Creating and teaching art requires a sense of humor and an understanding of organized chaos - as there is no way to create something original without spreading out supplies and getting a little messy.
This was based on an idea our Dance teacher saw on YouTube when she was looking for a special way to fold money for a birthday. As soon as she showed me the video I remember making chains with my mom using gum and starburst wrappers.
The video used $1.00 bills which gave the bracelet some extra give to get over the hand and then cinch a bit for the wrist. I didn't have any cash on me and for some reason trial and error seemed faster and easier than looking up dollar bill dimensions on-line. So, I took some printer paper and started to mess with sizes - it took a couple of tries to find the right ratio for the rectangle.
I found that paper 2.5 inches wide x 7 inches long gave us the extra movement needed to fit over hands.
Students decorated 10-12 strips of paper the first day. We did a little math if they had 30 minutes left and 10 strips - then they had only 3 minutes for each one. I tried to stress that they had very little time to color/design their papers. Most finished, some didn't - but got close enough.
The next class I showed the kids how to fold, assemble, and finish their bracelets. Most students finished, but a handful did not - I promised to put the videos on the blog so they could make/finish them during break!
So, I had BOXES, I mean BOXES of just stuff -- milk bottle caps, empty thread spools, wooden spools, cedar chunks, other wood chunks, styrofoam balls, and all sorts of other things. I was sick of having them stacked in a closet in my room. I decided it was time to come up with a project I could use it all for. Then I remembered seeing a picture of this cool sculpture at some point in my life - where there was a lot of rhythm and texture but no color -- everything was one color.
So, aimed with the knowledge of sculptures that were busy and all one color, I searched and searched till I found it, or rather - her. Louise Nevelson. Louise is known for her assemblage sculptures full of texture, rhythms, objects, and always painted a solid color.
I had prepared a slide show with some of Louise's work. I asked the students to look at them and raise their hand when they could tell me something they noticed. I then had the students pair share what they noticed. After a few minutes of further discovery we talked as a class. We talked about what we thought they were made of, what individual pieces they saw, the rhythms and NOT patterns, layering, shadows, lights - we even discussed why they thought she painted her work all one color.
Next I handed each kid a piece of mat board and let them start their own assemblage sculpture. I did put a few rules on the project -- layers and no taller than their own hand. Students tend to want to build towers with these, and I wanted them to layer - so thus the height rule.
Kids used wood glue and hot glue to assemble their projects. (Yes, 2nd grade used hot glue. We talked about safety and how hot glue is HOT -etc.) It took us a good two classes to get everything glued they way they wanted. Then the third class, students got to pick what color they wanted to paint their projects. I reminded them that they needed to be ALL one color. When kids were 'done' we got down at eye level and turned their project all the way around to make sure they really got it all painted!
I then took their projects and hung them on the bulletin board by color so that they kind of mimic Louise Nevelson and her rhythm of rectangle boxes.
I wasn't exactly sure how these were going to get woven into my curriculum this year - but I was sure they would fit somewhere. I decided these would fit with 3D, values, hues, personal choices, recycling/upcycling - and so much more!
So, the students haven't actually made these yet - today I had them decorate cardboard that has about the same thickness as cereal boxes. The wonderful ladies in the lunch room collect the cardboard for me from boxes of fruit! I have HUGE stacks of the stuff and I always get excited when I have a way to use large quantities of it. I love that it is easy to cut, but yet holds up pretty well to copious amounts of tempra paint.
Today, I had students decorate the cardboard in an Eric Carle type style. They started with a base color, chose another color to add a design, then add another color and yet another design - then students could leave it or use a decorative comb to add designs by scraping paint around in a pattern. I told students that I would pick the colors for their tables - but not to worry they will get to pick papers from ALL the tables when it comes time to make their spheres. I explained that I pick their colors because it gives us more usable colors - if I just let them go, we would get a BUNCH of brown and blue. I generally give each table their table color in paint - so blue table got blue paint, red table got red paint (keeps down the arguing and whining). Each table got a variety of tints/shades of their color to make these stand out, for example green table got: green, bright green (green + yellow), mixed green (yellow + blue), and a thing of white (ends up being light green).
At first students were being very careful and clean about this process - which I some what appreciated, but we needed papers that were free, open, full of motion and color - students needed to be a little more - organized chaos. I told many of them they were being too nice and needed to give a little more 'umpf' to it. Soon it was a controlled whirl wind! Paint, cardboard, brushes, students were everywhere - in a good way. I was busy filling paint as it ran out while keeping the cardboard stack well supplied. It was awesome.
I had MANY students today exclaim, "This is the best day of art EVER!" There is something beautiful, freeing even of letting loose - not 'making' anything in particular. We weren't making dogs, cats, perspective drawings -- students got to just create. It was BEAUTIFUL.
It is going to take me some time to cut all these papers for students to make their spheres - but they will be amazing - I am SUPER excited.
So, in the beginning of the year kinders and I spend A LOT of time on lines and shapes. I do this because it helps the students learn routines and expectations without overwhelming me or them with complex projects. Simple but meaty projects like these also show me simple things like - problem solving skills, skills they already have, ability to follow directions, fine motor skills - etc. I learn a lot in the beginning of the year about where my kinders are at developmentally.
After a few projects that consist mostly of different flat lines and shapes - I take the kids 3D. We briefly talk about what 3-D and 2-D means, some kids get it, some don't.I show students a variety of ways to make a flap stip of paper stick up in space. We bend, we fold, we twirl around our fingers, we add pieces to other pieces and build build build! I also stress as much as I can that glue sticks when it DRIES - if you use A LOT of glue then it takes a LONG time to DRY - a little bit of glue - stick faster! The students get really excited by the time I am done with my demonstration.
I turn the kiddos loose and tell them they have to build till it is time to clean up!!! I walk around help students that struggle with concepts they want to try, offer positive feedback to students. After about half way through class I will walk around with my iPad and record students that struggle with building 3D and using an appropriate amount of glue.
I like to let these rest/dry for a few hours and hang in the hall.
They are impressive when all posted together on a board!
I haven't updated in a while - I apologize. I had a post all ready to go and realized I don't have pictures of the project downloaded onto my computer yet! Whoops!
Things have been busy with mid-winter break, snow days, and 5th grade production. March is the craziest, busiest month EVER at our school. Whew. I will earn my Spring Break!
Well, with the 5th grade production almost on my doorstep I took some extra minutes today between classes to finish up the Truffula Trees for the Seuss scene in our show!
These turned out pretty great and are far steadier than I was expecting!
It's amazing what tomato cages, paper mache, water bottles, tissue paper and some square fencing can become!
Our 5th graders do a HUGE production in the spring each year - this is my first one at this building and to say the least I am super excited and a little overwhelmed!
We are working on a big ol' backdrop of our Media Center, creating Seuss land, and then the "Villain" lair.
For our Truffula trees I am attempting to use Mr. E's Chihuly's sculptures as inspiration. The kids glued and glazed some tissue paper around water bottle that I then forced into a round-ish frame.
So far it looks great and it will be way bigger than I had planned - but it will be awesome!
I was going through my pictures the other day and realized that I didn't post one of my favorite types of hats to make - super hats!
Okay, so to do these you will need at least 2 adults if not more depending on how many kiddos you have. The spanish teacher and I did these on a day called, "Enrichment Day". Enrichment day is really only part of the afternoon where students go to different activities for 30 minutes at a time. It is a lot of set up work but the students get to pick from the classes all the teachers in the building offer. These classes range from duct tape creations, rocket launching, knitting, bingo and checkers. It's a lot of prep but it's tons of fun.
The hats. These hats are made from newspaper, a little masking tape, colored tissue paper, and any other random crafty things you have sitting around.
Step one: Sit a kiddo on a chair infront of you.
Step two: Place a large sheet of newspaper over their head.
Step three: one of the adults need to place their hands low on the forehead and around the base of their noggin.
Step four: the other adult wraps masking tape around the head about where the other adult's hands are. Do this once or twice - make it tight!
Step five: roll up edges of newspaper to the masking tape.
Step six: send this kiddo off to decorate and ask another kid to sit down - repeat.
Pros for Super Hats:
- They actually fit each head because they are custom made. - Hilarious when finished no matter how they look.
Cons for Super Hats:
- Need a couple of adults
- Younger kids need a little bit of help not crushing their hat when decorating
- Sometimes tape is needed to keep up rolled edges.
These would be great fun to make at home on a rainy day, super hot day, or even at a meeting for a team building activity!
Since high school I have been crewing for a local hot air balloon company, Buzzards Glory. When the weather is clear and the wind is calm I assist in inflating the balloon, chasing it around town for about an hour and then helping it land, deflate and put it away. It is a wonderful hobby!
This summer the pilot/owner of Buzzards Glory asked me if I would like one of the old balloons for my classroom to cut up and use for projects. Again, like the CDs, I said YES!
Somehow - I'm not really sure how, the huge balloon bag made it into my classroom. Students immediately started to ask me what it was and why I had it. As I tried to explain the hot air balloon I had a lot of students tilt their head in confusion. At that point, I realized what an abstract concept a Hot Air Balloon is if you have never seen one -- so I asked Sue if she would be willing to come out to school and inflate for the students - she was excited to do so.
After a couple mornings of trying to do it and having it be too windy - we finally landed a perfect morning. I made a video that played on morning announcements to give the students some basic information and history about hot air ballooning.
The whole school came outside to watch. It was VERY exciting. The below video was taken by two 4th graders armed with a Flip video camera (the excitement in their voices and the screams of delight from the school is just awesome)
I picked a handful of 4th grade students to help inflate the balloon (they even got to stand in the basket!) and then another group of students to help deflate the balloon and put it away! The whole school had a blast and our building was a ballooning buzz for the next couple of weeks.
Unfortunately the weather got cold fast this year and I was still trying to figure out what kind of project I wanted for this balloon fabric. I spent the year cutting the balloon into smaller pieces - this took MUCH longer than I expected. Throughout the winter I had lots of ideas, but none easy enough for the students to do the majority of the work. Ripstop nylon is awesome stuff - but it isn't easy to sew, glue doesn't really hold it -- so any project I thought of just wasn't going to work for a whole school of kids.
There was one idea I kept coming back to - a windsock. I went through many different thoughts about how this would work, how would the kids make it, what would I need to do..... I had a hard time trying to figure out what the ring part would be and how to attach the fabric. I thought about bending wire - too many students. I thought about cutting two liter bottles -- too many students and a lot of my time to cut all the bottles - besides it might be sharp. I couldn't come up with a solution and then BAM it all made sense. The students were going to be decorating CDs -why not use that?! So I made a prototype to see how hard my idea was... it was beautifully simple. Students would use skills they either already have, or need to master anyway. The hot air balloon windsock idea was born.
First class the students decorated their CDs. For the 2nd class students picked out three strips of hot air balloon fabric to decorate with Sharpies. I encouraged them to use lines and shapes - however the only rule was that everything had to be school appropriate. A lot of students chose to do words or activities. I would have liked to see them be more decorated - but this project was really about them and their choices - so as long as it was school appropriate I accepted. The 3rd class students tied their fabric around the CD using square knots (most already know this from shoe tying, and those who don't should learn how). At the end of the 3rd class the majority of students took home their unique windsocks! Success for all!
<---- This one was done by a student for his mom it says "Love Never Fails"
Here is a project that I use to do with 2nd grade - I now do it with 1st! I use newspaper for the hats so that the students can actually wear the hats. Start off with a square type piece of paper - luckily the newspapers in my current town re-sized their papers to be almost square. If your newspapers are more rectangular you will need to make them square-ish. At the very end I go around and tape the front folds of the hat since newspaper doesn't hold folds too well and the students get frustrated when they unfold.
Start with a square piece of paper.
Fold corner to opposite corner making a triangle.
With the long side of the triangle away from you - take the side corner to the bottom corner.
Repeat on other far corner.
Take only the top layer from the bottom and fold to the top point.
Repeat for other side.
Take the top later again and pull up and over to the side to make wing-tips.
Repeat on other side.
Take only the top layer from the bottom and fold halfway up top triangle.
Fold the part that is hanging below the triangle up and over - makes a rectangle type shape.
The main part of the hat is complete.
Fold the last part of the bottom triangle into the inside of the hat.
This was based on an idea our Dance teacher saw on YouTube when she was looking for a special way to fold money for a birthday. As soon as she showed me the video I remember making chains with my mom using gum and starburst wrappers.
I found that paper 2.5 inches wide x 7 inches long gave us the extra movement needed to fit over hands.
Students decorated 10-12 strips of paper the first day. We did a little math if they had 30 minutes left and 10 strips - then they had only 3 minutes for each one. I tried to stress that they had very little time to color/design their papers. Most finished, some didn't - but got close enough.
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