4th grade Business Cards

MY 4th graders are doing a unit about commercial art.  They are inquiring about all the kinds of art that exist in the commercial world.  Here, they made business cards.  They made them first on 9x18 paper, then I reduced them to 25% on the color copier (about the size of a business card) and then laminated them.  They are so cool!  

The criteria required for them to make a self portrait,  list 3 things about themselves (a service that they provide) as well as a slogan and contact information.  

1st graders- self portraits!

Here, it is obvious that my first graders have found solid ground in the schematic stage of drawing.  We learned about horizon line to enrich students sense of space with their drawings.  We also emphasized details.  At this stage, students love to draw.  All of my students are risk-takers with their drawing- never insecure about attempting to draw ANYTHING!  Cherish this because they will soon become super critical of their drawings! 

Kindergartners drawing people!

We just switched trimesters.  This means that I have a new group of kinders that have never had art class before (it is rare that our population of students have attended preschool.)  I like to begin with some drawing exercises with them.  About half of them are in the pre-schematic drawing stage, but some have entered the schematic phase.  As a class, I like to have students look at their bodies as if they were shapes.  What shape would a head be?  a body? an arm? a hand?  leg?  Instead of only providing them with a formula, it is important that you encourage them to actually look at what they are drawing.  Encouraging this early on (and continuing to practice this through out the elementary grades)  is essential because this will hone their observational skills and ultimately successfully bring them through the stages of artistic development.