Happy Holidays!

 Happy Holidays everyone!  See you next year!

Gingerbread Houses

It's gingerbread time!  At this time each year, fifth graders at Currier Memorial build gingerbread houses, and each year they get better.  The little houses are constructed with graham crackers, which are attached with a dab of frosting to an empty milk carton.  The milk cartons are not absolutely essential to this project, but provide a kind of insurance against an unexpected collapse in the decorating stage.  Here are a couple examples of the sweet work happening on Monday.  Families donated the sweets for the houses.  The class collected, rinsed, and dried the milk cartons, and Mr. L cut cardboard bases.

Strathmore Online Workshops

If you've wanted to start a visual journal, but need a jump start; here's a tip. Strathmore Artist Papers is offering a series of free on-line workshops that explores visual journaling techniques through videos and free downloadable instructions.
I'm in the process of putting together a new unit on bookmaking and am very interested in ways to get kids invested in keeping sketchbooks and art journals. I've been collecting resources for a while now and those "free downloadable instructions" sound perfect for the classroom. The first workshop begins on January first and they continue through the spring.
You can register here: http://www.strathmoreartiststudio.com/
Happy journaling.

Macaroni Patterns

 

It's December so it's time to haul out the big bin of macaroni and string up something nice to wear.  Little kids (and big kids, too) love making these macaroni necklaces and the results can be surprisingly beautiful.  We're getting low on pasta this year, so our choices weren't as spectacular as in years past.  That means it's time to hit the sales and stock up on shapes.  We make these necklaces in December, because the pasta takes reds, greens, and oranges better than other colors and the classroom teachers think they look so festive.  

To dye the pasta you will need pasta, rubbing alcohol, and dye (food coloring works, and so would a squirt of liquid water color).  You'll also want the large, one gallon zip lock bags, and a tray or plastic sheeting for drying the pasta.

When everything is ready pour a tablespoon or two of alcohol  into the bag, squirt in your color, and pour in the pasta.  Squish and squeeze to move the color around.  When everything looks well-colored pour the contents onto a thick layer of newspaper, or onto plastic sheeting to dry.  (Best to do your pasta dyeing in a well ventilated area or outside because the alcohol stinks).  But, it lasts forever so while you're at it, make a lot!!  To store, I wrap mine up in newspaper and tape shut and I keep the individual packets in a medium sized plastic bin. 

The first time I tried stringing these with kindergartners was a disaster.  The macaronis started rolling off the table and onto the floor.  The kids got really frustrated and started getting up for help.  They crunched macaroni with each step and made a huge and embarrassing mess.  I made a mental note to never to do this again.   Then I discovered this...

Pleat a  piece of copy paper to make a bead holder.  Kids build their pattern in the tray.  When they have created a successful pattern the receive their string.  The string has a piece of tape on one end to facilitate stringing and a bead tied to the other end to keep everything on.  I ask kids to use at least three small shapes in between each large shape to make the macaroni last longer, but am not a real stickler about this as I'm mostly interested in knowing they can make and continue a pattern. 

This photo shows kinders hard at work making macaroni pattern necklaces.  Nothing spilled, no one got frustrated, and everyone is sporting a new accessory this week.

This little guy lost his pattern after the first round, but look at his persistence!

 

Kindergarten Trees and Stars

Not only did kindergartners get to put their newly learned star making skills to the test on this lovely large scale work featuring stars, snow, and pines; they also learned how to fold and cut papers to make  symmetrical shapes.  They designed their tree using that fabulous zig zag line that we practiced earlier in the year, touching the fold only at the start and finish of their line.  After the trees were cut in the cutting station, the stems were glued on at the gluing station, and kids circulated into the painting station for a little sponge painting action.
Painting, as opposed to drawing a star was a new challenge for Kinder artists and the sky is lit up with a lopsided charm.  After attaching their trees, kids dotted on snow with the back end of a pencil.  Well done Kindergarten!

Draw Me a Star

 

It's winter now and the nights are long, dark, and starry.  I found this lesson on the Eric Carle web site in the resource section called Caterpillar Exchange.  http://www.eric-carle.com/catexchange.html  There are a lot of lessons linked to Eric Carle books here and this one, based on Draw Me A Star, fit in well with my thoughts about winter and with the geometric shapes that my youngest artists have been looking at, working with, and thinking about this month.  The lesson is listed as a two day lesson plan, but it took us three days to complete. 
I did this lesson with grades K, 1 and 2.
To begin the lesson we talked about how to draw a star.  Some kids knew how to, some didn't.  We tried to decide if there was just one way to draw a star, or if we could draw stars in many different ways.  We decided there were lots of ways to draw a star.  We looked at the front and back cover of the book and noticed the different stars and then read the book.

After reading the book we looked at an practiced drawing stars.  Really young primary kids were really excited about learning this new skill.  Students were asked to practice a few different ways on one side of their paper.  I asked them to show me their favorite star and then told them to flip their paper over and draw their best star really big.  When they showed me a "keeper", a nicely shaped big star, they set their drawing aside and were invited to the painting station to take a turn at sponge painting a sheet of aluminum foil.  We have a set of those round dabbers and kids loved doing this. The beautiful foils were put on the drying rack.  When they were dry I cut them into strips on the paper cutter and gently laid them onto a tray.   
On the second day, kids selected a few strips and a piece of 9X12 colored paper.  The glue pots came out and kids snipped and glued the bits of shiny painted paper to their construction paper.  We started in the center and worked out toward the edges.  At the end of class these too were set on the drying rack. 
On the third day kids flipped their paper over.  They used chalk to draw a star on the back.  We could tell where the foil was because the paper was "puffy".  When kids were satisfied with their star they cut it out.  They chose a new paper color and glued their paper once again.  They made a "copy cat cut" around their star to add the little border, punched a hole, added a string, and went happily home.

Small note of warning.  Draw Me A Star does contain some very, very, benign nudity.  How you handle this will depend on your group.  I decided to read the book in it's entirety and it led to a very interesting discussion with K, 1, and 2nd grade students.  Their responses to the question "Why do you think Eric Carle chose to show the people this way?" were insightful, entirely charming, and sometimes very, very amusing.

 Stay tuned for some more star-work.

James Rizzi Happy Houses

Fifth and sixth grade students at Currier Memorial have been looking at the work of James Rizzi.  Rizzi is a Pop Artist, best known for his brightly colored animated cityscapes that are rich, full, and bubbling over with life.  Both fifth and sixth grade students made a strong connection with his work.  His cartoon-like drawing style was a big hit with everyone and who can resist his cheerful style?  We looked at lots of examples of Rizzi's work and picked apart the elements of his style.  Each student completed a rough draft of a Rizzi-style building and when they were satisfied with the result work began on a large scale Rizzi City.
I'm so impressed by the commitment both classes have put forward on this large undertaking.  Kids have really put their heart and soul into this project and it's a joy to watch them work.  Fifth graders transferred their designs to mural paper students outlined with ink and brush or with sharpie pen.  Colored pencils were used for the small details.  Larger areas were painted in using liquid watercolor.  When the buildings are dry we'll add the background colors.