Artists in the fifth grade began the year learning about "Expressionism." After looking at and coloring Edvard Munch's The Scream students drew a tree that showed an emotion using color and line. Some of the trees were depressed, furious, blue, confused, excited and ecstatic, mimicking some of the same emotions students had experienced since the beginning of school!

Ben 5-D	Bryan 5-SV

The unit concluded with students using collage techniques to show more of an "abstract expression." Color, line and shape were used simultaneously to illustrate an emotion.

From Expressionism students traveled back in time to the Italian Renaiisance. Connecting the famous artists of the time with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of today, students were able to identify the big four-Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello. A lively discussion occurred around Leonardo da Vinci and the Mona Lisa. Students asked conversation inspiring questions about his life and his work. I shared a website renaissanceconnection.org as an introduction. For the first time in history artists were able to create perspective-the illusion of 3-dimension on a 2-dimensional surface. Using Leonardo's other famous painting, The Last Supper, students observed the 3-dimensional room Leonardo painted behind the figures. The first drawing lesson introduced students to 1-point perspective drawing using rulers and a vanishing point to creat 3-D objects. The second lesson had the students drawing a 3-D room, complete with a floor, ceiling, walls, window and door. Leaving the class students were surprised at how realistically they had drawn a room. At the beginning of the third class I threw them a creative "curve ball." I introduced them to the artist Salvador Dali and his "Surrealism!" Students were mesmorized by the melting clocks in Persistence of Memory. Students then changed their rooms from realistic to surrealistic by adding things that would be impossibly silly! The kids had a blast filling their rooms!

Jared 5 SV	Nicole 5-Si	Megan 5-St