Valentine Inches

I was feeling that people reading the blog would wonder if we ever got excited about anything but BIG THINKING!  Of course, my much more dedicated blog partner beat me to posting Art.  Oh well, better late than never!

I was totally excited about trying something I saw on one of my favourite art blogs.  The ideas on her blog are truly amazing. The only down part is they are usually big projects that have many steps.  

http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2011/02/valentine-inchies-classroom-results.html

I began by setting up 8 different centers for creating the backgrounds for the squares.  For the ninth square, each child got a piece of newspaper.   I quickly explained and demonstrated each center and then told them to visit each center at their own time.  Each of them had a piece of newspaper on the counter or floor where they would put their squares when they were done.  The centers I did were:

-salad spinner painting

-marble painting

-splatter painting

-painting stripes using water colours

-painting the entire square with water colour paints

-collaging with tissue paper

-stamping with tempura paint using different circles (glue lids, marker caps etc)

-painting a square and then using a fork to create lines

Add some white glue to the paint.  Lay tissue paper on top and scrunch it to add texture. 

marble painting

splatter painting

painting stripes with water colours

Add a few drops of paint to the card and then spin away.

Stamp different sized circles on the sqaure.

The next day, we began by having a quick lesson about how to make a heart.  We also talked collaging and how to choose colours and add details without adding too much.  I then provided them with different materials to finish their squares.  Some of the supplies included: tissue paper, tin foil, fabric, doilies, felt, different coloured paper and newsprint.

I just love how they turned out.  I think you could do this project for any holiday.  I may even try it again for Easter!

Art Inspired by Picasso's Three Musicians

In art this term, we have been focusing on collage.  One of my favourite art projects creating a picture in response to Picasso's, "Three Musicians."

First we looked at the art piece and talked about what we noticed.  This fit nicely into our math unit on shape and space.  It is interesting to talk about what different people see in the same picture.

Next we responded to the piece, responding to questions: What does this picture remind you of?  What do you think is happening here?  We also talked about our feelings and this picture and what it was about the piece that affected our feelings.

Before we got to work, we set some criteria:

• the entire page needed to be covered
• there had to be at least one person 
• there had to be at least one musical instrument

We started with 11x17 white paper.  They were given a piece of black paper that was letter sized to add a layer to the background.  I used pieces of scrap book paper and song sheets from old music books torn into pieces and placed in baskets at each table group.  The rest was up to them.  I love how each person met the criteria, but in so many different ways.

To tie into a recent writing lesson about giving titles to our work, each person was asked to think of a name for the piece they had created.

School of Snow

We had snow last week and in our neck of the woods, snow is a novelty because it doesn't happen too often.  When I heard the weather report and that the snow would likely disappear by the afternoon, I promptly shifted my morning plans to Monday.  We spent the periods between recess and lunch immersed in snow fun, snow math, snow science and snow art.

How cold is snow?
We bundled up and headed outside to gather snow.  Each person filled a cup full of snow.  We came inside and used thermometers to measure how cold the snow was.  We did a mini lesson on using a thermometer.  It was great to hear their connections between a thermometer and when their parents take their temperature to check for a fever.

How long can you hold snow?
Next we had a little fun with a challenge, how long can you hold a handful of snow?  Some kids held their snow for a minute, others for ten minutes.  There was lots of discussion while they were holding snow about what they noticed and how cold it felt.

After these two activities, we sat in a sharing circle to share as scientists.  Each person took a turn to share what did they notice (observe) and a wonder that they have about snow.  After each person had a turn to share, the students wrote about their observations and wonders.  Earlier in the week, they had written about snow as a poet, now we were looking at it through the lens of a scientist.

Some of their observations and wonders:
"When my thumb is on the red part of the thermometer the red goes up."
"My hand was really red after holding the snow, I wonder why it got red?"
" The snow melted and ran down my arm, I think it is because my hand is warm."
" I noticed that the snow is cold and wet."
" I wonder how snow melts?"

Salt and Snow
Before the students started writing, we set up one last experiment.  We put out two plates of snow.  One plate we added salt and the other we left as is.  Periodically as we were writing, we checked on the status of our snow.  Again I was so pleased with the connections that they were making to using salt on the sidewalks and why that might be.  One of our goals, is to encourage  students to make connections in their science and math.  We want to carry over our connections in reading to other disciplines.  Good readers make connections, but so do good scientists and good math mathematicians.

Art Collage and The Snowy Day
One of my favourite snow books and snow art project comes from The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.

After enjoying the book, the children were given a blue paper for the background and a white paper for the snow.  Using scrap paper, they re-created a snow scene.

The final touch is to stamp or sponge paint snow to their picture in the style of the end pages in the book.

Any good snow lessons to share?

Resolution Activity

Michelle and I have made a resolution to write more regularly on this blog.  So I thought it would only be fitting to do a resolution activity with the kids.

I started by reading them the story Jeremiah Learns to Read by Jo Ellen Bogart.  I love this story and it is a great example of someone working towards a goal.  This led us to our discussion about resolutions.  I also shared this poem with them because it ties in nicely with our focus on poetry this term.

Unfortunately I am not sure of the author of this poem

The kids used scrapbook paper to make their party hat and I used the template found here for the space to write their goals.  The party horns were from Dollarama.  The kids enjoyed the activity and I enjoyed hearing them set goals, many of which I thought were appropriate.

Using Powerful Words: The Candy Corn Bandit

Halloween was a week ago, but I wanted to post a lesson that we did that incorporated some Halloween art and writing.
I found this cute Candy Corn Bandit on this blog, The Inspired Apple.  I introduced the kids to the Candy Corn Bandit through a story that I told them about how he sneaks into houses and snatches delicious candies.  They were very taken with this Candy Corn Bandit.  The students created their own candy corn bandits.  We used tracers for the three parts.  The kids created their own masks.  Each student was given googley eyes and two candy corns to add to their picture.

The next day, I wanted each student to write a short introduction about their candy corn bandit.  This term, we have been working on using powerful words in our writing.  This seemed like the perfect chance to work on this skill, since it was a short writing piece.  We brainstormed powerful words for things that taste good.  We also talked about different words for taking things such as sneak, snatch, or steal.  The kids were very excited to talk about the mischievous tricks of their candy corn bandits.

I wanted to keep a record of words that we brainstormed, so we could refer to it during other writing times. So we started a descriptive word wall of words that we have talked about or words that have come up through stories we have read.