Tessellations

I have always been very afraid of tessellations, but now I realize that was just silly. I gave students a square, and had them cut a small shape out of the right side, then tape it on the left. Do the same thing with the top and bottom. Then watch them go! I had to guide a couple towards finding a shape, and we will just say that some kids had some crazy abstract shapes, but all in all, I was pleased with the results. Here are a few of my favorites.

Wayne Thiebaud, Again!

My wonderful student teacher Kelly did this cupcake collage with second graders last semester. They had a great time cutting and gluing, and some turned out really nice!

Kandinsky Kards

I cannot take credit for this lesson, it belongs to a practicum teacher that I had last semester, Lauren Goodwin. She led 4th grade through Kandinsky's work with a wonderful powerpoint, then gave them 5 in x 7 in watercolor paper, which she pre-taped. They chose their background color, then they started with the abstract lines and designs. She had a box with paper strips. One set of strips had numbers 1-5, while the other set had everything like circle, square, wavy line, ect. She had students draw strips out of the box, for example, 3 squares, then they drew this on their paper using Sharpie markers. This was so simple but a great activity that was enjoyed by all.

Ugly Jugs

So, again, my fabulous students teacher came through with another cool project. Sometimes I love having student teacher for the simple fact of their cool new ideas! She worked with 4th grade making ugly jugs. I did not know what ugly jugs were, although I have unintentionally made a couple in my life. They are an art form that African American slaves did in their free time. There are all kinds of pictures on Google, and even a few Powerpoints! 4th grade students made a pinch pot out of clay, then added features. The jugs had to include two eyes, a nose, and a mouth, but it was up to the kids after that. The features could be enlarged or extra small. Once the jugs were fired, the students glazed them with Mayco crystallite glaze-fabulous stuff, if I do say so. I have had so many teachers comment on how pretty they are, and I have to tell them that they are really ugly jugs!

Silhouettes

3rd grade has been working on silhouettes. My student teacher marbled paper with 3rd graders first, and talked about silhouettes. We used photo paper, shaving cream, and liquid watercolors to marble, it was so much fun! The glossy paper works much better than matte, but either one will work just fine. We squirted Barbesol shaving cream, (One of the cheapest brands, it takes about 2 cans for a class of 20-23), on the tables. Students worked with a partner and used liquid watercolors to drip color all over the shaving cream. They used big plastic combs and combed through the shaving cream, not going through to the table. Then, place the photo paper on top, and gently press down. We used some old card board and scraped the extra shaving cream off. The results were really cool! Students worked on drawing a silhouette while the shaving cream was drying. Advise students to be careful when gluing, as the glue made kind of a mess on the watercolor if too much was used.

Wayne Theibaud Cupcakes

3rd graders have been working on the artist Wayne Theibaud. They created cupcakes out of clay. First, we made a pinch pot for the wrapper. Students used a fork to draw lines on the wrapper. Then, students made a pancake to be the bottom of the icing. My student teacher and I worked with students on rolling coils and building icing up, or simply making flat icing. Students could choose to add sprinkles, candles, cherries, strawberries, or whatever they could think of. The cupcakes are still drying, but I will have pictures or the finished product. While they cupcakes are drying, I am going to have students create a cupcake menu or advertisement for a pretend cupcake shop. They have been very excited about this.

Romero Britto 5th grade

If you have never seen Romero Britto's work, you should really check it out, it is great! I have had a wonderful student teacher recently who introduced me to his work. She had 5th grade do a project with his work. Students could choose any subject matter that they wished, as long as it was simple. Students drew their picture, then used rulers to draw the lines. Be sure to tell students to not get too many lines, or else it looks like a spider web. Students then chose either warm and cool colors for the subject and the background, though I think it would be fine to let them loose with whatever color scheme that they wish. Students used oil pastels to color, then black tempera paint to outline. I love how bright and bold these pictures are!