Studio Habits of Mind -- Incorporating All 8 Habits

Beginning Print Making for my first graders was their first look into developing a craft they may want to focus on during the school year or in other art classes.

First, I had the students come up with their own design for a tree. Once they came up with their idea, we worked for a week on contour drawings and ways they can use contrast to emphasize the depths of their prints.

 

Next, students drew their images onto foam sheets and cut them out to create the stencil. The stencil (or shapes they created) were adhered to the front of a paper plate. Students next choose the color they wanted for their tree and rolled the brayer through the ink. They then transferred the ink onto the paper plate using the brayer. After inking the stencil, the students place a piece of paper over the stencil and press down with a leaf press to make sure ink fully saturates the paper.

After leaf pressing, the students pull off the paper which now contains the image from the stencil they created.

Through this art project, which encompassed two studio classes I was able to incorporate the 8 SHOM into this lesson plan:

Develop Craft : learning new tools such as a Brayer, foam sheets, and ink.

Engage and Persist: to create a tree that fit the space of the paper plate, understanding size and composition.

Envision: understand the placement of the shapes.

Express: every tree was unique and they all conveyed different forms of movement.

Observing: looking at the roundness of the paper plate, and incorporating the environment of nature in the art piece.

Reflect: discussion and critiques after the art work was complete, having the student interact with their piece and others around them.

Stretch and Explore: created an ice breaker and had students move around the class like tree,moving their arms back and fourth over their head.

Understanding the Art World: students were introduced to Vincent van Gogh and Ansel Adams.