Second graders began the year by reading the book, Silly Billy, by Anthony Browne. They learned the history of Guatemalan Worry Dolls before making several of their own using yarn, pipe cleaners, clothespins and various materials. The class went on to explore techniques for creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface. Students painted pumpkins using colors, tints and shades that they mixed themselves. With these pumpkins, students demonstrated how color, size and placement on paper could be used to determine foreground, middleground and background. Next, they constructed spooky, Halloween trees by cutting, twisting, and painting brown bags and decorating with festive shapes and found objects. The class explored positive and negative space as they planned, cut, and flipped shapes to create symmetrical jack-o’-lanterns as well. Finally, the class was introduced to the life and art of Gustav Klimt and the style of symbolism. In a similar style, students painted their own version of, Tree of Life, complete with patterns, symbols and details in gold leaf.
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