Classical Conversations Cycle 1 - Fine Art Plans for Weeks 1 through 6

As a Foundations tutor this upcoming year, I have had a some planning to do to ensure a great year with my students.  I tutored last year for most of the year and did not come into it so prepared.  I left my planning to the weekend before each week and burned out by the winter break.  I am praying all my advance planning will pay off and all I will have to do on weekends is read over my plans so they are fresh in my mind.

Here is how I will tutor the drawing portion of the class with the five year olds.

Week 1:
Have students make their own OiLS chart by folding paper into 6 squares and using the fold lines as guides for 6 boxes.  All the information about OiLS is in the Mona Brooks book, Drawing With Children .

Part 2: Have the students practice copying patterns using the 5 elements of shape using Dona Young's worksheets.
Use Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals and lead students through the drawing of several animals.  I want to emphasize with my students how they can use the elements to add detail and texture, as in Ed Emberley's sheep, dog, and one of the fish, but we'll do some others if time allows.

Project:
Draw an owl as at Art Lesson For Kids.

Week 2: (Mirror Images)
(Most of week 2's plans are straight from Half-a-hundred-acre Wood)

Part 1:
Fold a sheet of paper in half. Cut out shapes on the fold.  Try to guess what the mirror image will look like and then open it!

Part 2
Students come up to the whiteboard one at a time to finish a mirror image I've drawn there (see photo at the above Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood link).  I'll keep adding components to the drawing for the students.
Draw the other half of a leaf.
Students work on the Donna Young Mirror Image worksheets.

These Andy Warhol-inspired mirror image autumn leaves will be a fantastic project for this week.  Although, these contour line leaves are pretty too, I think the 5-year-olds in my class will have more success with the first project.

Week 3: (Upside Down Drawing)

Part 1:

Look at the book The Turn-Around, Upside-Down Alphabet Book for students to appreciate upside-down-ness.
Students write their names on a piece of paper, turn it upside down and try to rewrite their name upside down by focusing on OiLS.

Part 2:
Take owl drawing from last week, turn it upside down and draw it from this new perspective.  They won't color it (see week 4 as to why).

Week 4: (Abstract Art)

Part 1:
Bring in samples of abstract art of various genres (cubism, neoplasticism, expressionism, fauvism, abstract expressionism (I'm thinking big names like Kandinsky, Warhol, Picasso, Rousseau....)  Discuss these with the students and that the main part of abstract art (for simplicity for these 5 year olds) is that artists simplify or exaggerate and use color/shape to express emotion.

Part 2:
See my pin to see the warm up project which we will do with circles (think plastic lids as templates) instead of triangles.

Project:
I like this project of drawing a hand and making it pop out, but I haven't decided for certain if this is the project we'll do.  I'm also thinking we could do this or this to the upside down owl drawing from the week before.  I've done the second project as a Picasso project with third graders and it turned out really nice.  I think the first one will be easier for fives.

Week 5: (Perspective)
Part 1:
Show the illustrations in Rome Antic - there are so many in there that show one-point perspective.  

Part 2:
Practice turning planes (squares, rectangles, and triangles) into 3-dimensional figures. These students will have done this last year in my class.  Show how shading also adds depth and the perception of perspective.
Use the cylinders and boxes, pyramids and prisms we just drew to make a more complex drawing (for example a castle with turrets). I will be demonstrating on the board.


Project:
Love this perspective art project of a road with a city in the skyline.  It will be simple for the five year olds, but just be that much nicer than the road lined with trees we did last year.

Week 6: (final project)

Part 1:
We will look back at their drawing "portfolios" (what I've kept all 5 weeks of what they have done in class) and discuss/review things we've learned.

Project:
I want them to own this project, not for me to dictate what to draw as in the previous projects, so I'm offering criteria and plenty of "how to draw" books (I also have What to Draw and How to Draw it on my i Pad, which I will bring to class that day) and asking them to just spend the class drawing.

Criteria:
1. use OiLS to help break down what it is you want to draw
2. include perspective (this could mean adding a bit of shading to make something look rounder, or more 3-D)
3. fill the page and add background
4. Put in your best effort


Now off to plan Tin Whistle, my least favorite 6 weeks...