Guitars

2nd Grade: Music & Rhythm Guitars

2nd Graders studied line and how different lines can represent different moods and rhythms. Students identified slow and fast moving lines. Students watched a video of Louis Armstrong sing "It's a Wonderful World". Students came to the conclusion that that was a slow song and imagined themselves drawing "slow" lines to that song. Students also listened to a fast guitar song and did the same thing. Short zig zags were "fast". Long meandering lines that were curvy seemed to be slow. Students looked at some art that was abstract that depicted various jazz instruments. Students found the curvy, straight and jagged lines in the art. Students also looked at some photos of real guitars and learned the 3 main parts of a guitar-the body, neck and head. Guitars also have strings, a sound hole and tuning pegs. Electric guitars have volume controls and on/off switches.

Students then set to work on creating their own "musical" art. This was a collage art work for the most part. Students drew out a guitar body, cut and glued to a black colored 12" x 18" paper. I have found Riverside brand construction paper to be the best black paper for the value. It keeps it's deep  color and is thick. Students glued down a guitar neck (I had these pre-cut) and cut and glued a shape for the head. Students then chose guitar strings (pre-cut). Students added sound holes and other guitar elements piece by piece. Students also created a minimum of 3 background shapes to be drawn, cut and glued. These could be a variety of lines and shapes to add to the rhythm of the art. Students created a border. Lastly, students spread various colors of glitter glue on their guitar collage art. I found that students dipping a finger into the glue and spreading was the best way to put the glue on the art.

Great job 2nd Grade!