APPR/Common Core: Pre- and Post-Assessments

Well, I've spent the last few days figuring out exactly what I'm going to do for my pre- and post-assessments for art class.  Even though I'm only going to have to do SLO's for approximately three grade levels, I'm still planning my assessments for every grade...eventually I'll have to do these assessments in every grade depending on my enrollment each year!

When I first attended our regional staff development meetings during the school year, I wasn't very happy with the regional assessments we were putting together.  In a sense, they were too specific and they didn't align with what I taught my kids in each grade.  A college friend of mine teachers downstate in NY had her regional meeting for art over the summer.  She shared with me that they had decided to use the same pre- and post assessment for K-6:  self-portraits.  I'm not that into doing the same thing for every grade...I like changing things up from year to year, but she gave me the idea that I could save their self-portraits all the way up through 6th grade and then make a book for each child to have at the end of 6th grade when they transition into the high school.

After mulling this over, I decided that maybe I did like this idea after all, but it still didn't seem like enough of an assessment for me, especially since I don't plan on really covering self-portraits until 3rd and 4th grade with the kids.  So, this is what I plan on doing...each grade will do self-portrait at the beginning and end of the year, as well as one other assessment that will more closely pertain to what students will be taught during the school year.

Kindergarten:  Self-Portrait & Scissor Skills Worksheet

Kindergartners will have to cut these out and glue onto construction paper with Elmer's Glue.  We do A LOT of cutting and gluing projects in Kindergarten, so I feel this is an appropriate assessment!  By the end of the year, most students should be able to cut out those advanced shapes with no problem and glue them using a decent amount of glue!

1st Grade:  Self-Portrait & Drawing Test

For the drawing test assessment, students will have to split their paper into six sections.  They will be given six minutes for each section to do the best drawing they can of the following things:

~A tree

~A flower

~A fuzzy dog

~A house

~Your family

~Anything!

During 1st grade, I cover things such as adding good details, adding texture to drawings, using a horizon line, and so on, so by the end of the year, I expect to see these things in their post-assessment drawing.

2nd Grade:  Self-Portrait & Artwork Scavenger Hunt

In second grade, I really begin introducing critiques to students.  We do group critiques and class critiques a lot starting in 2nd grade.  Because of that, I like students to be able to describe their artwork using the Elements and Principles of Art that they have learned so far.  Therefore, my 2nd grade assessment will be a type of scavenger hunt.  I haven't actually made this yet, but I will definitely post it once I complete it.  Students will be asked to identify the Elements and Principles in various famous artworks.  Some examples might be, circle all the vertical lines with a blue crayon.  Circle the artwork that is symmetrical and put an "X" through the artwork that is asymmetrical. 

3rd Grade:  Self-Portraits & Fairy Tale Landscape Drawings

In third grade, I teach foreground, middle ground and background.  We also really get into landscapes.  I've seen numerous versions of the lesson "The Path to Grandmother's House,"

based on Little Red Riding Hood, such as the one here on the Painted Paper blog.  I decided that at the beginning of the year, I would read them the story of Little Red Riding Hood but I wouldn't show them any pictures from the book.  I would then assess their drawings based on how well they picked up details from the book and how they draw a landscape.  At the end of the year, instead of using Little Red Riding Hood, I will use another fairy tale, like Hansel & Gretel.  The landscapes might look slightly different in both, but students should be able to use their drawing skills to show me a more advanced landscape!

4th Grade:  Self-Portraits & Still Life Drawing
This one will be pretty self explanatory.  We will concentrate on using contour drawings to draw from real life quite a bit in 4th grade, including observing shadows and value.  So, I will simply have my students do a 2-3 day still life drawing in the beginning and the end of the school year, probably using colored pencils.

5th Grade:  Self-Portrait & Color Theory Quiz
In 5th grade, I start giving little quizzes.  I started doing this last year because my 5th graders weren't the best behaved group at special and when I started giving them graded quizzes, they started listening better!  I also really found out who was understanding the more advanced material.  Aside from the self-portrait, the other assessment I will use for 5th grade will actually be a quiz.

I found this handout on-line last year before I knew about Pinterest and I altered it to my needs...I hate that I can't site my source for this but it came from a 4th grade unit on color theory and it was off a school website!  I will continue to look for the original source for this so I properly give credit where it's due!


6th Grade:  Self-Portrait & Cultural Art Quiz:
In 6th grade, I align their art projects with the cultures they learn about in history class.  I decided the best way to assess these students would be to give them a quiz that asks them to identify what culture certain artworks come from.  I will cover the following cultures in class with students, at least half of which are also covered in their history class:  Prehistoric, Egyptian, Greek, Mexican, Chinese, Aboriginal and Native American.  The quiz will ask students to match the culture with their artwork and explain in 2-3 sentences how they know that artwork is from the specified culture.  Again, once I have this quiz completed, I'll post it!

Common Core and A.P.P.R....ugh!

Is anyone else using a lot of their precious summer time working and reworking their curriculum?  I hate to say it but I've been teaching for two years now and I have never actually written down a set curriculum for each grade I teach...I have used the NYSATA 2002 Visual Arts Curriculum Companion as my guideline and have a huge binder full of my own lesson plans in order from start to finish, so it's not like I've been out in space, but APPR and Common Core has finally kicked my butt into gear for writing my own curriculum.   Here are my intended learning outcomes for the grades I have finished:

KINDERGARTEN:

1. Students will create and identify basic lines, shapes, texture and patterns.
2. Students will cut safely using scissors.
3. Students will use an appropriate amount of glue for collage projects.
4. Students will paint with watercolor and tempera paint.
5. Students will create detailed backgrounds in their artwork.

FIRST GRADE:

1. Students will draw detailed backgrounds using appropriate subject matter.
2. Students will create realistic depth in art.
3. Students will identify the Elements and Principles in famous artwork.
4. Students will build sculptures using various art mediums.

SECOND GRADE:

1. What is a critique?
2. What is the difference between 2-D and 3-D art?
3. What makes a good composition?
4. What are warm and cool colors?
5. How do I create depth using color?
6. How do I create emotion and feelings in a piece of artwork?
7. What does it mean to have contrast?

THIRD GRADE:

1. Students will create depth in art using the foreground, middleground and background.
2. Students will be able to identify symmetrical and asymmetrical art.
3. Students will create emphasis in art.
4. Students will create movement and rhythm in their art.
5. Students will create form in architectural sculptures.
6. Students will simulate real texture in their artwork.
7. Students will draw proportional people.

FOURTH GRADE:

1. Students will create good compositions in their art in accordance to the Elements and Principles of Art.
2. Students will create form in 2-D art using shapes, value and shading.
3. Students will create various forms of abstract art.
4. Students will understand and use a motif in their art.
5. Students will identify and create radial art.

FIFTH GRADE:

1. Students will be able to identify the following color families: primary, secondary, warm, cool, analogous, intermediate, neutrals, monochromatic, and complementary.
2. Students will use the above color families in their own art.
3. Students will correctly utilize 1-point perspective to create a scene with a focal point.
4. Students will create a focal point using the elements and principles of art.
5. Students will create art that uses words and letters.
6. Students will use contour drawings to create detailed drawings.

Not sure I'm totally happy with everything yet...these are just my rough drafts.  My sixth grade curriculum hasn't been started yet, but it will primarily deal with aligning a majority of their art projects with social studies/history.  

So, can anyone give me any suggestions/comments on what I have so far?  I will be spending the rest of my night working on pre- and post-assessment rubrics!!