3rd grade final project

 Bees! BzzzBzzzBzzzz! Students had been learning about how bees are important pollinators, so we expanded on a part of the curriculum for students to make a bee model. After introducing the kids to bees in art (including listening to "Flight of the Bumblebee", and viewing both historic and contemporary art inspired by bees), we started with a detailed diagram drawing in our sketchbooks. This allowed us to learn insect anatomy vocabulary and prepare for sculpting a bee model.

 On the next day I brought model magic, toothpicks, and pipe cleaners in for the students to create their 3D bee model.

 While there were specific directions for how to sculpt the bee, there was great variety in the finished sculptures. We left them out to dry over the week, but if I were to do this again I would keep the sculptures entirely out of reach (model magic clay is just too tempting to curious fingers!!)

 The next session we designed wings by drawing on duralar with sharpie, and painted the bees. students came back to have their wings and compound eyes (sequins!) hot glued onto their sculptures. When complete students were asked to write out a step-by step "How to make a bee sculpture".

 On our final day, we talked more about what bees do and where they live. We learned that bees are amazing mathematicians- they use hexagons to build their hives which means no space is wasted. We also learned that part of the comb is used for laying eggs, some for storing pollen, and some for making honey.

 Students used the hexagons in their shape-drawing templates, and colored them in to include the 3 types of comb. The bees look amazing next to the colored honeycombs!!

 This project was highly successful, and many students named the bee project as their favorite one all year. The students absolutely loved working with the model magic clay. Teachers reported that the students did very well on their unit test, and really remembered the related vocabulary.

 I think this was also my favorite project all year. Connecting with the science curriculum allows for more creative projects, and I feel more engaged in the process.

Overall, 3rd grade completed some interesting work over the year. Many of the projects made very concrete connections and useful tools for math and science learning. One project suffered because of schedule interruptions and was too drawn out. Next year I do not recommend meeting on Mondays, as there were so many Monday holidays and events.

Artslink during PSSA week!

The schedule this week was all switched up in order to accommodate PSSA testing and still provide the kids with creative experiences during their stressful testing week. Instead of coming Mon-Wed, I came M/T/Th/Fri in the afternoons.
2nd grade:

 the 2nd grade teachers kindly switched their sessions to AM on Monday and Tuesday instead of their usual afternoon schedule. In Ms. Drossner and Mr. Pitt's classes we introduced the money collage project with counting up our class value, and practicing matching values with the colored paper. Ms Spangler's class tallied up the values of their pictures, arranged them in order of value from highest to lowest, and created a hallway display. We need to meet up for the next step in our plans for 2nd grade.

3rd grade:
Ms Didonato's class had a second day of puppet-making, with an added reinforcement of elapsed time measuring. Ms. Lex's class started their puppet-making and will have another chance at it. Unfortunately I missed meeting with Ms O'Donnell's class, but we'll catch up.

 4th grade:
Armed with colored duct tape this time, the 4th graders were successfully able to create their geometric paper sculptures! YES! I love how persistent the students have been through this project. Sculpture engages totally different thought processes, and they seemed thoroughly committed to making their sculptural forms.

 One boy taped his hexagonal prism pieces together, folded the squares in to make the creases, and brought the folded piece to me in delight saying "Look, it blooms!!!"

 The sticky duct tape worked far better, and I did not hear complaints of failures or frustration as I did last week. The only hard part was sharing a roll of tape amongst a table.

5th grade:
Ms Albert's class came down for their "build" day on their drawing machines. This class had mostly machines involving paint of some sort, which proved to be a messy session.

 The spiral art machine worked superbly!! But the ink pendulum was a bit sloppy. They discovered that watercolor ink flowed out too quickly- with calls out that it looked like someone bled all over the paper! They tried again with tempera, but weren't happy with the splats. I think they need an in-between viscosity.

 Oh the paint mess of certain groups! yikes! But we got it all cleaned up. Many of them just need to think about controlling or constraining their variables to make it more successful. One group didn't get to try their machine out yet, but they were incredibly focused on the engineering of their structure:

Ms. Gelfand's class tried out some variations to fix machines, and wrote up their directions. I think we're almost ready to swap and try out machines. It would be excellent if we had some experiments to put into the science fair night!

Week of March 5th

I think I forgot to post last week's activities.... But here we are this week, working very productively.

2nd grade: Mr Pitt and Ms Drossner's classes completed the shapes weaving project. They make interesting carpets when arranged all together. Although not everyone completely filled in their canvas, it was time to move on.

 It was very interesting to see how different skill levels became evident through this project. There are some big motor-skills differences among the age group, which goes to show that age is not always an ideal grouping factor.

 Ms Spangler's class has gotten farther ahead on the coin value collage. We had a practice day for the kids to match the color shapes to a specific value. For example both images below represent 82 cents, but equivalent coins make for different solutions.

 In 3rd grade we looked at some images and video that represent different "times". For example, Eadward Muybridge's photos show seconds of time. Andy Goldsworthy's ice sculptures only last a few hours. The Bayeux Tapestry represents months and possibly years worth of time and events. The kids were asked to sketch 4 pictures to represent 4 different lengths of time: seconds/minutes, hours, days/weeks,months/years. In Ms DiDonato's class we started the next step of making felt puppet characters for our time stories. Here are some of the amazing creations:

 Check out this horse rider!!!!!

 4th grade: Mr Willis' and Ms McGinley's classes have completed cutting out all their template shapes for the geometric forms project.

 Ms McGinley's class completed adding patterns and textures for each facet. Ms Yancey's class started construction BUT our science/art experiment failed- electrical tape is super colorful but not super sticky. There was a lot of material frustration, so we decided to stop and try it again next week with a new product. I feel badly, except for the fact that all the kids are doing science experiments right now, and it was an excellent opportunity to model scientific thinking and process.

5th grade: Ms Albert's class completed their drawing machine designs this week. Ms Gelfand's class got to make theirs. We worked in the auditorium, and each group constructed their machines and tried them out.

 The adjustable sponge stamping project was a very successful mark-maker, and created a beautiful painting. The kids tried out different colors and built up lots of marks.

The marker compass was a huge success. A dowel was inserted into a hole in a board and markers were attached with rubber bands and paper clips so they could spin around with the dowel.

The ink pendulum had an excellent design, and a surprising result- the thick viscosity of their paint made their marks more like drips than like drizzles.

The paint ball staircase made a wonderful mark- but it was rather messy!! Some adaptations need to be made to make it a more controlled experiment for less mess.

I'm especially excited and invigorated by the 5th grade mark-making experiments. It is a great exploration of the design process and a wonderful parallel to scientific experimentation. There was great opportunity for disaster in the "Build" stage, but the students are engaged and interested and maintaining their focus well. I only wish I could split myself into 8 so that I could work with each group.

5th grade stop motion

Week of Feb 6

 2nd graders are all working on learning polygons. All the classes are stitching their shapes using pipe cleaners through plastic canvas. When all filled in they make quite a fuzzy carpet-like surface.

 The shapes begin by stitching each line segment side, then filling in the shape. This project is revealing a range of fine motor skills among students, which tells me this creative skill is on the edge of a development level. Some students are really enjoying it- but some are learning how to work through a challenge.

 3rd graders are moving from our coin color collage and making change project into one final money-counting focused project.

After a compare/contrast exercise between a Roman Abacus made of metal and an Incan Quipu made of string (both ancient counting tools/calculators) students made their own abacus of wood and beads.

 We began by taping bamboo skewers onto a popsicle stick, then counting out a specific number of each color bead to represent coin values to slide onto each stick.

 Once the beads were added and the op edge of the frame was attached the kids worked on moving the beads around to show specific values. Next week we'll do a little more practice and then complete our abaci by adding papier mache onto the frame pieces to strengthen them and add color. While this is a more "make and take" style project, the kids are seeing how tools can be handmade, just like humans throughout history have made useful things. It was great to see them using the abacus for counting, and finding it so easy.

 4th graders have continued the lego printing fraction project. Ms. McGinley's class got to print. The other classes started coloring in their circles and squares.  

 They had to count up their total circles, and if possible determine what the 1/3 and 2/3 equivalent fractions would be. Then they counted up their rectangles and determined a 1/2 and 1/2 equivalent would be. They then used 4 different colors to fill in the circles and rectangles to represent the 1/3 and 1/2 color relationships.

 The interesting visual aspect was that 1/2 or 1/3 the number of shapes was not necessarily 1/2 or 1/3 the SPACE because of the different sizes of shapes.

 Thanks to Mr. Willis for taking some photos and sending them to me!

 In 5th grade, Ms Albert's class got most of their sculptures stuffed and are ready to move on o the final stage of embellishment.

 Getting to stuff the forms is an exciting step, as the forms suddenly spring into 3 dimensions.

 Many students chose to transform their sculptures into animals. (Thanks for sending some photos Ms Albert!) Here's a raccoon:

 And a chicken:

Ms. Gelfand and Ms McAffrey's class has completed their projects and had time for reflection on the forms they had used, why geometry is important for artists and sculptors, and what part of the project they enjoyed or disliked. Some students who had completed their work early were able to create some wonderful stop-motion animation videos, which I'll post later. I was especially impressed with their collaborative effort to create narrative and direct when left to their own devices. There was great disappointment when the battery power on the camera ran out! I'll see if Ms Albert's class will be able to contribute before I complete editing it to post here.

Week of Jan 30

Due to Predictive testing this week Ms O'Donnell's 3rd grade, Ms McGinley's 4th grade, and Ms Gelfand and Ms McAffrey's 5th grade missed out on Artslink lessons, but we'll be back this coming week.
2nd Grade: Mr. Pitt and Ms Drossner's classes looked at shapes in art and practiced drawing different sided polygons in their journals. Ms Spangler's class began sketching a design and weaving a shape composition using pipe cleaners on gridded needlepoint canvas. Their finished product will be fuzzy like the carpet we looked at.

3rd grade: Ms Didonato and Ms Lex's classes finished up the shape collage project by counting up their picture totals and figuring out the "change" if I bought their picture for $5. We tried trading pictures to have partners double check. Below, Ms Didonato showed the class how to use the "bucket method" for counting change. ms Lex's class had enough time to make a small "change collage" on the back sides of their first collages. Next week we'll begin an abacus project.

 4th grade: Mr Willis and Ms Yancey's classes were able to do lego printmaking. They had to create a matrix of legos and use either stamping with an inkpad or rubbing with pencil/crayon/colored pencil to fill the square papers. Their goal was to make as many prints as possible in the time we had.

 I think the kids enjoyed the speed and exciting visual effect of doing a rubbing, but I enjoy the carefully stamped compositions more. Next week we'll do some coloring to change them and do some analysis for thinking about fractions.

5th grade: I was able to meet with Ms Albert's class after the testing period on Monday morning to allow them some extra sewing time on their geometric form sculptures. We'll see how far they get tomorrow, but I hope we'll be finished our sculptures in 1-2 weeks. Ms Gelfand's class should be finished this week.

Kudos to Ms Akif for sharing her art project connections in the previous post! I hope more of my teaching partners feel free to post on here!  I also want to acknowledge and thank my teaching partners for stepping up their co-teaching role following our professional development workshop last week! We have a fabulous team!