Cave Art

Imagine teaching art for the first time in an elementary school that has never had an art program. How do you start teaching students art when they have never had the experience? I thought about it a lot, and I found inspiration in the first record of human artistic expression, Cave Paintings. I took inspiration from the wonderful book Art In Story. 

First grade student creating an individual "cave drawing" with crayons.

I approached this lesson from various angles. First it would start exposing students to art and introduce the beginning of visual expression. I would also take advantage of the simplicity of the drawings to introduce students to the concepts of organic and geometric shapes in art, as well as the different kinds of lines.

Working in a brand new school we were piloting a program that let us teachers remotely control the computer using an iPad. I still use the program to this day, it's amazing being able to walk and interact with students while being in control of the computer without having to stand by my desk. I took advantage of the program, and I let students use my iPad to remotely control the computer and draw on top of my presentation using the iPad. The program doubles as a "smart board", so students drew on the iPad with their fingers and we all saw it on the projector. I was asking students to trace over shapes or lines saying things like " trace a geometric shape on the cave painting" or "trace a curved line on the cave painting". If this isn't an option because your classroom doesn't have the resources, markers on a whiteboard serve the same purpose.

Kindergarteners working on a group" cave painting " using oil pastels.

I spent a whole lesson just having students look at cave paintings, identifying shapes and lines and asking questions. I also memorized and told them the the two stories(Altamira and Lascaux) from the Cave Art chapter in Art In Story. Students loved hearing the stories, specially since I was very dramatic while telling them and they involved children. I had them imagine they are those children who found the caves. Some said they would've been scared, others said they would've kept it a secret forever. The first day's lesson ended with the promise of showing them a virtual tour of the Lascaux cave the next day they came to art.

The next day I showed them where the caves were located in Europe. I explained about the pigments and how the cave men made and used their paint. Telling them sometimes they mixed pigment with urin both grossed them out and fascinated them. I gave them more information about the caves and, add promised have them the virtual tour of Lascaux.

Interactive 3D tour of the Lascaux cave

The virtual tour was like magic and took their cave painting experience full circle. They were shocked at the size of the drawings and the fact that kids their age wondered alone in the cave.

 Now it was time for them to create their cave art. I tried different things with different groups. Some worked individually, while others worked in groups. I gave some groups oil pastels, others used crayons, fourth and fifth graders used liquid temperas.

Fifth grade students creating their individual cave paintings, drawing first with oil pastels then painting with tempera paints.

During the first two weeks of school I had no tables in my room, so the kiddos got down on the floor to work. I guess it made it more authentic!

Happy art making!

                                                                                             

Lesson objectives:

•  Identify the characteristics of line and shape in cave paintings.
•  Compare and contrast prehistoric art and modern art.
•   Create a cave drawing

Vocabulary:

•  Cave Painting, line, shape, organic shape, geometric shape, contour line

You will need:

• Computer
• Projector

optional: Doceri program and iPad with the Doceri app or SMART Board

Lesson Sequence

Through an interactive presentation using an iPad, the students will identify lines and shapes in cave paintings and compare and contrast cave art and modern art.

Cave paintings from CaramelBun

Cave paintings 2 from CaramelBun

*If you don't have an interactive app like Doceri, or a SMART Board you may use a projector and plain old dry erase markers.

They will learn about the history and location of the caves in Altamira and Lascaux, and have an opportunity to take an interactive virtual tour through the cave in Lascaux.

Using oil pastels, tempera and craft paper the students will draw their own cave paintings.

 Additional resource:

Art In Story - cave art chapter

Kimono Art Lesson

We started the class by reading Suki's Kimono. I used the projector and camera so all the students could see the pictures and follow the story. I asked them some questions about the story, like who gave Suki her Kimono, why was it special, etc. 

I then explained to them the parts of the Kimono, the fact that I was wearing my Kimono helped!

Kimono from CaramelBun

The students then followed my instructions and drew their kimono outlines. I record myself drawing, then play it back and stop after each step so the students follow. We have a program that lets us remotely control the computer using the iPad, it's called Doceri. That way I can walk around and help and keep an eye on everyone. 

This is the video I recorded for my students. Then I instructed them to add patterns inside the Kimonos. They were drawing with markers, no pencils in my clasroom!

The last couple of minutes we danced "Under the big chestnut tree" since Suki shared a dance with her class. I showed them the moves before, and explained the lyrics, then we danced with the song.

Under the big chestnut tree,

you and me,

are playing happily. 

For the next class, they colored everything on their papers, starting with the pattern, then the kimono and last the background. We danced some more at the end of class.

No paper art diagnostic test

I work at a school that had no art before I came, so I wanted to test the student's knowledge of art the first day of school. There are around 700 students and I see all of them. I didn't want to be making copies of a diagnostic test for all those students, and I sure as heck didn't want to grade them. What I  wanted was to know what the kids knew right on the spot.

Enter MRS (multiple response strategy) and a PowerPoint. All I needed was kids, a projector, a computer and my presentation. Zero papers to copy or grade. This is how it went:

• I wrote down 10 things I thought my students should know about art concepts and turned them into multiple choice questions. I numbered the answers 1-3.
• I made a PowerPoint presentation introducing myself ( what I liked, where I studied art, some of my drawings, etc.). I also included the class rules. Then in the same presentation I added the questions and the multiple choice answers. After each question I made a slide for the correct answer.

Letting them know we were going to take an art test. ;)

• During class I introduced myself and the class rules. Next I told the kids they were going to take a test, the look on their faces was priceless. I explained it was a diagnostic test to see how much they knew about art concepts. I told them we would do the test together and we didn't need paper or pencil to take it. 

Question

• The diagnostic test: I read the question out loud, then read the answers. I asked the students to put up one finger if they think one is the correct answer, put up two fingers if they think two is the correct answer, or put up three fingers if they think three is the correct answer. I gave them time to think for 5-7 seconds, and let them know everyone had to choose an answer in order to reveal the correct number. Tip: You can read the question one more time before revealing the answer. Repeat with the rest of the questions. Reinforce that they show you the answer not say it out loud.

Answer

• As the students got the hang of it the pace increased, they would also be looking around to see who else had the same number up and encouraged everyone to participate so they could see the correct answer.
• I looked around to see who had the correct answer, the signs and grunts let's me know who didn't get it right.

I hope this idea inspires you to try a new way of assessing student knowledge without making a paper and pencil test.

Happy art teaching!

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Here are some questions you can use for your test:

• What line goes from top to bottom?
• The primary colors are...
• A triangle is a...
• What materials would you use when making a painting?
• Cool colors are...
• Which of the following is a color wheel?
• What is the first record of art made by humans?
• A portrait is a picture of...
• Which of the following is a gray scale?
• Which of the following is a brayer?
• What is a sketch?

Welcome to art class! from CaramelBun

Classroom tour

I haven't taken a lot of pictures of my room but I thought I'd share what I have :)

Outside display

These are the works outside my room right now. The building is new and we want to keep it nice, so we are not allowed to staple things on the walls. I don't have a display board outside so I improvised by buying command hanging strips and using wooden clothespins I already had.

Kakejiku inspired work

Last year I painted the clothespins with tempera paints, this year I just attached the command strips to the back and they have been holding on so far.

Front of the room

This year I'm focusing on Asian art so I tried to add elements in my room. On the right side of the board I made a Torii gate out of red and black craft paper. It took me about one hour but it was very easy, this is where the classroom jobs and student helpers are posted. The two baskets below hold the students works in hanging folders for each table and grade. One for Tuesday-Thursday groups, the other for Wednesday-Friday groups.

On the left I made a there column table for the weeks objectives using pattern duck tape (the small kind that's the same size as regular tape). The first column is for the grade level, the second column is for the " we will..." and "I will..." statements, and the last column is for the agenda. 

I left room in the center of the board for the projector and marked the space that was left on the bottom to use it later for posing works or other important things I'd like to have in the front.

Window painting

Staying with the Asian theme I painted the Great Wave by Hokusai on the window using a tempera \liquid soap mix. It still needs more details.

On the right I made a color wheel and gray scale with characters from Totoro.

Table organization

This year I wanted an open space in the center of the room to sit down with the students or use for activities. So I organized the tables in "L" shapes. Each table has a color and each chair has a number from 1-6. I assign helpers based on their number so there always kids responsible for collecting materials for their table.

That's it for now,

happy art teaching!