Back in the swing

Hope everyone had enjoyable holidays and are back in the swing of things at school! We are busy here at "The Branch"  (Prairie Branch Elementary) producing all sorts of fun things. :-) Here is a sample of what we have been up to!

5th Grade: Adinkra Cloth

 

This is a printmaking project that we did, along with the description I hung beside the projects. We make the stamps with foam; the students use dull pencils to imprint the symbols on the foam. I have a slide with the actual Adinkra symbols and their meanings on it that I show the kids, and they copy two that they like. The border of the paper is one larger stamp of geometric lines and shapes, and the two smaller stamps in the middle are the Adinkra symbols. The students roll out the ink on foam trays, then roll it on their stamps, then stamp them on their paper. It is important the students don't use too much ink at a time, because it will fill in their indentations, then the symbols will be covered up when they stamp. This project took us about three class times. I would definitely have them make their stamps the first day, then the next two times have them stamp. If everyone had their own brayer, it is possible they could get their whole paper printed in one 45 min. class if they already had their stamps made and they worked hard! :-)

4th Grade: Klimt Tree at Night

 

 

 

I got my inspration for this project on Pinterest from a painting by klbaileyart.com. This project focuses on tints and shades. I gave them a foam tray to mix colors on. They went from pure white on the moon, to tints, to the hue blue, to shades of blue. This took one or two class times. The last class we looked at Klimt's Tree of Life and painted the silhouette of a tree with black. I had them do this part step by step with me since there are no erasers when painting! The also had the option to add a "creature" in their tree.

3rd Grade: Bright Lights and Big City

 

 

Third grade also learned about tints and shades with a simplified version. I did not give them foam trays to mix on, instead I had them mix their tints and shades on their paper inside the buildings. We drew the buildings and painted them in one class, then added the yellow sky, windows, and street stripes in the next class. I did the mixing step by step with them on my document camera since this was their first exposure to tints and shades. The middle building is the hue, then they should get lighter as the go right and darker as they go left. As you can see, one student got creative and mixed the blue and yellow to create grass instead of a road! :-)

 

2nd Grade: Snowmen at Night

 

 

This project is done with chalk pastel. It took one class time to read the book and do the pencil drawing, then another to color their picture with chalk pastel. Each student was to draw their snowman doing something. Love the DJ snowman!

1st Grade: Friendly Snowman

 

 

 

Students learned about 3/4 perspective when looking at the face for this project. I had them trace a circle for the snowman's head then draw a half circle on another paper for the body. We started by drawing one of the snowman's eyes right in the middle of the head. They drew another eye near the edge, and we continued with the nose off to the side and mouth looking like it curved around the face. Students were to draw their snowmen and women with at least three articles of winter clothing. We used oil pastel to color these creations!

 

 

1st Grade: Chinese New Year Wreaths

 

 

 

 

 

To start, we read a short book about the Chinese new year. We then learned that 2013 is the Year of the Snake. Students traced a 1/2 circle on folded paper and cut it our to make a ring. I taught them how to fold the tissue paper squares over the eraser of a pencil to make them 3D. We glued the tissue around the ring. I also printed a snake for them to color and add to their wreath. These students chose to do color wheel order on their wreaths!

 

Kindergarten: Sneaky Snowflakes

 

 

 

 

Students watched a Brain Pop Jr. about winter. We then folded a square paper into 4 sections. Students used white oil pastel to make secret snowflakes in each quadrant. I did this on the board with them as a draw-a-long. I explained that it would be hard to see their drawings, but we would be doing something with paint later that would make them POP out. After we drew the snowflakes, I handed out watercolors. We discussed what cool colors are. The students used cool colors to cover their paper in a watercolor wash, and the oil in the pastels resisted the water to make them pop out. Sneaky! I went around with a spray bottle to make sure their paintings were staying wet. Last I went around and sprinkled salt on their paintings to give it a crystal effect.

 

Hope some of these projects have inspired you with your students or kids! :-)