ARTistic Pursuits, Grades 4-5 Book One: The Elements of Art and Composition, 3rd edition

This book is the answer for the child who wants to learn to draw more realistically but doesn’t know where to start. It incorporates the creative aspects of making art into each lesson. Fourth and fifth grade students can begin this book without prior knowledge of art and work independently without the need for parental instruction. Children learn to see the elements of art in nature and in artwork by American masters. They will learn the techniques that artists use and produce a final work that requires assimilation of the knowledge gained in the three previous lessons within the unit. Each element is fully covered through this process of learning and builds on the others through simple, yet engaging lessons. Children find, to their delight, that they are asked to choose the subject they want to draw. This results in a meaningful works of art as children fully engage in the process. In this way, children create real works of art from the beginning to the end of the book, without bori