Grade 5 Gold Rush Artworks



Lesson Background:
As a part of our History unit, students have been learning about and researching 19th century significant people and events in Australian history.  One of these major events was the Gold Rush in the mid-19th century, which students have been fascinated to explore through a range of texts such as videos, websites and books.  This artwork was planned as a way for the students to imagine themselves actually there, in that moment in history. 

Lesson Materials (per student):

1 sheet A4 white cartridge paper
1 lead pencil
1 black fineliner pen
1 black and white photo of the student's face, trimmed to show no background
Watercolour paints & a brush OR coloured paper & glue
Shading powders: https://www.ezyshaid.com/
1 gold pen

Lesson Steps:

1. With the lead pencil, draw in a large gumtree, and surrounding background of the goldfields (tents, mountains, rocks, a river or creek, etc.).  I allowed confident students to do this by themselves, while those students who were less confident sat on the floor with me, and we did some step-by-step guided drawing.  We particularly focused on not making what I call "broccoli trees"- we tried to have trees with natural curves and bumps, and scraggly foliage.  We also explored how to show shadow in their backgrounds.
2.  Students stuck on their photo head, and then used images of goldfields artworks, photos and illustrations to help them draw a body for themselves.
3.  Students outlined and shadowed all elements of their drawing.
4.  We then used watercolour paints or coloured paper scraps to colour their clothing.
5.  We then used smudging colours to add a little colour and atmosphere to their artwork.  We mixed a little black with the colours, to dull them.
6.  Finally, students used the gold pen to add little flecks of gold dust or nuggets into the water, rocks, or mining pans.

Student Artworks:



 



 

 

 

 

 

Mondrian Maths Artworks

Some of our Year 5 artworks

Lesson Background: 

Students created these Mondrian-style artworks and then analysed the number of colours and shapes to create column graphs, dot plots, frequency & tally charts, and 2-way tables.  They then had to interpret each other's artworks by answering some analysing questions about which colours and shapes were most/least common, how many shapes were used in total, etc.

Lesson Materials:

blue, red and yellow paper scraps
1 A4 sheet of white art paper
1/2 an A4 sheet of black paper, cut into thin strips
glue stick
scissors

Lesson Steps:

1.  Cut the coloured paper scraps up into squares and rectangles of different sizes.
2.  Stick one piece on the white paper at a time.  After sticking down a coloured piece, stick a strip of black paper on each side to border it, and going all the way to the edges of the white sheet.
3.  Keep going until you are happy with the way it looks!

Year 5 Artworks:




By Hanser



By Paris

By Hannah

By Mackenzie

By Brenda

By Hayley

 

By Keziah



 

 

Picasso Peace Doves

By Ari (Grade 5)

Lesson Background:
As a part of our ANZAC day commemorations, my Year 5 class examined the dove artworks of Picasso and why he created the now famous symbol of the peace dove.  We then created our own version of his dove artworks to symbolise the peaceful future we hope for, and included a red poppy to symbolise and remember ANZAC day and our fallen soldiers.

Lesson Materials (per student):

Lesson Steps:

Grade 5 Student Artworks:



By Miranda



By Mackenzie

By Hanser

By Hayley



By Lewis



 

By Maddy

 

By Zoe



By Brenda

 

Russian Architecture

Kindergarten - Year 6 Artworks

Lesson Background:

My school celebrates Harmony Day each year, with an amazing day of activities that allow the children to experience different cultures in a variety of ways.  For my activity this year, I taught my group about Russian architecture, and we created these artworks to celebrate how truly gorgeous the architecture in that part of the world can be.  Thanks to Deep Space Sparkle for the initial idea: http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/shop/line-color-fun/  Please note, I demonstrated each step on my whiteboard as we got to it, before the children had a go.

Lesson Materials (per student):

1 sheet A3 white art paper
1 lead pencil
1 eraser
1 black permanent marker
Coloured oil pastels
A small dollop of gold acrylic paint
1 small, thin paintbrush
A sheet of newspaper to cover the table
A water pots to wash the paintbrush

Lesson Steps:

1.  Look at photos of Russian architecture using Google Images, especially the different types of roofs, including the onion dome.
2.  Using the lead pencil, and starting from towards the top of the left side of the art paper (landscape position), draw a straight line going across and then straight down, to make 1 rectangular building shape (with the edge of the page being the left side of the building).  Then draw more rectangular building shapes of different heights and widths all the way across the page, using the left side of the building as a combined wall with the previous building.  Draw buildings behind as well, to make it look more realistic.
3.  Draw a different roof type on the top of each building (I used triangle roofs, cone shaped roofs, and onion domes).  Rub out any lines that overlap.
4.  Outline all the buildings and roofs in black permanent marker.
5.  Still using the black permanent marker, draw a range of different patterns inside the buildings and roofs, using a mixture of thin and thick lines, and contrasting sections of white and coloured-in black.
6.  Choose 2 or 3 coloured to fill in the sky.  The colours should blend well (to do this, choose colours next to each other on the colour wheel, such as yellow-orange-red, or blue-purple-red, or light blue-dark blue)
7.  Start with the lightest colour at the bottom near the horizon line.  Colour thickly, pressing firmly so there are no white gaps.  After a third or a half of the sky is filled (depending on how many colours you are using), swap to the next lightest colour, then the darkest colour.  Once the 2 or 3 colours are on the paper and no white gaps are left, pick up the lightest coloured oil pastel and colour over the top of the sky in a downwards motion, blending all the colours together.  Students usually need to see this demonstrated.  You should end up with a much smoother final effect using this strategy.
8.  Choose a few roofs to paint with gold paint.  Once dry, reoutline any messy bits with black marker.
9.  Trim and back on black backing card.



Demonstrating how to fill in the buildings with different patterns

Looking at photos of Russian architecture

Students hard at work



Demonstrating how to colour the sky

Kindergarten - Year 6 Artworks

Aiden~ Year 5

Allira~ Year 5

 

 

Isobel~ Year 1

  

Jay~ Year 2

Hayley~ Year 5

My sample artwork

My 2nd sample artwork

Oli~ Year 5

Olivia ~ Year 1/2

Saiba~ Year 1

 

Climate Soft Pastel Drawings



By Hanser

Lesson Background:



My Year 5 class is currently studying a unit called "SURVIVAL", involving both climate change and 1800s Australian colonies.  We created these artworks to show what early Australian settlers would have found as they made their way inland- hot, dry, harsh conditions, making it difficult to SURVIVE.  We also made drawings of icebergs and ice floes to highlight the difficulty the human race will have to SURVIVE in the future as the earth warms, ice melts and seas rise.



Lesson Materials (per student):  Written by Paris

• 1 black A3 piece of paper
• some chalk pastels for cool artwork:
• white, different shades of blue e.g navy, turquoise etc
• For warm artwork:
•  red, yellow, orange, dark blue and black.

Lesson Steps:  Written by Paris
For cool artwork:
1: Draw a horizon line about five centimetres from the bottom of the page.
2: Draw an outline of an iceberg in lead pencil softly so you don't see it when you overlap it. Use different shapes.
3: Once you have finished the outline, with a white pastel, trace your outline
4: Colour in your iceberg with different colours, overlapping each other.
5: Shade the space where the sky would be. Do the same with the sea. Make sure they are very dark to simulate the artic.
For warm artwork:
1: Draw the horizon line about five centimetres from the bottom of the page.
2: Draw three mountains overlapping each other in lead pencil softly.
3: Shade the mountains blue.
4: Draw the sun with yellow pastel.
5: Colour the sun and draw some lines around the sun, again with lead pencil.
6: Using alternaite colours, colour the lines with yellow, red and orange.
7: Draw a shine on one side of the mountains, depending on where you put the sun. If you put the sun on the right side, draw the shine on the right side and visa versa.
8: Outline everything with a black pastel.  

 

Year 5 Student Artworks:





Year 5 Artworks



By Ryan

By Maddy

By Mackenzie

By Hanser

By Paris

By ?

By Miranda

By Ari

By Mina

By ?

By Keziah