Frank Stella Inspired 3-d Paper Sculptures

One of the third quarter curriculum requirements for 3rd grade is sculpture. I choose to have the students complete a paper sculpture inspired by great American artist Frank Stella. I also combined the lesson with Zentangle drawing. First I had the students draw organic shapes, and fill those organic shapes with zentangle patterns before cutting out the pieces. Once the pieces are cut, I have the students use a hot glue gun to glue down the pieces while twisting, bending, and folding them finally adhering them to a piece of matt board. I was fortunate to have a TON of matt board donated to me a few years back... Also the paper that I had the students use is cardstock, not just regular paper. Here is the link to the orignal lesson that I found. http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/Julie-design.htm

Here are a few of the results. Of course there are more examples on my artsonia link!

What to do with those Circle Weavings....

One of my students came into school yesterday with this in her hair! She took her circle weaving from last year off her paper plate, stuck some Bobby pins in it, and wore it in her hair!!! It was really cute!

Lots of Landscapes!

This past month or so we have been focusing on landscapes, in several different grades. Below are some examples of a few of the landscapes we have been working on...

1st grade Glue Resist oil pastel landscapes on black construction paper

2nd grade: Torn paper Landscapes using construction paper, magazine clippings, and mod podge!

1st grade: Torn construction paper winter landscapes

A new SPIN on Circle Weaving!

I saw this on pinterest recently and I had to try it with my third graders. What I like about using the CD for circle weaving is that it is smaller than the paper plates taking less time, the students are even more excited about it because it is a CD, and the are neat looking when they are finished. The cons... the CD's do not offer a slit for the warp to rest in so the strings slide around making it more difficult to weave on then the plate. I then sent home the finished products with the students so that they could turn them into ornaments for their Christmas trees :)

Please Help!

From now until Monday... Donor's Choose is matching dollar for dollar what friends and family donates to projects! When making a contribution the key word it SPARK and this will let the site know that you are a friend or family member. Help Shwab get some more art supplies! http://www.donorschoose.org/rachelmotta

Artsy Fartsy Turkey Story

I have a few classes ahead of the rest due to some of my recent abscences, so I decided to make some fun turkey projects with my younger grades today. I always like to introduce the lesson with a book. My librarian, who is the best by the way... happened to hook me up with this story called A Plump and Perky Turkey.

This isn't your typical Thanksgiving story! In this book the towns people are searching for a turkey for their Thanksgiving meal when there aren't any turkey's to be found, they come up with a very creative plan! They host an art contest, a turkey art contest and hang posters in search for a turkey model! I won't tell you how it ends, but it is super cute!

El dia De los Muertos

 About 50% of my schools student population is hispanic, so this year I wanted to teach my students about the day of the dead! Second graders drew and painted a full figured skeleton or calaca, and completed them using oil pastels, sequins, and tissue paper. The third grade curriculum required for them to create a mask, so we made sugar skull paintings, again completed with oil pastels, sequins, and tissue paper. The results were pretty fabulous! Finally I had my fourth graders test their cutting skills while creating papel picado, cut paper banners. Unforunately I only could find one pattern for the papel picado lesson online. If you are reading this and know of other online reasources that provide more free templates please let me know, thanks! Enjoy :)