Magazine Turkeys and a little Mask

My Kindergarteners are proving a bit needy of some cutting and gluing practice (as well as some basic listening/direction following skills), so I channeled the Turkey Day energy that's been buzzin' for this project.  It started with just basic cutting/gluing to create the body, wings, feet and beaks.  I had the brown and orange paper pre-cut, and they followed along with me.  For the feathers, I pre-sized some magazine pages into manageable pieces.  They used those to create feathers.  I encouraged ovals, but some got a bit rectangular.  The kiddos seemed to really enjoy this project- especially the ones who got cartoon scraps. 

 Also, my 3rd Graders have been working on clay masks and I just had to share.  Below, one student begins the painting process.  (I use acrylic- it's messy danger, but it looks great on clay!)  The other is by a boy who clearly loves making masks.  It's so rewarding when you finally find the thing that excites a hesitant student!  When we paint, I set up paint stations.  The kids move their mask to the station, rather than me pouring paint for every table that may or may not be used.  I have a student with Autism, and traveling is not in her best interest- I allowed her to stay at her seat with color choices.

Texture Turkeys

I wanted a new twist on an old lesson. In talking about texture with my Kindergarten students, I teach them to make rubbings from texture plates. This year, instead of sending them home with pages of rubbing attempts, we spent part of the class making rubbings from a variety of plates, with fall colors. (Thanks Mr E for the suggestion about the gallon bags. It does make hand out and trading easier). After all students had a reasonable amount, I taught them how to draw shapes on top of their colors of rubbings (circles on the brown, triangle on the yellow, etc) We assembled the pieces to make texture turkeys. Sometimes I think when a kindergarten student has a concrete goal in mind, they work a little harder.