Art and the MEAP (Michigan Educational Assessment Program)

Wow!  How has it been almost a month since I posted last?!  Time flies when you are having fun!

The last few weeks have been packed with craziness - I was sick for a bit, field trips, National Testing for the upper grade levels - it's honestly been kind of a mess.

I halted all 3rd, 4th and 5th grade projects for the last two cycles due to MEAP tests.  I realized that their brains were complete toast by the time they got to me and we needed to do some relaxing, other side of the brain thinking in art.  My goal was to not only rest the one side of their brain, but to re-energize and almost reset their day.

My fourth graders were finishing up their collages from their visiting artist and while this is a 'simple' enough task - it wasn't the kind of way I wanted them to use their brains.  Instead we worked on a value project where they needed to mix colors and paint - much more therapeutic. 

We started out by BRIEFLY looking at pictures of the moon at night.  (*Normally I would make the observation part longer, but it is not what the kids needed this week.  Also, the kids are observing the moon in science!  Who knew!).  We talked about what they saw - the colors, the sky... etc.  Next, I showed them how to use a safety compass.  (Honestly, best compasses EVER!).  They drew concentric circles.

At this point some classes were done for the day because I only saw them for 20 minutes - other classes got a chance to get to the paint.  I set out trays with white, black, blue, and purple.  The students painted their moon white, the first ring was their sky color with white, then after that they added a little bit of black for each circle till it got darker and darker and darker.

Students went from loud and squirrel-y to mellow and focused.  I asked the group how their brains felt - many replied with a sigh and a 'much better'.

This lead me to realize that I could help out the grade level teachers as well as the kids.  I sent out an e-mail to the teachers suggesting that they do a little bit of art after their testing.  It wouldn't need to be much 10-20 minutes and it could be as easy as coloring a geometric coloring page.  The rhythm of coloring/painting helps to calm and refocus the brain.  I know that in college during finals I would put out a stack of coloring books and all my crayons in the common area.  Almost everyday I would find the majority of my suit mates bent over coloring books after long bouts of studying or tests.  They would exclaim how much better and more relaxed they felt.

After I sent out my e-mail offering to print some coloring pages - one of the 4th grade teachers e-mailed me back.  She said that their writing assignment that day had to do with some characterization and instead of jumping right into the writing she had them spend some time drawing their character - she said the lesson went smoothly and the students produced a lot of information about their characters!

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My third graders have been hard at work exploring landscapes (horizon lines, foreground, middle ground, back ground... etc).  So, again, I decided that wasn't quite the way I wanted to exercise their brains after a morning of MEAP testing.  So, we took a break and did chalk leaf piles.  I have done this lesson for quite a few years now - and they always turn out beautiful.  The students fold a piece of card stock in half, draw half a leaf, cut out the leaf in one long cut!  They should have two stencils - a positive and a negative.  (Sometimes it takes kids a few tries to get it.)  Next they charge their stencil with leaf colored chalk, place the stencil on their paper, smear the chalk from the stencil to their paper.  The students repeat this process with both stencils and then with each others stencils until their paper is filled - overlapped leaves and leaves that go off the edge.



Again, students start out loud and a little over the top - by the time they start using chalk the energy and noise level evens out.





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5th grade was a little bit different.  They were finishing some 2-point perspective words and then starting their t-shirt designs for 5th grade production.  So, while I didn't restructure their lessons like the other two grades - their assignments already focused on using their brain more creatively.

5th Grade - Gothic Architecture

Okay- so this have got to be my FAVORITE new project of the year.

I saw someone post a picture on Pinterest from Artsonia where a CD was a rose window and then the Cathedral was drawn behind it.  I was like "DUH!!!! What a PERFECT project for using CD's! How have I not thought of this? GENIUS!"

I have been waiting for what feels like months for clay to be over and such to try out this idea.  I finally had the perfect moment to start this with a group of 5th graders!

I first spent about 45 minutes of planning the lesson trying to find an interesting/short/information video on Rose Windows to show my students.... man was that a task.  I could find short boring videos, or interesting documentaries - but nothing that fit my whole criteria... well, that is until I found this:


Okay - so it isn't exactly perfect and I managed to talk over the part where the guy says "bloody hell" and then I skip the part about the commission for a new rose window.  (I am okay with mentioning religion when it comes in context of art/architecture - but I didn't feel it was necessary to bring in the modern religious icons.)

The thing I love about the video, other than the accents, is that it shows rose windows, a brief history, and even a few ruins.

So, after the video (or before if I remember) I give a little history - set the scene for these mammoth buildings.  I try to explain to the kids that these are not 'just stained glass windows' but that these are THE WINDOWS.  It is hard to really explain a life to kids where there is no real visual stimulation - there were no billboards, signs, advertisements, ipads, tvs, photographs and such during the time when these were built.  People were not use to seeing images at all let alone on such a GRAND scale.  I then show some stills of these cathedrals and point out how little the people are, or the chairs on the inside.  It is hard to describe how LARGE these structures are without a point of reference.

After I get done talking at them (which I try not to do - but sometimes it is necessary), we discuss what they notice about the rose windows while looking at some still photographs. -- Round, symmetrical, colors, patterns go around the center.... etc.  I then explain to them that they are going to create their own Rose Window.

They can either:
A) Start right away - but there is NO erasing sharpie so they will have to problem solve their mistakes.
B) Get a scrap sheet of paper and practice a few designs.

I hand out CD's and Sharpies and let them go.

The next time they come we look at a slide show of Gothic Cathedrals - complete with Rose Windows.  After a few photos I put up the picture shown below with 6 Cathedrals side by side.  I ask the students to look at them.  Compare, contrast the different buildings.  What do they have in common, how are they different?  They discuss these things at their table, we share a few as a class -- 3 door sections, LOTS of arches, steeples (though not always symmetrical), rose window in the middle, 3 layers (doors, middle, steeple), recessed doors.

Next, I pass out 'stone' colored construction paper with a handout containing pictures of the Cathedrals we just looked at.  Students use these pictures to help them make their own Gothic structure.  They draw with pencil, trace with Sharpie.

Then, the last we do is some shading to give the Gothic structures some pizazz.  I explain about the sun making shadows and how that helps us understand depth and shape.  We discuss that depending on where our light source, the sun, is will determine where our shadows go.  I show them how to take a black colored pencil and draw a shadow on the left or right side every line on their paper (excluding where their building and sky meet).  (Some struggle with this idea more than others - but its all good).

At this point if students want to be done - okay.  If they want to go above and beyond I have them go in with a white oil pastel and do the same on the opposite side of each line and color the sky in with a sky color.

These are spectacular to look at!  I love how each one looks completely different.

Amazing!

3rd Grade Reflection Names

This project has gone through a few changes - I started it a couple of years ago and was never really happy with how it turned out, until now.

Most years I have the kids decorate their letters instead of the background - but their letters often ended up narrow and small leaving LARGE open, untouched, white spaces.  This year I opted to have them leave their letters white - AMAZING difference.

Here is how we did them.
1) Fold 9 x 12 paper in half hot dog style.
2) Leave folded and draw name in BIG bubble letters -- normal or funky (using different kinds of lines)
3) Sharpie trace name.
4) Go to window/light table and place NAME on surface so the blank side is facing you.
5) Trace name through paper using a pencil - name will be backwards - it's okay, it should be. (this is the hardest part for students to do - it is hard for them to do it backwards)
6) Sharpie backwards name.  (you could skip the pencil on the backwards name, but 3rd graders tend to sneeze or bump each other and want to start over.)
7) Pick ONE side of paper and use a black oil pastel to draw SIMPLE designs.
8) Fold paper backwards so that the names touch each other.
9) RUB paper while folded - rub hard.
10) Open.  The oil pastel will transfer lightly to the other side - trace these marks with black oil pastel.
11) Time to color.  I tell the student to turn their paper vertical/portrait style.  It tricks their brain into see the patterns they drew instead of their names.  Then I tell them to start at the fold and work their way out.  Whatever they do to one side of the fold needs to be done to the other side.
12) Continue till finished!

These took use about 3 50 minutes classes.  We talked a lot about reflections -what they are, where we see them, how they work - why when we look in the mirror the words on our shirt look backwards - etc.

The kids had to trust the instructions on this proceses, as many of them couldn't visualize where it was headed.  When it was done or close to be done they were mesmerized and thrilled at the results (I was too).



This project is great at the beginning of the year because it helps me to re-learn names, see how they have grown over the summer, and how our year will go.