Pier Mondrian -- and -- Space Ships

Today we began work on 2 separate projects: one a 2-class project studying the work of Pier Mondrian-- and the second a multi class project on outer space.

We began the morning by drawing spaceships and UFOs! The kids followed along as I did a few step-by-step demonstrations. It was exciting to watch as the kids realized that they really are able to draw complex, real world images. At the end of the lesson many went on to create their own personalized spaceships. Then we colored the ships with colored pencil. Take a look!

Next we viewed a few images from the work of Pier Mondrian. I asked the kids what they noticed about his work. They noted that his work was very neat and in control, the colors were always inside the lines, all this lines were straight (no circles), he used  only a few colors and left much of the space white.

Then we went on to our project. When we began, some of the kids were worried that it would be hard to paint straight black lines. Luckily we didn't have to! We used cardboard squares as our painting tool. Turning a cardboard square on it's edge you have a perfect way to print a straight line! We worked with horizontal and vertical to create a multitude of square and rectangle shapes. Next week, adding color!