Printing Robots

1st grade students recently created printed robots, using cardboard and recycled materials to print or stamp paint on paper. Many students connected this to the cityscape prints they made as Kindergarten students! To print, we dipped the cardboard into the paint, then pressed it down on the paper and lifted it up to make a mark. 

We connected out lines together to make shapes to form our robot's body. We thought carefully about what different parts we wanted to add to our robot. Students also focused on using the whole paper and make their robot nice and big! 

After our robots dried, the following week students used oil pastel to add color to their robot. We focused on the robot's body and experimented with layering and blending oil pastel colors together. 

We also talked about what our robots could do. Some of the robots help with homework and chores, clean your room, protect people, do cartwheels, and collect data for scientists at NASA! Here are some of our robots and their special jobs, below:

Carson, "My robot makes me dinner, like pasta with meat sauce." 
1st Grade (Torchio)

Graham, "My robot collects data for scientists at NASA." 
1st Grade (Massa)

James, "My robot helps me get out of bed in the morning." 
1st Grade (Mandile)

Lucas S., "My robot does everything!" 
1st Grade (Salvucci)

Mane,"My robot helps me do my homework."
1st Grade (Landay)

Bella, "My robot brings me to the pool."
1st Grade (Massa)

Noa, "My robot does cartwheels." 
1st Grade (Torchio)

Aideen, "My robot just sleeps." 
1st Grade (Salvucci)

Dalton,"My robot does everything I want."
1st Grade (Mandile)

Megan, "My robot cleans my room."
1st Grade (Massa)

Featured in the News!

Our 2nd grade Arts Around the World curriculum collaboration was recently featured in the Watertown Tab and Watertown News! Kendra Foley, a parent and Vice Chair of the School Committee, interviewed Ms. Patashnick and myself for the articles!

Music and art lessons take shape at the Hosmer Elementary in Watertown 

Hosmer Teachers Bring Together Art, Music for ‘Arts Around the World’ Lesson

Radial Symmetry Name Designs

To start off the year, 5th grade artists created designs using their name! To begin, we learned about radial symmetry, which is symmetry around a central point. 

Next, students folded a square piece of paper into triangles before creating a name design, stretching their letters to fit the triangular shaped space. Some students used block or bubble letters and other students wrote their name using lines. The most important part was making the letters stretch to touch the edges of the triangle, since that helps the letters connect together as they are repeated. Students then traced over their design with a Sharpie marker and by flipping parts of the paper over each other, were able to trace their original design to repeat it in all the remaining triangles. The large windows in the connector hallway acted as a giant light box!

After they completed this step, students unfolded their paper to see their radially symmetrical name design repeated all the way around. Students then added color to their design using colored pencil. 

Students used a technique called gradation, which is the visual technique of gradually transitioning from one color to another. Blending is key to this technique. Students also learned about analogous colors, which are three colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.  

Students utilized analogous colors when using gradation to better demonstrate the transition between colors. They also worked hard to cover all of the paper and apply even pressure to their colored pencils to get bright, bold colors. 

Some examples of our finished radial symmetry name designs are below -- can you see the name of each artist in their design?

Anna M., 5th Grade (Twomey)

Chris, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Chloe, 5th Grade (Domermuth)

Ashlynne, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Anon, 5th Grade (Domermuth)

Colin, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Lily, 5th Grade (Twomey)

Mateo, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Maya, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Vinny, 5th Grade (Psychoghios)

Rosha, 5th Grade (Twomey)

Natalie, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Naomi, 5th Grade (Domermuth)

Molly, 5th Grade (Bellis)

3D Paper Sculptures

Continuing their study of line, PK and Kindergarten artists took their lines and shapes into the third dimension! They were challenged to think of different ways to change and manipulate flat, straight lines of paper and transform them into 3D lines and shapes. We began by learning about the difference between two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects. Many students thought about having been to a 3D movie, and how objects look like they are popping out at you.

We thought about how we could change a piece of paper from two dimensional, flat pieces to three dimensional forms that pop out and stand up, just by using our hands. We came up with a few different techniques, including folding and bending the paper. We learned how to fold it to make a zig-zag line, and how to fold the ends of a curved piece of paper to create feet to help it stand up when glued. Then we began to work on our own 3D sculptures.

Starting with a cardboard base, students added colorful 3D lines and shapes by changing the paper in a variety of different ways. We discovered even more ways we could change the paper, and creative ways to connect and add them to our sculptures. Students added lines and shapes on top of each other, overlapping them, and also thought about trying to fill up their cardboard base. Some students were inspired by amusement parks, race tracks, even outer space! 

Some of our sculptures are on display on the first floor of Hosmer, near the entrance by the Pre-School, so be sure to check them out:

Onomatopoeia! Designs

To start off the year, 3rd grade artists looked at and discussed the work of Roy Lichtenstein and learned about his use of onomatopoeia, which is when a word imitates the sound of the object or action it refers to. Some examples are words like: "wham," "drip," and "ka-pow!" 

Roy Lichtenstein, Blam (1962)

We noticed that Lichtenstein was inspired by comics since the use of onomatopoeia is more common in comics and cartoons. We also noticed that he used primary colors in these paintings. 

We began our own artwork by brainstorming a list of onomatopoeia words as a class. Each student selected 4 different words and drew sketches that demonstrated the word's action and meaning as a visual picture, combining letters and pictures: 

Next class, we looked at more of Lichtenstein's paintings and noticed that he used dots of color, called benday dots, which were inspired by the way comic books were printed at the time. 

We selected one brainstorm sketch to make into a larger drawing. First we sketched out our design, working hard to make it larger and expand our idea to fit the space. Then we outlined with Sharpie marker and used markers in primary colors, incorporating the benday dots in at least one area of our artwork.

Students thought carefully about where they were using certain colors and some students overlapped their benday dots to create the illusion of a secondary color. These are some examples of our finished onomatopoeia drawings: 

Christina, 3rd Grade (Fletcher Nickl)

Connor N., 3rd Grade (Donato Bartley)

Destanie, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Ethan, 3rd Grade (Donato Bartley)

Gavin, 3rd Grade (Fletcher Nickl)

Holly, 3rd Grade (Lutz)

Ketly, 3rd Grade (Stone)

Lenna, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Lily F., 3rd Grade (Fletcher Nickl)

Rayan, 3rd Grade (Donato Bartley)

Yulissa, 3rd Grade (Monfette)