Symmetry!

We had some fun with symmetry this week, and the kids are really understanding the concept. As a side note, I have to say that I love May and June because all the work we have done up to now is really paying off and they are becoming so independent and hard working (more often than before!)

SO back to symmetry. We talked about lines of symmetry and how some figures only have one while others have two or more. We discovered this while working with rulers and pattern blocks. First students built a symmetrical design on both sides of the rulers then they built a design on one side and their partner had to build the design on the other side making sure it was symmetrical.

Then I broke out the construction paper and had them make symmetrical insects. We folded our base paper (the black construction paper) in half and they cut out shapes to build their bug. They really enjoyed this activity and their creations are pretty imaginative. Some of them said  "I'm glad these are not real, they'd be HUGE!"

Only 5 weeks left! THIS YEAR HAS FLOWN!!!

Owl Art

We have begun our research unit on Owls which I love, not because I love real owls (although they are amazing, I just have a fear of all birds), but because of all the cute crafts and art projects that we can do! Owls are everywhere! Our mixed media owl project turned out really great, and I love seeing them all together! Here is a step by step of how we created this project!

First they drew the owls on watercolour paper with a pencil. We followed the step by step drawing guide from The Elementary Art Room blog. We talked about expression when we drew in the eyes and how drawing lines straight across makes the owl look sleepy, on a diagonal makes him look sad or mad depending on the direction of the diagonal. They all chose different expressions which added to the uniqueness and the loveliness of the project.

Next, the students used oil pastels to trace over all the pencil lines and colour in the eyes white. This will help the paint resist sticking to those areas. They also added designs to the owl's breast.

After they copied all the lines with the pastel, they used watercolour paints to fill in the rest of the owl.

Once the owls were dry, they cut them out and added them to the background page. For the background they cut out a branch shape from brown construction paper, glued it onto black construction paper. They cut out a moon shape, and used oil pastels to make stars.

And that's it! Super cute and fun!

Birch Trees

We did a Birch Tree art project last week, and as this is usually a three day lesson I thought I was very adventurous  crazy to get it done in two. I had the students draw three trees on 12x18 art paper, then go over those lines with black tempura paint and then add the details with a piece of tag board.  I cut the paper into 2" squares. The big black spots are made by dragging the tag dipped in black paint across the tree trunk and the lines are made by stamping the edge of the card across the tree. We then set this aside to dry and painted the background on a separate piece of 12x18 art paper. We used water colour paint pucks in red,orange, and yellow to create a sunset/ sunrise effect. We set this aside to dry as well.. The next lesson the kids cut the trees out and glued them on top of the background sunrise paper, and voila!  Some turned out better than others and usually I think they are going to be worse than they usually turn out, I really should have more faith!

Horton Hears a Who!

So we are in the middle of our literacy unit on Dr. Seuss. This week we read, Horton Hears a Who. I found this awesome project on Pinterest and knew that I had to do it! Thanks to Jodi from "Fun in First" for the idea and template, the project was a snap! The kids were super excited about making their own Hortons and I must say they turned out pretty darn cute!

I had the students write a thank you message, as though they were a Who, to thank Horton for saving them. Then they put their Horton together and added a clover (made from a pipe cleaner and a sparkly pom pom). They signed their names and added the surname "Who" for an extra touch of whimsy.

I just love some of the things they wrote!

Mexico, Snowmen, and Seuss Oh My!

So a lot has been happening this week, we are in the middle of our Social Studies Unit on Mexico, and we painted ponchos on Tuesday, and we had a Mexican Market today. The ponchos are 12"x18" pieces of art paper that we painted stripes on with watercolour paper. Next week we will tape the two papers together, cut out a head hole and Voila! Poncho-riffic!

 The Mexican Market is where students bring small items from home (toys, books, candy, cookies etc.) and trade them with the other kids for things that they want. Students are not quite sure about it at the beginning (they don't always want to part with their things) but by the end they are over the moon excited about their new treasures.

This week we also had the Spanish 11 class bring 4 pinatas to our campus for our class and another grade two class to break open. They taught us the pinata breaking song, and we had a lot of fun hitting the pinatas, it was a little wild but so worth it!

Our second art project this week was the first project in our unit on perspective. We made torn paper snowmen. It is amazing how hard tearing paper is for 7/8 year olds! But they always end up looking great!  It's amazing how many expressions snowmen have!!

sad/troubled snowman

 content/reflective snowman

We also started our Dr. Seuss Author study. We are working on rhyming words, and using our imagination to create fantastical objects/animals. We worked on creating our own zoos after reading "If I Ran the Zoo"

I can't wait to see them when they are finished, but we had a lot of giggles and sharing happening during this activity!

A New Year and Patterns

So we started the week off with patterns in Math, and our culminating activity was making a quilt block. We were able to talk about symmetry and design as well. It was hard for some of the more spatially challenged to place the triangle pieces correctly, but in the end I think that they are quite stunning and the prep for them was very minimal!! The dimensions are 2" squares cut from coloured photocopy paper and 11" square from white photocopy paper and a 12" piece of construction paper. The students needed 4 squares of one colour and 7 squares of another colour. I had them fold the white paper in half both ways to create a centre line, then they could line up the points of the diamonds with the centre and the line. The triangles were harder to explain, so I went around and showed them one if they couldn't get it. Next week we are starting our math rotation for measurement. I will be doing the measuring weight strand and the other two are doing linear measurement and capacity. (More to follow on that). 

We also wrote some new year's goals. I stole borrowed two ideas from two amazing sites (via pinterest of course) and mashed them together with a little tweaking for this project. 

The students used 2013 as the number of examples they needed to provide for each goal.

They wrote 2 ways they could be a better student, something they wanted to try and do more often or better, 1 person they want to get to know better, and 3 ways they could be a better friend.

Then they coloured in a new years hat, and drew a face, I added a little noise maker when I put them on the wall. Pretty cute, and a good way to start the year, thinking about little (but concrete) ways to be a better them.