Secondary Samba

My 1st grade lesson to prepare students for the Greg Percy Songs in the Key of Art assembly was based on his song the Secondary Samba. The songs is very straight forward- about starting with the primary colors and which primaries are used to mix secondaries. Students at each table mixed primary colored tempera paint to create secondary colors. Next, they painted sections of a paper which they had folded in thirds with each color. This obviously didn't take a whole class period so I think the students had free draw time after they cleaned up. In the second class period, the students cut their colors apart and used their painted paper to make a collage on black paper. After the shapes were glued, students could use oil pastels and/or construction paper crayons to add details.

Kinder Primary Color Artwork

 One of my favorite Greg Percy songs from Songs in the Key of Art is called "The Red and Yellow Blues". Since I tried to coordinate a lesson for each grade with one of the Songs in the Key of Art before the assembly, the Red and Yellow Blues was an easy choice. The lesson is one I've used before with Kindergarten and it's always a lot of fun.

On day 1, we listened to the song to review the primary colors before the students were given tempera paint in each of the primary colors, plus white, and asked to paint whatever they wanted! Some went for nonobjective themes while others painted portraits, houses, whatever their little hearts desired.
On day 2, the students were given mosaic squares to glue to their paintings. the squares could be used to define or add details. By the way, bottled glue holds these on waaaay better than glue sticks.

Songs in the Key of Art Assembly

Greg Percy visited my schools on the last Friday in April to present his Songs in the Key of Art assembly. It was so much fun! I was able to get a substitute that day to play hostess. We started the day off at my intermediate school where I chatted with Greg while he set everything up, tested sound equipment, etc. I had an idea of what to expect from the assemblies after watching a few YouTube clips and I was not disappointed. The assemblies were an hour long but it flew by since it was not an hour of just sitting politely. Several songs were interactive- student groups were called to get up and "cha cha cha", volunteers got to play air guitar, and others got to pose as the pair in Grant Wood's American Gothic. Admittedly, at this point in the year, the majority of my 6th graders were "too cool" to look like they were having fun. I think they were determined not to have fun and participate. That's why I thought it was so funny to watch them obviously trying not to smile at the American Gothic parodies Greg showed during that song. I was also glad to see that some of the 6th graders were getting into the fun even though the "influential"students were watching them.

 After the first assembly, we ate lunch with my principals and our librarian before heading to my primary school to get ready for the afternoon assembly. The K-3rd students were PUMPED! They had so much fun and at that age, they weren't afraid to show it. I've played some of the CDs in Art class since the assembly and they get excited all over again, responding like they did in the assembly and continuing to work on their dance moves.

If you've ever thought about trying to set up a Songs in the Key of Art assembly, I encourage you to go for it! I really think the rate was pretty reasonable considering Greg had to fly in for the show. If you have questions, he is really good to work with. As far as how I secured funding, I wrote a grant. There is a foundation that raises money to fund special projects for teachers in my district. All I had to do was write about the project I was proposing and how much it would cost. I included a lot of information from the Songs in the Key of Art website, how I thought it would get students even more excited about music and art, and even included state standards that the assembly would help meet, such as finding connections between the visual and performing arts.

3rd Grade Monochromatic Paintings

 I shared a while back that Greg Percy would be visiting my schools to give two assemblies with his "Songs in the Key of Art". I will share some pictures and more about that experience soon, but first I want to share some of the lessons I tied to his songs and taught prior to his visit. 3rd grade students listened to a song about tints and shades before making monochromatic tempera paintings. Since I'm transitioning to giving the students more and more choices, the students drew whatever they wanted, knowing that they would be using tints and shades of only one color to paint. 

After the introduction on the first day and seeing lots of examples of monochromatic paintings, the students started to draw. At the beginning of the second class period, I gave a demo and showed a watercolor painting I made in high school when learning about tints and shades. I pointed out how the frog in real life was not red and neither were the leaves, that I had changed the colors and used different values to keep everything from blurring together. The students seemed like they understood and started painting. Then they totally forgot how to stay inside the lines. I showed again how to paint the outline of one shape at a time and how to differentiate between parts of the painting with different values, and most still struggled. 

This is a "typical" example of one of my 3rd grader's monochromatic paintings. You can see an attempt to create different values but the lizard that was drawn on the tree has been totally obliterated. I was getting frustrated and questioning how I didn't know this would be too hard for most of the students. What didn't occur to my pregnant brain until after, is that yes, it may have been a bit too hard, but the students would probably have been more successful had they been given a chance to practice mixing tints and shades before starting to paint. That's the challenge- finding the balance between opportunities for expression and technical skills. I think that the students' ideas and expression are more important, but technical skills help them to better communicate those ideas. 

I grouped the students in seats by color choice to make paint distribution quicker.

Soooo, I would probably not recommend a monochromatic painting lesson for 3rd graders. However, if you happen to be planning to teach your students about tints and shades, check out Greg Percy's song! It's still stuck in my head- "to make a tint you add some white, then your color will be more light"... "when you add black you make a shade, it's true...."

Here are some of the more successful student examples:

Greg Percy is coming!

I'm really excited that in one week, Greg Percy of Songs in the Key of Art will be visiting my schools! Last fall I wrote a grant to a foundation that raises money for my school district and they were really excited about the idea. We originally tried to find a way to benefit all the elementary students in the district but with 7 schools there were just too many students and too many bussing issues to be feasible. I wanted to make sure that the students would be familiar with some of his songs so each grade worked on a lesson that tied in to a different song. The pictures in this post are from the bulletin board at my primary school. I apologize for not checking the quality in my rush to get pictures after school!

I made a guitar for each song/grade and wrote part of the lyrics to explain. 

The Red and Yellow Blues...

 Secondary Samba...

 From Matisse to You...

Tints and Shades (can't remember if this is the real title, but it's the concept!)

I can't wait to write more about this and share some pictures after the visit next Friday!

3rd Grade Complementary Color Pictures

 I needed a one-class period project for my 3rd grade students toward the end of the school year.  They are always BEGGING for free draw so I compromised- free draw with some stipulations!  We quickly reviewed complementary colors using our good friend the color wheel then I told the students they could make a picture of anything they want as long as it was nice for school and only used one complementary color pair (plus neutral colors.)  I had markers and crayons available at the tables and I also put out the scrap paper.  Most students stuck to the drawing supplies but some got brave and incorporated construction paper.  

While the students got started, I played the complementary color song from Songs in the Key of Art. (I'm glad I put the baby to bed before I opened the webpage, I forgot it plays music!)  The songs get stuck in your head which is a good thing since it reinforces the material!  I ordered the first two volumes and they are at school but I think the chorus is this:

"Red and green look so good to me, 

purple and yellow do, too,

Complementary colors next to each other,

What about orange and blue?"

I have about a bazillion more photos to upload to Artsonia and post on here so stay tuned!