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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Love Bugs in progress

The Love Bug Scratch Art project was a big hit. I'm sorry that I told them they could take them home for Valentine's Day as some would have been beautiful additions to the art show. This was my 2nd grade daughter's faithful attempt. She's been such a good sport about test-driving all my elementary school lessons this year.

















Bugs provide a great connection to math (symmetry) and science (body segmentation)

Early Finishers

Impromptu lesson of the day for the 4th grade was woven heart baskets. They already knew how to use the pattern and cut the paper. Just switched it up a little for the group that finished their Jim Dine weavings and were left with "nothing to do."





















I've included this as a bonus with the original Jim Dine lesson over on TpT. I'm sure I'm not the only one with early finishers.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Designing Universal Currency in Art Class

Are your students All about the Benjamins?

This is a great interdisciplinary lesson for all grade levels. Last year I did this lesson with my level one high school art students, but it could easily be modified for grades 4+. It's got built in motivation, what student doesn't love money?
There are so many ways to go with this. You could start off with a timeline of how the US dollar bill has changed over time. I chose to start by having the students create an inventory of the symbols and to guess the possible meanings. Variations could be do to have students compare/contrast to foreign currencies.
I'm revisiting this to see if I want to bring it down to my fourth grade classes who will soon be working on the travelling iPad cart. I think the lesson could easily be done entirely on the computer.
Five lesson plans, student samples, rubrics now posted on my TpT.

Teacher examples (ink)







Teacher example (with watercolor "watermark")








Student examples:

 


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Friday, February 1, 2013

Georgia's Garden


Everything's coming up roses, and lilies and pansies!














Second grade finished their Georgia O'Keefe inspired flowers today. I threw in a review of pattern and the students created vases to place their flowers in for easier transport home. I'm sad to only have these on display for a week, but as the mom of a second grader, I know how anxious they are to take them home and give to someone special for Valentine's Day.
















 Some close up shots:




















See how the lesson developed.
Student Flowers
My Sample
Lesson Plan