The 4th graders learned about the artist Albrecht Durer and how his animal drawings showed a variety of implied textures in them. Although the pictures didn't have real texture, the artist created them to appear to have texture.
The students were given the option of either drawing an animal from memory or looking at a reference that I had already printed out. They had dozens of options to choose from. Their first step involved them drawing their animal in pencil onto their papers. At first, the students were nervous about drawing realistic animals without tracing but they ended up surprising themselves and me with how skilled they were able to draw from their references. Once drawn, they broke the drawing down into at least 8 smaller shapes. They then outlined their animals and the smaller shapes in thick Sharpie. Switching to a thin sharpie, they filled in each shape with a different pattern in order to create texture. Although they knew how to recognize pattern, it was important that they were able to describe what pattern meant. Patterns can be created by repeating shapes or lines within a picture. Students repeated a variety of shapes and lines within each shape of their animal drawings.
The students were given the option of either drawing an animal from memory or looking at a reference that I had already printed out. They had dozens of options to choose from. Their first step involved them drawing their animal in pencil onto their papers. At first, the students were nervous about drawing realistic animals without tracing but they ended up surprising themselves and me with how skilled they were able to draw from their references. Once drawn, they broke the drawing down into at least 8 smaller shapes. They then outlined their animals and the smaller shapes in thick Sharpie. Switching to a thin sharpie, they filled in each shape with a different pattern in order to create texture. Although they knew how to recognize pattern, it was important that they were able to describe what pattern meant. Patterns can be created by repeating shapes or lines within a picture. Students repeated a variety of shapes and lines within each shape of their animal drawings.