Elements of Art Cubes

After my students created these really cool element of art graphic organizers (see original post here), I challenged them to create a cube showing their knowledge of the elements of art. Each side of the cube would represent one element of art.

"But Mrs. Carlisle there are only 6 sides and there are 7 elements!"

Yes, my children but what is a cube?

"Ah.... it's the form!"

The challenge was that they were given this project with 10 minutes left in a class period and the instructions to finish drawing it out at home. We would assembled them next time.

When students entered the room a week later I had a timer set with 11 minutes. When the bell rang I started the timer. They were told to cut on the solid lines and fold on the dotted lines. Those students who came to class with their cube work done had PLENTY of time to finish. Those who weren't prepared had more pressure. At the end of 11 minutes it was time to start something new. I then went around and graded the cubes. They received 1 point for bringing their cube, 1 point for having the elements of art drawn out, 1 point for assembling the cube and 1 point if they did a really great job.

There was some massive scrambling to get points but at the end of class we had a great discussion of how important it is to be prepared. Those students who were prepared had a simple time completing the task. Those who were unprepared were paid the price.

It was a pretty fun way to teach a valuable lesson and it was great review of the elements! 

The Element of Space

When we finished up our element of art photo collage I asked the students if they realized that no one had to photograph "space." We talked about how photographing space would require us to use lines, shapes, colors, forms and texture.

then I introduced the idea of forced perspective photography. I showed them some photos taken by other people and they were hooked. They loved the pictures and were wondering how they were created.

I did a brief demonstration on how to use the "rules" of space to manipulate the photos. We talked for a few minutes and then we headed outside to take photos.

With 10 minutes left to class we returned to the room to edit our photos. By the end of the class they sent me their best 2-3 photos and I was IMPRESSED!

I love this photo because while they were creating this... 

I was taking this...

I love how you can see how they were taking the photo and the final product. 

While not every photo turned out the best, each group was able to get at least one good photo. This is a lesson we will definitely be using again! 

Photographing the Elements of Art

forms

I see my 6th graders for "bonus" art for one quarter worth of Wednesdays. This year we are really focusing on the elements of art. We started with a review of what are the elements of art. Next they drew tags for an element to photograph.

textures

I sent them into the great big world of the middle school with timers set for 10 minutes. They had to photograph as many things as they could find that would "show" their element of art. After 10 minutes they returned to the room to "assemble" their photos.

colors

Using the app PicCollage they created 3x3 photo collage's of their elements. We had a lot of good discussion regarding making sure their photos really focused on the element of art. For example the photo of the exit sign is a "form" until your zoom in on the "shape" of the letter x.

lines

As they finished, they uploaded them to artsonia. There were a few who needed to be sent back as their photos got fuzzy when enlarged but it only took a quick minute to change the photos and send them back. It was really a lot of fun to see what they selected for their photos.

shapes