Taking on teaching art classes this year has been an adventure. I enjoy being creative and am able to lead discussions when viewing works of art. With continuing research and some very helpful books about art for elementary and middle school students, things have gone very smoothly.
One of the standards my students are required to meet involves being able to recognize or have been exposed to well-known artists and their work. So, in beginning a unit on this topic with Kdg, 1st, and 2nd graders I thought the best introduction would just be to take a look at and discuss a few. I would show a painting, sculpture, building, etc up on the screen. Students were asked to give their first impression by giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Then we discussed and made a list of what we thought the title of each piece might be. This is where it got interesting. Keep in mind that the students made these lists of title without knowing the actual title.
Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh…survey says:
The Tornado of Death, The Swirl, The Black Church, Pain of Death, Moving Sun, Scary Black Fire, The Dark Force
The Dance Class by Degas…survey says:
The Great Dance, Too Much Ballerinas, The Old Man and the Ballerinas, The Birthday Dance, The Ballerina Shop
The Scream by Edvard Munch…survey says:
Scary Ghosty Man, The Creep, The Scream, The Scary Bald Lady, The Hollar of Doom, The Tangled World
The Old Guitarist by Picasso…survey says:
Death Kill, The Guitar, The Night Before the Guy Went Crazy, Chillax, The Fall of Man, Dead Guitar Player
Although I have more for them to look at and discuss, we only got through these four this past week because of the amount of discussion it created. I’m glad the kids can talk about the work and I feel like the lesson itself was a success, but I did have some laughs at the intense titles they came up with for these paintings. Coming soon, I’ll share with you some of their own work and how they’ve titled it. It makes you wonder what is going through their heads.
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