Animal Prints/Cupcake Prints

After the gluing, pre-printing

This student moved, but I used his plate as an example, and sent his print to the new school.

Creative Drying Space

Many students thought of an animal that could utilize a hole puncher.

Cupcakes everywhere

I have 2 printmaking classes going at once.  Not sure if it's a rookie mistake that I should have known to avoid, or if it's the crashing of the curriculum.  I see my kids every 3 days, so I'm sure the other teachers in the district who only see their students once a week are pacing their lessons differently.  Nonetheless, we are having a fabulous messy time in the new art room-and I've had to get a little creative to find the space for prints to dry.  My 1st graders have been working on "Humor" and using the work of Thiebaud as their inspiration, so we made cupcake prints by carving into Styrofoam.  The 3rd graders have been looking using animals as our inspiration. Their theme this 9 weeks has been Journey-I am trying to encourage them to learn from their mistakes, and push themselves to be their best, despite their perceived limitations.  We've been looking at Monet and Van Gogh, along with other artists.  They created collograph printing plates by cutting and gluing tag board.  I always try to have the students spread a thin layer of glue with their finger over the collograph plates, as I think it helps the pieces stick, and it provides a smoother surface for the ink.  I think the 3rd graders made some great animals.