art room with ALL of their work. This isn't an easy feat with Middle School students, but I wanted to make sure the students realized that the work they had done with me was important and special--special enough to make it home and possibly shared with someone. What we do in the art room is important and needs to be handled as such. Here's what I came up with...

For the sixth grade students, I took a large piece of white drawing paper I had folded in half to create a folder for each student. I attached the following forms to the outside of the folder:

Portfolio Self-assessment Form by Mrs. P @ CreateArtWithMe.blogspot.com

• A checklist of all the projects they created during the semester as well as a self-assessment for their effort during the semester. 
• The Art Portfolio Self-Assessment form that you see above. 

A couple of days before the end of the semester, students were handed an empty folder with these sheets attached to the outside and needed to do the following:

1. Finish all of their outstanding projects
2. Gather all of the projects listed on the checklist and put them inside the folder (names on everything!!)
3. Complete the self-assessment regarding their EFFORT
4. Complete the PORTFOLIO self-assessment
5. Pass their completed portfolio and forms in to me to review

This worked wonderfully! Once students passed in their completed portfolios I had everything in one place so that I could complete their grades and once the grading was done, I could pass the whole thing back to the students who had a nice way to carry their work home with them.

Having the students complete the self-assessments was also a win/win. Students were able to communicate with me about how they felt they did during the semester and I had that information as I reviewed their work. The portfolio self-assessment form was short, but allowed the students to look at all their work as a whole and comment on it. I think many of the students were surprised to see everything they had done and how well they had done it! I received comments such as "I didn't know I was an artist!" and "Wow, I can't believe how much stuff I did!" Completing the portfolio self-assessment also led to a richer class discussion on the last day.

This was a great way to wrap up the semester--I definitely plan to do something like this again!

It's all Greek to me! 6th Grade Greek Coins

This project is fast and fun and could also be used to explore ancient Rome or modern-day civilizations such as a specific state or country. For this project we used metal tooling foil available from Blick.com, but another teacher I know uses foil paper like this for her elementary students (a less expensive and less dangerous alternative since tooling metal can be a bit sharp for little fingers). I usually buy my tooling foil from Blick by the roll, but didn't see it on their site at this time. If you can afford the tooling metal, I recommend it and use it elsewhere  on my site for a variety of other projects. Students love it!

Finished coin designs were mounted onto mat board,
this helps to add stability to the flimsy metal and makes the pieces look more finished
(I referred to them as their "coin collections.").

Students researched Greek coins and looked at different artifacts and inspiration from ancient Greece and needed to come up with five coin designs. One design needed to have a plant or tree, one design needed to include a face or figure, and the third needed to depict a building. The other two designs were their choice. It is helpful to look at examples of real coins and note that they often include other information such as monetary value, country of origin, and possibly a slogan or motto.

Once the students were happy with their designs they could tool them onto the metal using a dull pencil--this creates a nice relief design. Finished coins were painted with watered-down tempera paint, and once dry, scrubbed lightly with steel wool to create an antique look and help define their designs.

The students had fun designing their own money and learned a great deal about ancient Greece at the same time! ENJOY!

Here's part of the display featuring our finished "coin collections."

What is it with spaceships?!
This student decided to create two modern designs that were not "antiqued"
and a more traditional design. While the students needed to create three designs
inspired by ancient Greece, their final three design choices were up to them.

I really like the "I love art" commemorative coin on the right!

6th Grade Radial Symmetry with Foam "Plates"

I love printmaking--especially with easy supplies that are on hand--and this project was perfect for my 6th grade students! We used foam trays from the supermarket as our "plates." The students carved them with dull pencils. 

The project is easy to do and the results are pretty fantastic (lots and "ooh's" and "ahh's" from the students!). Every student was required to create one composition on watercolor paper that had four prints on it. Students who finished quickly and/or who were motivated, could continue on to make a 16-print composition. Either way, they came out beautiful!

The same 3 1/2" printing plate was rotated and repeatedly printed four times
onto the same paper to create a radial print (drawing guide lines lightly in pencil helps to keep things straight).

Objective: Students will create a relief printing plate from foam and use printmaking ink to create a print that has a verity of lines and demonstrates radial symmetry.

Standards of Achievement: Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Carving

Subject Integration: Math

Vocab: radial, linear, symmetry, line, quadrants, print, printmaking, plate, relief, pressure, ink, brayer, construction lines, repetition, relief, styrofoam, transfer

Duration: 4 class (45 minutes each)

Additional references:

This lesson is based on a lesson from Art With Mrs. Nguyen (formally Ms. Graham). She did this project with 4th grade students, but I felt it was just right for my 6th graders as well. I also showed the students the video on Buddhist sand art Mrs. Nguyen suggests on her site, as well as some images of Spanish tiles and Islamic art.

Definitely a keeper! Enjoy!

The completed bulletin board display.  We had our final debrief in from of this display
and added the vocabulary words you see as part of the debrief.

This student created their design a little differently, but it works.

Neatly done!

Look at that detail--from a foam printing plate--AMAZING!

Lovely!

This design is a little off, but created a nice spiral effect.
The success rate on this project was very high for all students.

Here you can see how the 16 mini prints can be combined into
a larger composition. This student wanted to use four different inks
in their work (I hadn't thought of that!). The students are so creative!

This design is great too. Doing the 16 print compositions definitely require
more fortitude from the students, but are truly stunning when done.

Grade 6 Tasty Thiebaud Cakes

I have already explained that the school I was subbing for last year was celebrating its 40th birthday. If you haven't checked them out already, look at these great 3D cakes sculptures my fifth graders completed for the festivities.

I also wanted a little something for the background of the birthday display so I had this nice little Wayne Thiebaud-inspired drawing project for my sixth graders to work on as they completed their other work (I had actually left this as a sub plan one day when I was out, but that's another post for another day).

These were a fun break for them and they had a great time decorating the cakes. As you can see below, I put them in the background of the birthday display and they really looked cute. This is a nice project to talk about unity and repetition as well as color theory (and of course Modern and POP art).

I have done this project before with elementary school students and they have fun with it too. The directions for this project are here. The sixth graders used oil pastels to decorate their cakes, but construction paper crayons are a less-messy alternative.

Have fun creating your yummy cakes! ENJOY!

Grade 6 Oil Pastel Fauve Landscapes

Well, I fell in love with these great oil pastels I found in art room of the middle school I was working at. They are chunky and water soluble--Um, hello!?! Water soluble OIL pastels? I do not understand the mysteries of the world, but I must say, my students and I used the bejeebies out of these last semester! 

This shows the stages of the project: Image selection, simplified sketch
and completed Fauve Landscape.

One great project the 6th graders worked on was Fauve landscapes. I have posted a Fauve Landscape project before which was more technical and science-oriented since it involved afterimages and such (check it out here--it makes a grew STEAM project). But this time, I went with a simpler version that still allowed the students to learn about the Fauves and color theory. These came out beautiful and made a wonderful display, but I didn't get a picture of them all together (I know, I can't believe it). Trust me, they are awesome and beautiful. :-)

Here's how it worked:
Students looked through the magazines in the classroom for three landscapes they liked that they thought would work to simplify--these oil pastels don't do detail well. The students met with me and we discussed their choices and they selected one to take to final. They could then simplify the landscape on newsprint using a grid format (or freehand it if they preferred).

Once they were done their draft, I had them transfer the image to a poster-weight paper. I thought that would hold up well. However, you could probably use white drawing paper. Students were encouraged to use at least two colors in each section of their drawing using blending. We had talked about color theory, warm/cool colors and atmospheric perspective so they could make great color choices. Once all of the sections of their landscape were complete, they could use a dark-colored pastel to outlines the sections (similar the some of the Fauve artists).

When done, the finished pieces were glued to a black mat (black paper cut 2" larger than the work). This really made the colors seem so bright and also made the pieces look more finished. Matting work just makes it seem more special.

Ta-da! Beautiful Fauve Landscapes! ENJOY!

1 Point Perspective Shapes of AWESOMENESS

Ok, so this is a pretty basic 1 point perspective draw-a-long that I did with my 6th grade students. This was left by the art teacher for me to do with the students as their first project of the semester. Since it could be a little dry, I starting calling it "Shapes of AWESOMENESS" and used a super-hero-type voice that really inspired awe in my students :-) or maybe they were worried I had lost my marbles!

One of the students made me this--Thank you!

Anyhoo, this was a great way for them to learn the basics of perspective drawing such as horizon line, vanishing point, height, width, depth, facing size, construction lines, etc. They were able to draw geometric shapes, organic shapes, and letters. I encouraged the students to place their shapes and letters above and below the horizon line.

Once they practiced drawing a variety of shapes and letters on their "Shapes of Awesomeness" test sheet, I gave them another, smaller piece of paper and they could draw their names using what they had learned. They drew with pencil, outlined with Sharpie, then shaded with colored pencils.

My super-smart students then suggested we glue the finished names to their folders (duh, Mrs. P, why didn't you think of that!?!) and that's what we did. The teacher I was subbing for uses basic two-pocket folders for students to hold class paperwork and smaller projects in-the-works and these fit nicely on the cover.

Enjoy!

Not-So-Scary Self Portrait Project

Many of my students dread the self portrait. I find that the older they get the more fear and loathing I see when I mention "self portrait." Not to fear! I was finishing up with last semester's 6th grade students and tried this neat twist on the self portrait from Dali's Moustache that uses clear acetate sheets (overhead projector film)--we had a surplus of them in the classroom, but I've also used sheet protectors (but those are more costly).

The students were pretty happy with the results, although some of them took a couple tries to get the hang of the drawing/tracing technique. We used watercolor paper and watercolors for our backgrounds.

I also saw this other version that uses collage for the background and I'm going to try that next time. Thanks, Janet Taylor for the awesome idea--I love collage!

ENJOY!!

And the bulletin board display of some of the completed self-portraits.