2005-06: Grade 4
This year was the first time we have tried making a quadrasign, a lesson designed and named by one of our traveling teachers, Dr. Kay Wagner. We started with nature as our inspiration, more specifically, a leaf shape. Four related colors of construction paper were chosen and each folded in quarters. The edge of a leaf shape was drawn on the first color, inner lines drawn and cut out.
This piece was left folded and paper clipped to the next color; it was cut leaving a finger’s width of margin. The 3 rd and 4 th papers were cut in the same manner. Finally, all four papers were unfolded and glued together. The results were stunning abstractions!
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Fourth grade students watched a PowerPoint on Georgia O’Keeffe and discussed her style of making flowers large so people would pay attention to their beautiful details. Then they practiced drawing many different flowers, looking at what qualities make each kind of flower unique. Finally, in the computer lab, they used Kid Pix to draw a flower that filled the picture frame. Details were added and their flower was filled in with colors that were related to each other.
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Next the fourth graders worked on a paper sculpture using lines and cubes. The students practiced how to create volume through line manipulation. They chose a line theme and a color theme. The line patterns were drawn and the paper folded into a cube. Then the hard part began! Using a minimum of 5 cubes students were to arrange them into an interesting and balanced sculpture, keeping in mind the principles of variety and unity.
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Photo Finish is what I called the next assignment that challenged the 4 th graders. It was a fun respite from the more intense projects. Students found a photo from a magazine that stirred their imagination. They cut off part of the photo and finished the picture, not as it was, but in a new creative way.
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Our last unit in fourth grade was a study in figure drawing. Students used vine charcoal, charcoal pencils and kneaded erasers to portray “a figure in a box”. They were to fit parts of the figure within a 16” format to force an interesting placement of head, body, arms and legs. After the placement was decided, the students learned how to create volume with the charcoal and how to draw facial features, hands and feet. Props were drawn to help identify the figure’s pose.
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2005-06 Projects