Second Grade

The second grade curriculum continues to build on the vocabulary, skills and techniques we learned in kindergarten and first grade. We continue to identify in nature, the environment, and works of art the elements of design and principles while adding the principles of rhythm and harmony. In keeping with the classroom curriculum the inspiration for our lessons comes from cultures of the world, contemporary artists and art history. The children’s skills grow and develop naturally as they have fun experimenting with drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media, puppetry and sculpture. Second grade is a time when students are often perfectionists so we continue to practice turning off our inner critic and working creatively with mistakes. We provide a safe environment where students make observations about art, freely expressing themselves, asking questions, voicing their opinions, thinking outside the box and creating art with confidence.

Our Curriculum is Inspired by...

Art from Around the World

Giant Paper Mache Insects

Second graders made observations about pictures showing us a wide variety of Mexican Artists who use Insects as subject matter in their art and real life pictures of insects. While looking at large cement insect sculptures we discussed scale and its impact. They created armatures using recycled materials and then paper mache. We mixed our primary colors to make secondary colors as well as white and black to make tints and shades. To finish we sculpted wings.

Artists and Art History, Past and Present

Self-Portrait Lanterns

We looked at a Tibetan paper lantern with faces painted on each side and talked about their function as light and decoration in Tibetan homes. As we prepared to do our portraits for the sides of the lantern we looked at contemporary artists Daryl Wells and George Littlefield who each created a series of four self-portraits as we did in our self-portrait lanterns. We used a wide variety of lines to create our sharpie drawings and used warm, cool colors and organic shapes to create our tissue paper collage self-portraits.

Integrating with Classroom Curriculum

Collages Inspired By Artist Raymond Saunders

As second graders are studying Influential African Americans we learn about African American Artist Raymond Saunders who uses recycled materials in his large collage/paintings. We are inspired by his idea of making a list of favorite things as part of a painting and talk about the element of design texture.