Day 2: Caricature Presidents

On Friday, I taught the kids how to make caricature faces.

We started the lesson doing a blind-contour exercise.

Then we moved on to realistic faces.

I emphasized how each student's chosen President has a different face shape.

No two people look alike!

We practiced drawing a realistically rendering of their President.

Some students really impressed me with their drawings.

They were working so hard to show the unique features of their President.

I could tell that some kids really loved to draw. 

When we moved on to caricatures, I showed the students some ways to exaggerate the features of their President. Surprisingly, the cartoon version was a lot harder for the kids to draw than the realisic drawing.

I think some kids struggled to find the balance between real and silly.

This coming Friday I think we will continue to work on these faces and practice some more.

I am so impressed with my fifth graders!

They are awesome!

Check this out! A few weeks ago they wrote poems and drew pictures of Starry Night.

They did a beautiful job!

I loved walking down the hallway and seeing such amazing art!

First Day Introductions

Today was my first day in the classroom. I was super nervous about meeting the students but I showed up to class with lots of enthusiasm and the kids seemed to match my excitement!

The fifth grade teacher I help asked me to come up with a Get-To-Know-You game. I decided to cover one of my silly watercolor paintings with notecards of questions. Then I had the students take turns peeling off the questions and asking me things about myself. I also asked some of the kids in the class some questions and tried my hardest to remember all the names.

I included questions about art, my favorite food, and silly questions like "Do you know another language?" I thought it was pretty funny when all the kids quickly agreed I must know Spanish. I guess my dark hair is a giveaway.

I think the "Getting to Know Miss Emily" game was successful at introducing myself and it got the students excited to learn art. A few students couldn't wait to start making some cool projects. I know this will be a great semester!

I sat in the back of the room to observe after I introduced myself and I wish I had captured more pictures of the class. You can't really tell in this photo but today was crazy hair day. Even some of the boys had some silly clips in ribbons hanging from their heads.

I told the kids that I thought fashion and hairstyles can also be art because it's a way to express yourself. I was happy to see that so many of them agreed.

This class is going to be great. I can tell I am going to learn a lot about classroom management and I hope I can teach the students some fun and interesting art lessons!

Stay tuned for our next classroom adventure...we are going to try some blind contour and make some silly caricatures of all the presidents!