Wednesday works - Thursday Edition - Perspective Part 2 with 3rd grade

( Here's part 2 of our perspective exploration lesson.   This was mainly to see if this age group and this set of students was ready for one point perspective. )

Using our near and far snowmen, we drew a triangle to define the vanishing point.   Snowmen could be drawn down the length of the triangle if they wished.   We tried a road and a fence also, just to see if they really "got it".

I think they got it.  

Monday Motivations - How about a mural (again)?

Recycled Materials Pinterest board

I hate to be the jump-on-the-bandwagon type but the more I look at these bottle cap murals, the more I see some great potential for Lenkerville.   We have a very large stairwell with a very tall wall just begging for something (a tree?) to stretch from top to bottom.

I'm thinking (after asking permission of course) that a mural there would be fantastic.  An Earth Day project perhaps?  With parent help as needed?  (I think ladders at the very least and maybe even scaffolding might be needed)

To inspired us today are the many murals I have found so far.

 

VanGogh's sunflowers - very nice

 

Can't go wrong with school mascot logo...

 

Patriotic theme - always popular...

 

butterfly detail

 

Starry Night 

 

Looks like this was set on the wall in panels.

So what do you think?   Looks like fun?  Have a bunch of plastic milk carton lids or soda bottle caps to spare?

First Firday Photos of 2013

Wednesday Works - Thursday edition - Perspective and Point-of-view

 Cute little sock-snowman I've had in my room forever!  It was made by the life skills students a long time ago.

Over the years I've been trying to come up with a really good and simple lesson plan concept to introduce perspective and point-of-view to the youngest group I can, and to have them understand it without frustration.    This attempt seems to have worked with this year's group of 3rd graders so I'll adapt it a bit more and write it up for the curriculum.

 (Your point of view or your eye.    Elephant's eye.  Ant's eye.  Bird's eye. )

First, points of view.   Each student looked at these photos and drew their own snowman, one point of view at a time starting with a plain ol' normal looking snowman.

Then we worked on a little perspective with the same snowman they created.

    

 And I slipped in this video just to reinforce the ideas (and to keep it fun :)






Here are a few works in sketchbooks.  I think the kids liked this one.

 

 

 

26 acts of kindness campaign

Wednesday works - letting the kids just be kids today

I am still unsettled and sad so my projects this week have been put on hold while I just let my students color and be kids. 

We've talked about stained glass a bit and all the different ways you can mimic the look without needing bandaids for glass-cut fingers. 

As you can see, these come from dailycoloringpages.com

I've tried and tried to put into words how I am feeling with the tragedy and I just can't, nothing makes sense so I'm not even going to try.  

Instead, I'll wish all my kids a warm home filled with love and kindness, people to hold them close and love them, and hope for a safe holiday until they come back to me again in January.

Monday, 17 Dec 2012

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world." -Fred Rogers


 http://www.fci.org/new-site/par-tragic-events.html

For 3rd grade

Practice your PERSPECTIVE!  :)

Friday Photos - 14 December 2012

Wednesday Works - 4th grade GYOTAKU

Printmaking is a very versatile and exciting project for the elementary grades.  Whether it's fingerprints, stamps or sponges, or in this case fish, kids get excited about creating something over and over very easily.

We started our "Fish Unit" with these prints, then a transitional but fun project in the middle, and when we return after the holiday break we will jump right into the clay for another fishy lesson.

 Ink is contained in recycled trays and foam rollers are used to apply an even coat to our fish molds.   These replicas are cast directly from different species of both fresh and salt water fish.  We spend a little time on the first introduction day identifying each fish and the ways we can tell if it's fresh or salt water (hint - its the scales)

Each student made 5 prints to really get the hang of it.   During the next class we signed, numbered, and gave our fish titles.   A little colored paper framing and up on the clothesline they went.

For the transitional lesson - an aquarium!   A little wax resist to keep the painting exciting and reinforce a technique used in the 2nd grade Toucan lesson

After drawing objects inside our aquariums, we added a light pass of color with the side of a crayon.

Then we painted.... with lots of "Whoa!"s  and "Wow!"s along the way.

Our final step was to cut out one of the prints and place it in our tanks. 

Next up will be ceramic fish!