Farewell to Faubion: Kindergarten

Faubion's building, which opened in 1950, will be getting demolished this summer for a complete rebuild. While the new school is being constructed, all Faubion staff, students, & even furniture will be temporarily placed at Tubman School. To help the students with the transition and to reflect on their positive experiences at Faubion, all K-5 students worked on school tribute art projects for the final weeks of the year.

The kindergarten teachers took photos of their students at their favorite school spot, so I used them to help the kiddos create a photo collage, spelling out the letters of our school name. In the background, the students drew their favorite people or activities at Faubion. You can view this beautiful collaborative artwork near the main office, and again when it is on display at Tubman for next school year! Great job, kindergarteners :]

Time to Play

Nowadays, teachers are pressed to squeeze in as much instruction as possible before their students take their standardized tests. As a result, many children don't have big chunks of time to just creatively experiment or self-explore. Even in teaching art, I feel pressed for instructional time when I only see students for 45 minutes per week. Every once in a while, I'll give my students a free choice day, in which they choose their materials & there are no rules on what they make. A while back, I handed my kindergarteners & first graders some paper and just told them to "make it pretty". They were SO engaged & what they made was truly beautiful! Seriously, I'd frame some of these! I was reminded of the importance of giving children time to play. Please read this amazing article by The Art of Ed on this subject :]

P.S. We later turned these pretty papers into beautiful Eric Carle inspired collages!

  

 

"Swimmy" Printmaking Project!

  

  

Kindergarteners at Faubion and Irvington Schools read "Swimmy" and learned about Leo Lionni's printmaking technique to make the beautiful illustrations in the book. First, they created their blue & purple watery backgrounds by blowing bubbles through a straw into soapy paint water. They LOVE "catching" the bubbles onto their paper, treating the bubbles like stamps. Next, students used homemade stamps (sponges, doilies, & curlers) to create prints of fish, seaweed, & other imagery from the book. They're even more beautiful in person! Faubion's artwork is on display in the kindergarten hallway & in the photos above. Irvington's artwork can be seen outside room 108A & in the photos below :]

 

 

kindergarten's Jim Dine-inspired heart paintings!

Earlier in February, my kindergarteners, at both Irvington & Faubion, learned about Jim Dine and his gorgeously colorful heart paintings. I know art teachers aren't supposed to have favorites, but Mr. Dine is one of mine ;] Before the painting began, the students were introduced to warm & cool colors. I love how differently my little artists chose to use those color schemes in the positive & negative space of their paintings. SO beautiful!

kindergarten color theory & value

Because Faubion's kindergarteners have been learning all about color wheels, I thought it would be a great time for them to learn about neutral colors and value. We read the book "The Colors of Us" and discussed that just like our skin tones, there isn't only one type of any color. We then arranged ourselves into a line, comparing our arms, to create a value scale with the whole class. I used the pictures I took to create the above poster for their classroom :]

color wheel collages

Faubion's kindergarteners have been delving deep into color theory! We've been learning about color mixing and using the primary colors to create secondary and tertiary colors. We practiced our scissor skills to cut out various shapes of colorful paper. We worked in groups to sort primary, secondary, and tertiary colors into the appropriate spots on each group's "slice" of the color wheel. The photo below was taken after the first day of the lesson. On day 2, students added more shapes to the color wheel collage to help cover any white spaces left. I love how they brighten up the school hallway :]

abstract flower collages

 

Irvington's kindergarteners recently learned about Kandinsky & his abstract artwork. We spent a bit of time talking about his concentric circles (seen below) and how he chose paint colors to match his emotions. The students painted their own concentric circle designs on paper plates, which they later turned into flower collages. I love how bright & colorful they are! You can see them in the Irvington cafeteria, making the space quite a bit cheerier :]