Michelangelo, Renaissance master....and Ninja Turtle

 4th graders learned all about the Renaissance master, Michelangelo Buonarroti. At this point, rounding out our Renissance unit, I wondered if students picked up on the names Leonardo, Donatello, and now Michaelangelo. I asked students if they've heard of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The class erupts. DID YOU KNOW THAT THE NINJA TURTLES WERE ALL NAMED AFTER RENAISSANCE ARTISTS?! Splinter must have been an art lover.
As for Michelangelo the artist, he had natural talent even from a very young age. We learned all about the history of his masterpieces and even what he was like as a young boy. He loved chiseling sculptures out of large blocks of marble but also was an amazing painter. We looked at some of his very famous works such as David the sculpture and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which Michelangelo painted while laying on his back on scaffolding.  As a class we wanted to experience what that must have been like to paint an endless ceiling laying on your back.



 Students were given a photo copy of "the fingers touching" of Michelangelo's God creating Adam from the Sistine Chapel ceiling. We then taped them to the under side of each table to act as the 'ceiling'. We talked about Do's and Don'ts of safety with paint. Each table moved and stacked their chairs to put to the side so we could easily lay underneath the table. We used flesh tone to paint in the hands and then used other fun colors to paint around the background.



We also talked about the famous David marble sculpture made by Michelangelo. We heard in the video that he "needed some clothes". SO that brought us to the art careers discussion....fashion design!

We talked about how fashion design not only means designing clothes, but there are many careers based on this concept! Costume design for movies/sets, costume design for musicals/theater on stage, designing for stores, the fashion worlds making new trends, dand even being a designer for celebrity clients (we definately chatted about "Project Runway").

Students used markers and colored pencils to draw new styles on top of the famous David. But we needed a female model too to wear some feminine style clothes too! So we used Botticelli's "Venus" from "Birth of Venus" paintings. Don't worry, we had swimsuits on them that the students then colored over. :) Students came up with some amazing new styles! They loved this art lesson!

              

Modern Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa as a wild west bank robber on the run! WANTED with a reward of $1,000!

4th graders finished up Renaissance art with a pop quiz all about what we've learned and made our very own Modern Mona Lisa's! We reviewed what we have learned about the Renaissance, Da Vinci, and his most famous masterpiece- The Mona Lisa! Students were instructed to make their own individual Mona Lisa. What will Mona Lisa be doing in your drawing? Think about careers. Maybe she's a vet, in a clinic. What do you see at the vet clinic? What could she be doing in history? Is she a princess in her kingdom? What would she see around her? Maybe she's an astronaut. What new planet is she discovering? Are there any lifeforms? What do they look like?

Mona's a guardian angel at Heaven's gate!

I stressed that the background and detail was most important in this lesson. We also address proportion and what it was. How long are your arms? How far do they come down on your legs. Shoulders and torso, how long and how big are the hands? Pay attention to proportion! We first used pencil to draw all detail in the drawing so we could easily erase. Then used colored pencil to add the color and demention. I explained colored pencil is a great choice so they can highlight detail and can easily get in the small areas to color, yet still see the pencil drawing. We spent 2 class periods on this and students worked hard to do a nice 4th grade job coloring in! Impressive. Here's just a few of some of the amazing Modern Mona's students made. So creative in their approach!

Mona Lisa's a farmer!

Mona Lisa's a Rockstar in a rock band playing guitar!

 



Da Vinci the Genius!:Invention exploration & drawings

4th grade continued on their art history timeline where we left off, the Middle Ages...next stop, The Renaissance! We learned about the Renaissance and how it was a time of 'rebirth' and all kinds of change! I played some Renaissance music to get into the mood while students quietly came in to find their seat.



Miss Oetken's Da Vinci invention drawing

Then we talked about one of the most famous artists from the Renaissance who was known for being a 'genius' of many trades! And this famous man in history was...Leonardo Da Vinci! We learned that not only was a he a scientist who was interested in understanding the human body, he also interested in flight! He would study the wings of birds and create experiements and inventions that could aid in human flight.

sketches of the human skeletal system with notes.
Leonardo would actually illegally steal bodies from the
morgue so he could dissect the body to understand how 
it looked inside and worked!



one of DaVinci's drawings/studies of an invention for human flight


Da Vinci would also design and experiement with different inventions that included weapons & machines that could make jobs for people easier in everyday life. He was a man who was way ahead of his time. He even designed a machine and named it a "helio-copter"...hmmm....JUST LIKE A HELICOPTER! But, he did something very smart to keep his findings and notes on his discoveries a secret......he would write everything BACKWARDS!


Da Vinci's invention of a 'helio-copter'...like that of an early helocopter!
Notice the backwards handwriting in his notes

And of course he's known for his impecable artistry in paintings. We learned about his most famous painting the Mona Lisa! We learned that there's many mysteries to the Mona Lisa and now thanks to some new specialized cameras that can see through layers of paint, some of those mysteries are being uncovered!



Da Vinci's self portrait as an elderly man

 Da Vinci's Mona Lisa



 4th graders were to come up with an invention drawing of their own! I asked students "What do you hate doing? What do you wish could be made easier with an invention? What will your invention help make easier and how?" Come up with an invention. Give it a name or a title.This title CAN be written backwards if you wish. Show arrows to pointing to parts of the invention to label and tell what it does. Give a few sentences about how the invention works.

Students first drew with pencil on manilla paper (since it resembled parchment paper color). Then traced over with the drawing and words with brown colored pencil to make it look like the aged and old ink in DaVinci's drawings. Then we rubbed brown pastel on our finger and rubbed around the edges of our drawing to give it that parchment paper look. Some students even lightly crumbled their paper and made subtle tears around the edge to get the full effect! The inventions were...well...GENIUS!

student work and inventions!

student work invention