ART CLASS CURRICULUM SUMMARY: Fall/Winter 2013-14

In the 3 and 4 year old art class, students explore a variety of media in order to gain an understanding of art processes and techniques and the ability to make thoughtful choices about tools and materials in their artistic self-expression. Art experiences allow young artists to strengthen their fine motor skills, spatial awareness and rehearse shape and line formation. This fall, the Cardinals have worked with paint, using both watercolor and tempera paint and a variety of tools, to explore mark-making, visual texture, color mixing and opacity in painting.

In an integration with their classroom study, the Cardinals created sculptural birds using clay. In a clay introduction, students were able to explore the materiality of clay, its density when mixed with water and how it can be manipulated by hand to create a variety of shapes and forms. The students identified the main shapes in the pictures of their birds and transferred that knowledge to creating those shapes in clay to represent their birds.