2nd Grade - Landscapes (SLO lesson) on Art Folders

This lesson might look familiar...  This the lesson I taught my 2nd graders BEFORE the SLO test. The difference??? This was a directed drawing, making sure each student drew a house and a tree in the foregound, middleground and background.  Very simple, they could add anything extra they wanted to that would be appropriate for a landscape. 

We first looked closely at several landscapes, but my favorite we used for our main drawing inspiration was this one below by Gabriele Munter. 

I show my students how to draw a house with two sides, more 3-dimensional. How to add on a garage, driveway, roads.  They all want mountains like the painting, so they add those behind their third house.  This is seriously a fantastic lesson... every kid wants to draw something real, but they often times just simple need to be shown how to.  I have parents who are always so shocked at how well their child is drawing after completing this lesson!  I just got another landscape yesterday from a student who drew one at home to bring me.  It reinforces the success of the lesson when they go home to practice it!

5th Grade - Shoe Drawing SLO Testing is FINISHED TOO!

What a relief, seriously.  I don't know about you, but I let the State SLO testing get to me. I promised this year I would not, (it was my New Years Resolution!), but stress creeps in as I find students are not scoring as well as I hoped.  But... overall, my students left me in a good position. My results are funny... several of my students who did not pass, drew their shoes so well in the Fall, there was not a enough points earned in the Spring to prove growth!  But the stretch was there, just not reached.  I rather have that problem than a bunch that did not grow at all.  There were still a nice handful of students who did not reach an appropriate growth level by truly struggling with seeing the details, or deciding to be lazy. But that is typical!  While I complain about this process... I am learning and growing as a teacher.... Did I just say that out loud??? 

I have to give that credit to The Art of Education.  I took their class last summer, Showing Student Growth in the Art. Wow... I learned a ton! And it calmed me down.  This is year 17 for me... No one taught me about SLOs in college!  It was a huge shift in thinking for me.  Still is... it is going to take me a while to get SLOs established as a common practice.  So here are the results of 5th grade! 

* I edited my photos, I changed the "effect" to "sketch". I found the pencil was very hard to see. This helps see their details, however the shading looks overly sketchy compared to the real ones.  

Just an FYI...

 This is one above is my sample. I drew it as a demonstration.

The drawing above is the Fall Assessment, the drawing below is the Spring Assessment.

 This is the best shoe... The real drawing looks like you could pick up the shoe! 

The sketch pic flattens it a bit.

An IEP student.  Not the most detailed, but great growth!

2nd Grade - SLO Testing is FINISHED!

I am so relieved that my state SLO testing is done for the year!!! In Ohio we are required to give the same exact test in the fall as in the spring.  For the second graders, we focused on Landscape as a theme and spacial drawing. Basically, in my district, we are having students illustrate their understanding of foreground, middleground and background in a drawing, 

through the use of size placement and overlapping. 

* I edited my photos, turning them into the "sketch" look and changing the contrast. My original photographs were so pale, this seemed to be the best way to show the details.  

 This is MY drawing. I teach this simple drawing lesson. I have taught this lesson the last 17 years! It is a Judy Bowerman special, (my mother, a retired art teacher of 32 years).  Directed drawing, however, students have a lot of room to be creative. To be sure they understand the concept, we start by having everyone draw a house and a tree in the foregound.  Then middleground another house and tree. And again, the background,  another house and tree.  We draw them all getting smaller as we extend our space.  I even show them how to draw a 3D house, they LOVE IT! I encourage adding anything to make their landscapes unique.  Many times, they are so exited to have theirs look like mine, they are similar. But, they start becoming more confident and changing it up. For weeks, after this,  I get landscape drawings delivered to me in the morning. They are so excited to learn this idea of creating a real 3 Dimensional world, they want to practice it over and over. The best part, they change their drawings to make them more and more unique, they add things we never brainstormed in class. You know it is a good lesson when that happens!

The drawings are assessed through a rubric created for this lesson.

 The top drawing is from the Fall SLO, the bottom is from the Spring SLO.

 This student is all left brain... He is gifted. He made as many landlines and distance as possible! Not as much detail as others, but really understands how to create a 3D world now!

 This is a student has fine motor difficulties. I was thrilled with his finished product! While it is not as neat or detailed, this he understands foreground, middleground and background. Not perfectly executed, but he put in an outstanding effort!

This student has Downs Syndrome.  She was given the test with an aid, however, the aid did not draw or assist in drawing. Only encourage the directions. I am so proud of how well she did!!! She did not get the space, but she was very detailed in the first house. trying her best to create it with a 3D look.