2 Stars and a Wish: Art Gallery Walk for Elementary Students

I am starting 2 Stars and a Wish Gallery Walk critiques with my elementary students. We've done formal, all class critiques before but I thought they may like a chance to move about our classroom "gallery" like people do in real galleries. I created slides with art vocabulary to post during the walk with directions to help guide them. This will also help them with spelling.

I will have students walk the room for a few minutes and then stop at one work of art. (One student per art piece so everyone gets feedback). They will then get my 2 Stars and a Wish paper (I made them small enough to save on paper but large enough to write sentences) and critique the art they are standing in front of. If they don't have a wish for improvement, they don't have to provide one.

Elementary students love showing off their art to their peers so this is a quick way to do critiques when you don't have time for presentations. I plan to do this with grades K-5, with plenty of guidance for K and 1st grade. 

See my example below:

3rd Grade Low Relief O'Keeffe Flowers

These are the first four students to complete our O'Keeffe Flowers. There were so many steps and directions to my project but my 3rd graders met every expectation I had. They actually exceeded my expectations. They mixed their own tempera paint colors for the leaves and petals and mixed their own watercolors for the background. Their craftsmanship of cutting the petals and leaves was awesome! Next I will have them bend their petals and leaves slightly to make them pop. I also connected this project to science as we discussed the parts of a flower. 

Beautiful!

Square 1 Art Fundraiser: 5th Grade Haring Figures

After learning about Haring and seeing his art, my 5th graders were hooked. I think sharing himself would have been impressed with my students. 

They had to show movement using Harings "motion lines." Each student will tell a short story about their works upon completion. 

Kinder Square 1 Art: Rainbow Fish Sketches

My Kinders show great talent in this Rainbow Fish inspired project. And these are just their sketches! I gave them a tracer for the body and they followed a guided drawing (I drew and they copied me via Microsoft Paint and a document camera) for the rest. Each is a little different and very well done. 

First Grade: Scratch "Sgraffito" Art Owls

We've finished our big projects and are ending art this year with some mini-projects. I did a guided drawing with 1st grade on drawing owls on metallic scratch art paper. They loved learning about contrast (gold and black) in this form of art. 

Fifth Grade: Practice and Final Coil Pots

We practiced our coil pots with oil based clay first, then created final pots. Here are the practice pots from one class and final pots from another class.

More 4th Grade Clay Medallions: Glazed and Fired

Fourth Grade Medallions: Clay, Glazed and Fired

My 4th graders created clay medallions with symbols that represented who they are. We learned about historical symbols from different cultures. We used Mayco Stroke n' Coat and white clay from Sax.

Kinder Pinch Pots: Glazed and Fired

Here is my first ever firing of kindergarten pinch pots with my new kiln. They turned out great! I had the kids use Mayco Stroke n' Coat and a white clay from Sax. 

Kinder Self Portrait Paintings

My have my Kinders grown this year! Their art has impressed me time and time again throughout this school year. If they can do this at the kindergarten level, I am excited to see what they produce next year. Being art on a cart, painting is always a challenge for me. This group of Kinders were so helpful and followed directions so well. Painting with them was so easy!