Art at GICS

Be sure to read our Monthly Highlights following the Curriculum Overview!

Curriculum Overview

Pre-Kindergarten
          The Pre-kindergarten art curriculum is based on an introduction to art for the small child.  The course will help the child learn about art's meaning in the world, give an understanding of other cultures, introduce art materials, encourage creativity and imagination, aid in small motor development, and improve memory.

Kindergarten
           The Kindergarten art curriculum is designed to broaden each student's awareness of art's purpose in our world.  It creates opportunities for creative expression, creative development, and small motor skill enhancement using a variety of art materials.  The art curriculum supports classroom curricular goals in social studies, language arts, math, science, music and social awareness.

1^st Grade
          In First Grade, students begin to explore more complex art instruction and projects.  They study the beginnings of how to shade, use watercolors, draw the face, and to do simple weaving.  The elements of art emphasized are line, color mixing, and the use of foreground, middle ground, and background.  Famous artists are incorporated into lessons on technique or media.  Multicultural art is often created to reinforce social studies work.  Emphasis is on project completion, individual expression and following directions.

2^nd Grade
         Art for second-graders emphasizes design and color. Students are encouraged to show self- expression.  We incorporate further studies of line, shape, color, texture, rhythm, and work on composition.  Printing, clay, color mixing, paper cutting, weaving, and drawing are part of the curriculum.  Famous artists are incorporated into art lessons.  Students create projects coordinated with units in language arts, science, math, and social studies.

3^rd Grade
         With a strong emphasis on creativity, individuality and self-expression, the Third Grade art program helps students learn more about color relationships, spatial relationships, positive and negative space, composition, and light and shadow.  Master artists and current artists are introduced as part of lessons in media, technique or concepts. Students work in a variety of media, including clay, fiber, paint, pencil, and paper.

4^th Grade
          Students study the elements of design and review the principles of art.  Projects focus on thematic or representational issues pertaining to the work of artists studied in this course.  Art as a career is discussed. Highlight projects include papermaking, slab clay construction, puppet making, and portraits.  A variety of mediums are used.  Contemporary and Master artists are introduced.

5^th Grade
          Fifth Grade focuses on a review of the principles of art and elements of design, and provides further opportunity for the encouragement of the imagination.  Students create a self-portrait using photography as a compositional aide.  Printmaking using soft-cut printing plates is introduced.  Traditional perspective drawing is introduced, and students are required to create an art history project.  Emphasis is placed on individual interpretation, good technique or craft, and attention to detail.  Correct Art vocabulary is incorporated into all lessons.

Back to Top

Art Highlights

 May & June 2008

Pre-K: 

Due date for submissions to the Art Show is May 1st! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to show us your talent!

Preschoolers will be experimenting with a variety of art media during May and June. They will try watercolors, “hot tray” art and painting a group painting outdoors. Preschool constructions in the “workshop” center on center days have shown increasing complexity, and their descriptions of their creations allow them to express new words and concepts. We plan to enjoy the nice weather at the end of the year and work outside as often as possible. Al fresco!
 

Kindergarten:

Due date for submissions to the Art Show is May 1st! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to show us your talent!

Kindergarteners have been busy recycling scrap paper into new paper pieces. They’ve enjoyed mixing colors in the blender to see what new combinations they can make. Kindergarteners will explore techniques with watercolor paints next. They’ll learn about the terms Wash, Wet-on-Wet, Graded Wash and Stipple. They’ll use these techniques to create a painting.
 

1^st Grade: 

Due date for submissions to the Art Show is May 1st! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to show us your talent!

First Grade Art students are creating a real snake out of paper mache! They’ve fashioned a skeleton (coat hanger and newspaper), created the skin (paper mache) and will apply paint after careful research about their snake. Look out for these creepy crawlers at the Art Show the week of May 5th-9th! First Graders will then try some new paint techniques with watercolors. They’ll build on what they already know about this medium, using additional tools (toothbrushes, sponges, crayons and pencils) to add texture and realism to their work. Students will compose a watercolor using these new techniques.
 

2^nd Grade:  Second Grade Art students are completing their Bay Week study of Vincent van Gogh by “painting” using oil pastels. The second graders focused on birds, so their van Gogh-like paintings are of birds. They looked at the way van Gogh used paint…thickly, mixing colors, using curved lines. His favorite colors were blue and yellow and appear in many of his paintings. Currently, students are experimenting with marbleized papers to create an unusual background for a collage picture using the concept of silhouette.

Due date for submissions to the Art Show is May 1st! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to show us your talent!

3^rd Grade:  Third Grade Art students have experimented with a variety of watercolor techniques to create texture and realism in their paintings. During Bay Week, the class had the opportunity to use their new knowledge of watercolors “en plein air” at Sandy Point State Park. They combined their study of bridge construction with watercolors to create unique art of the Bay Bridge. May and June will be filled with additional watercolor studies and experimental art techniques.

Due date for submissions to the Art Show is May 1st! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to show us your talent!

4^th Grade:  Fourth grade also worked “en plein air” from our own nature walk area to create oil pastel landscapes. They employed a viewfinder to “frame” their view and mixed oil pastels for a painterly effect. We’ll finish the year with some outdoor painting, using watercolors in a variety of forms (paints, pencils and crayon).

Due date for submissions to the Art Show is May 1st! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to show us your talent!!
 

5^th Grade: Fifth graders have completed an abstract painting. Artists often work from the concrete to the abstract, so student paintings actually began with recognizable shapes. Can you find them now? Currently, students are creating lots of marbleized papers to use in the construction of a handmade book. The pages inside the book are theirs to create with…poetry, sketching, autographs…enjoy these busy weeks!

Due date for submissions to the Art Show is May 1st! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to show us your talent!

Back to Top