A Social Studies Tie In

I know many art teachers hesitate to tie their art projects to Social Studies or Science, lest we be asked to make paper mache' globes, or solar systems. I however have found a few projects over the years that are much richer in content and quality because I tie them to what the students are doing in their classroom. I don't do this all the time, because I have my own curriculum to cover. When contemplating whether or not a collaboration will work, I consider what materials and content my students are already going to be using in art, regardless of subject matter. I also consider time frame. In this instance, 4th grade students used famous Tennsesseans to create timelines in Social Studies.  They already had information, books and knowledge about their person. I was supposed to  cover printmaking anyway, so I had each student draw a portrait of their chosen TN personality.  We looked at the work of Andy Warhol and discussed his celebrity prints.  Each student created several prints (6''squares) from their printing plate (good ole styrofoam) and when dry, selected their best 4 prints, arranging them in a grid. It was a logical tie in, and because the classroom teacher had already assigned the students their person, and the librarian already had pulled the books, I didn't have to worry about having enough information, or settling arguments about subject matter. It worked well.

 

Oh, and do you use Artsonia?  I do.  And, I don't have a fancy iPad or such to use, so I take pictures with my camera, and upload the old fashioned way.  I find that the best, and quickest thing to do, is to lay every piece out, walk down the line and take all of the pictures, and walk down the line one more time (same order) to write names and take grades.  While the pictures are uploading, I load all the grades into the software program we use in MNPS.  So, I kill alotta birds with one stone, and it's not too time consuming this way.

File Folder Neigborhoods

I am lucky, in that I see my kids every 3 days, for an hour at a time.  However, the flip side is that there is the potential to go through a lotta art supplies, especially with the Kindergarten crew, who tend to do shorter art projects to begin with.  So, how to keep their interest at the end of the school year, and not empty my supply cupboards?  File Folders.  Huh?  I had a bunch of leftovers, that the office was gonna ditch.  So, I wrote each student's name on one tab, and came up with this.  In MNPS curriculum, Kindergarten is to work on houses this 9 weeks.  They drew their own house, and we've been talking about how shapes work together to make things.  So, on the bottom of the inside, they used scraps, and created a neighborhood.  (3 houses was my requirement, some did more). At the end of art, it was a snap to clean up, and any necessary unglued parts could just be stored with their folder.  The next session, we did tissue collage on the top, to be the sky.  Then, they could continue working on the neighborhood.  Next session, we will finish the sky, by adding birds, bugs, hot air balloons, etc.  I am thinkging just having them draw contour line with sharpie.  And, my final plan is to have them create themself and their friends on the exterior of the folder.  So, there you have it.  Cheap, a great review, at least 4 artclasses of work (depending on how you stretch it) and fun, cause to the K's its kind of like a secret, with the picture being inside.  I'll let you know how it turns out, but so far, I think I love this idea.

Coil Pots

I love the coil pots- or at least I have loved this lesson since learning to have the kiddos press their coils into the inner walls of a terra cotta flower pot.  It gives the students the safety net they need to practice a variety of coils, and building.  And, mostly, they all turn out.  Amazing how some are determined to make this much more difficult than it actually is.  All of that aside, it is a fun, colorful lesson just right for spring.  (I use Mayco Stroak N Coat glazes, they fire well, are true to color, and come in a variety of great colors.  Also, a little goes a long way.)

 

 

In other news, the 4th graders have been weaving.  Have you visited Cassie Stephen's blog?  Pop on over for a lesson on weaving pouches.  I'm a big meanie- I make the kids take their own weavings off- they've been weaving with me since 1st grade, so I feel as if this should be attainable for them.

Stamped/Painted Patterns

I gave the K's each a small piece of cardboard which they dipped in black paint, and we talked about finding the side with the bumps (the corrugation).  They were to fill their entire paper with patterns. (The previous day, we had drawn patterns both on the smartboard and on their papers, in order to check for understanding).  After stamping their patterns, and letting them dry, they used tempera cakes to fill in the spaces.  We did talk about color as a pattern, but they were so excited to paint, that they didn't all remember, or have the control to do that.  I think the results were great. And, the kiddos got some really rich colors out of the cakes.

School Wide Art Show-2014

Here are the pics from our school art show.  I managed not only to get one piece of artwork up for each student, but in most cases, 2! 

Fish Prints

Bird Prints

Cat Collages

Kindergarten Robot Collage

Olympic Artwork

Pattern Lizards

Lizard Display

Clay Facades

It's my favorite 4th grade project.  I think I anticipate it more than the kids- the houses.  I categorize this as a "Momma project"- those projects that Momma's going to keep, and 15 years later, when you come home with your wife/husband/kids, it'll still be on the mantle to greet you. They are "Facades"- front only, flat, and adorable as a wall hanging.  Some, no matter what, will always be so-so, but I get a lot of good results.  It is one of the few projects that I break out the glaze for.  I use "Mayco Stroke N Coats", which are similar if not the same to the ones used in the "paint your own pottery" places.  The colors are great, they are similar enough before firing to after firing that the kids can tell what they are using, and the clear coat is in the color mix already.  As long as the kids use 2-3 coats,  we get great results.  I have a small kiln, but if I am good about controlling the size, I can get a class of 20-25 in one glaze firing. I give each student a piece of paper about the size I want their houses to be, and they use a day to draw their house.  I have all sorts of reference pictures.  I run them through the copy machine before the next art day, and the kids cut them, and use them as stencils.  This cuts down on the square house/triangle roof/tilty chimney/combo that we see too often in the art room. So, with all that said, here are some of the many cool clay houses to come! 

Sometimes, you just are going to get an average result, no matter how you try to help.

Nice combo of textures and attached pieces- nice glaze too.

Olympic Action Prints

It's a messy time in the art room- one of my favorite things is printmaking!  The kids love it, and with an organized set up and routine, it does not have to be a crazy mess.  Since we've been using The Olympics as a theme in 3rd grade art, after the kids made their statues, I had them make an incised plate on a piece of Styrofoam.  I go ahead and buy the trays through the art catalog.  They can be pricy, but they work.  And to save a bit, I chop 'em in half.  When I'm feeling really cheap, I save them after the projects to use as paint trays and such.  That aside- each student drew one person, in an olympic pose.  Then, we broke out the red, white and blue- except I didn't have as much white as I thought, so we ended up using white paper for those that wanted the Americana effect.  Curriculum states in MNPS that the 3rd graders will do a collograph print.  And, this is incised.  I intend to have them collograph a background image- I've never done a double print project, and I'm not sure how it will turn out, but ya never know until you give it a go.  So, here's step one.  And, hopefully, the next thing you'll see is a double print posting.