3rd Grade Art Lesson: Lines

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Lines by A Crafty Arab

Today I returned as an Art Docent at my daughter's elementary school.

An Art Docent is a teacher and/or tour guide in the field of art education. I have been an Art Docent for eight years in the Lake Washington School District, using their Visual Arts and Literacy Resource Guide.  Lately, I have been documenting these art lessons here to share with others.

I had offered her teacher the opportunity to come teach art at the beginning of the school year. We waited till October to let the class settle in and work out a schedule with the front desk about reserving the school art room.

There are seven elements of art and our class will be spending the rest of the year getting to know them personally.

The seven elements of art

Since it's our first lesson, I decided to keep it simple so I can assess each student's abilities (these are called EARLS, Essential Academic Learning Requirements). It also allows me the chance to memorize all their names.

I decided to start our school year with Lines. 

Paul Klee Senecio, 1922

The artist Paul Klee once said that a line is a dot that went on a walk.  He loved lines and African masks and would use his paintings as a way to combine the two.

Straight lines can be bent into curves and broken into angles to create an infinite number of configurations.

I asked the kids to give me examples of different types of lines. We looked specifically at lines that can be bent or broken: Wavy, Zigzag, Looped, Curly and Scalloped.

I then went over the three art lesson steps.
1. Write your name (on back).
2. Fold your 9x12 paper into eight equal parts.  We did this together as a group.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Lines by A Crafty Arab

3. Draw one bent or broken line configuration in each with crayons.

3rd Grade Art Lesson: Lines by A Crafty Arab

I asked the kids to not outline their individual rectangles so that when all their pieces were placed on the wall together, their artwork would look like a quilt.

Left quilt side close up

Right quilt side close up

See you in two weeks!