Always good to fall back to a classic

I'm throwing in one more post today about my latest endevour with my 3rd graders. They are a very challenging group to work with and sometimes I feel myself really struggling with what I feel most comfortable doing with them next.

I thought I would keep things very simple for a painting project. I fell back on a project that has a very high success rate and allows them a lot of freedom of choice. We created our own abstract pieces based on Wassily Kandinsky's Concentric Squares and Circles. I've seen this plan in multiple versions from many sources. I prefer a simple crayon drawn design (first week), then painted with tempera cake the second week to complete it.

I tend to have students draw with me. We switch up colors and draw various sizes and numbers of circles. This is an excellent opportunity to do some math while we draw.  I also had students choose 1 square to color in for variety.

Our second week involves painting. I prefer to use my all time favorite tempera cakes! I love Richeson brand. They are just splendid!

We begin with the lightest color (yellow) then work our way to the darkest (dark blue). This keeps my paints cleaner... no dirty water in my bright yellow. I allow students to choose where they want to place each color, although this is an opportunity to do some color theory.

Three cheers for simple shapes, simple lines, and simple concepts in times when we are all feeling a little burned out.

This project took two forty minute classes.
We used 12 x 18" white paper, crayons, and mutiple colors of cake tempera.

I love these. The bright colors and fun circles make me happy :)