'About Me' Creativity Cards

Ummm...can you check out that adorable sloth?  

This lesson evolved after I saw a photo online of mini artists' cards folded and overlapping one another so that they were popping off the page.  I loved it so I took the concept and personalized it for my students.  I have my 7th graders make ten cards (though I allow them to only include 9 in their final layout if they wish).  They are asked to make one 'name' card, two 'symbol' cards to represent themselves and their interests, two 'word/quote cards', two 'design/pattern' cards, and three 'free choice' cards.  I have a few requirements of each of those cards but then I let them decide their layout.  I let them use colored pencils and markers, or just one or the other, I just encourage the maintenance of unity and flow between all of the cards.  Now for the good stuff...Finished Art:

Stained Glass Windows

The Art of Stained Glass...kind of

I started talking with my fourth graders about the characteristics of stained glass.  They were able to make a pretty extensive list describing what it tends to look like and how they would describe it to someone who has never seen stained glass windows.  I teach at a Catholic school, so we also talked about the religious elements that can be used in stained glass and what kinds of subject matter we see portrayed.

I shared a PowerPoint with my students of various examples and the students pointed out all of the things they saw on our list we had made while we went through it.  Once we had a grasp on what it was and all that it entailed, the students brainstormed and idea for their own stained glass artwork.  They sketched out their plans (if you have a class set of dry erase boards, I recommend using those b/c the kids LOVE them--otherwise have them sketch it on some scratch paper).  I encouraged them to break up their backgrounds into smaller pieces, just like stained glass.

We transferred our design onto black construction paper in pencil.  Then we traced over our pencil with glue.  We talked about how the glue will dry clear over the black paper and leave that solder look to our stained glass.  We let the glue dry and used chalk pastels to color them in.  The chalk wipes right off of the glue, so it leaves those areas black.  They look stunning!

Coat of Arms

Coat of Arms

My 7th graders are currently learning about the Middle Ages, and one of my favorite things to do is work with my fellow teachers and collaborate on lesson plans.  Which, in this case, lead to a Coat of Arms art project.

Before introducing the kids to the lesson at all, I had them start class by making a list of their interests, their family's traditions, family values and their heritage.  Once they made their lists, I started my lesson with an introductory PowerPoint about the history, significance and various parts of a Coat of Arms.  We had already talked about symbolism in our first day hand activity, so when I asked them to refer back to their lists, they knew exactly where we were heading.  I still couldn't help myself, and we did discuss symbolism a little bit further in terms of what colors can represent, how animals can be symbols and elaborated on what we already knew.

The students set to work at designing a unique Coat of Arms for their family.  While many of them were eager to share their actual family Coat of Arms, I just encouraged them incorporate parts of those into their artwork instead of trying to replicate it.  Once we had sketched out our ideas, we discussed our options for making our final version.

I gave my students three choices.  They could either draw their Coat of Arms, paint it (on canvas, decorative paper or regular paper) or turn it into a metal relief.  Most of the students chose to draw their Coat of Arms but it was fun to see which students gravitated towards which materials, especially since I am still getting to know this group of kids.  I gave the students the various requirements for each medium and demonstrated the proper techniques.  I think the metal relief was the trickiest because they struggled with getting the hang of raising certain areas as opposed to just tracing their pencil lines over it and leaving it as is.  So we really had to talk about using texture and a combination of thin/thick lines to make our images really stand out on the metal.  Regardless of which medium they chose, I loved the different ideas they all had!

The results were outstanding!  I love the variety of media and techniques mixed with the personal touches each student added.  After completing their artwork, I discussed the process of critiquing with them.  I explained to them that writing a critique is not intended to be a challenge, that it is intended for them to get used to talking (or writing) about their artwork and the process(es) that they went through.  I explained that I wanted them to consider all of the work they put into their art and evaluate the results.  There will be other times that we have verbal critiques, but I want them to become comfortable discussing their own work before discussing each others' work.

Allow Me to Introduce Myself...

It's a new school year and there are a lot of new faces and a lot of new names to learn!  This year I am staring off art class with a "hands on" (pun intended...you'll get it later) assignment that's all about me...or you...or them, depending on who's reading this.  

I did the usual introduction of myself but this year as Mrs. Heath instead of Ms. Dale!  Of course I had to go over school rules and expectations on the first day, but I also wanted to start right in with some art making.  In doing so, I offered my students the chance to introduce themselves with a little discussion and lots of symbolism.  The students started by tracing their hand onto a sheet of construction paper, they got to choose which color.  Then to keep it simple, we wrote our names nice and big (and decorative, if they were up to the challenge)

With the older students (which currently includes 5th and 7th graders for me...and in later trimesters will include 6th and 8th graders too) I discussed symbolism and how we can represent our interests and personalities with pictures.  With my 4th graders, we just talked about how we can draw pictures of things that show what we like.  I also introduced all of the students to my "no stick figure" rule which of course, temporarily crushed some hopes and dreams.  We brainstormed some possible symbols and then filled our traced hand with anything and everything we could think of to represent ourselves.  When they were finished, the students cut them out.

I asked the students why they think we made hands instead of just filling the paper or using another shape.  They contributed a lot of thoughts about how our hands are a part of us (some even brought up fingerprints as identification) and others talked about the work that we can do with our hands.  We discussed all of these things and talked about how hands can be used to greet (shaking hands), encourage (high-five, thumbs up) and show peace (shaking hands, two finger peace sign).  We also discussed that many hands can do great work.  So I explained to them what our end result would be, which is what you see hanging outside of the school office today.  I combined all of the paper hands to assemble a paper chandelier.  Symbolic of all of the individuals in our school that are working together to make our school a great place.   And hey, it also just looks cool!