This lesson was taken from Phyl. Her students' paintings turned out so phenomenally. I was excited about the lesson with my fourth and fifth graders. And then, things weren't going so well. Either students weren't mixing any colors or they ignored my directions of mixing the colors NEXT to each other on the color wheel, which of course became mud. The more we worked on them, the worse they seemed to be. So, I gave up. We started our clay projects and moved on.
Then, I pulled them out to grade. I realized that, more than anything, they just weren't finished. We pulled the paints back out for one final day of painting. Much better. I think we all needed to step back from them a bit. Maybe the kids were bored. Maybe I was bored. This time, I also emphasized outlining items with black.
And the rest on exhibit in the hall. We have these boards above the kids' lockers for display. It's kind of weird to me looking UP to the work, but at least the kids do not have their hands on them.
I think your Matisse paintings are GORGEOUS! It takes a LOT of time, and yes, some kids run out of steam, and of course a black outline can solve a world of problems. But even if they make mud, they are learning color mixing. Pat yourself on the back! Plus remember, I see my kiddos twice in a six day cycle, so if you only see yours once a week, the time stretches on and on and they will get bored if they can't wrap it up somehow. When I had some stragglers, I offered those kids some pre-mixed colors to help them catch up. Some took me up on it, and some did not. Pat yourself on the back; great job!!
ReplyDeleteAngie, I am in the same boat you are in. I loved Phly's project and am doing it with my 4th graders. Yet, I am not sure if I like the results. But I have to realize this is their first time working really big and they are only 4th graders. When I look at your students' work I think they turned out very nice. I hope I have the "steam" to get my kids to finish too!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Phyl. I am happy with how they turned out, but it was definitely a good idea to look at them again later. I didn't do them quite as big as Phyl. These are just 14 x 22, but that's still pretty big. This size works well for me, mostly because it is half of a posterboard :)
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