Clay Slab Owls 3rd grade

These owls were "easy peasy", as the kids said, to make.  From start to finish it took 3-45 minute periods. The first day was spent rolling out a slab circle, adding texture to the body using old marker caps, and then folding over the wings and head.  The second day I showed the students how to score and slip the clay to attach details like eyes, feathers, a beak, and anything else they wanted on their owl.  They could also use a wooden pin tool to draw on any other details.  Lastly, I had them put a hole in the top to string the owls for hanging and after bisque firing, we glazed them using a bunch of Amaco glazes. 

Just as a  side note, last year I used mostly Mayco Stroke and Coat and this year I tried a bunch of different Amaco glazes, overall I find them of pretty equal substance, but the Mayco is a smoother, easier to manage glaze. With the Amaco, although the colors were bright, some of the glazes clumped, settled, and didn't really maintain their consistency, making them hard to pour. 

My 3rd graders loved this project and were super excited to show their owls off to their parents at our May open house.  Next September I'm keeping them for a showcase to display for the start of the school year so I'll follow up with some pictures then!

1st Grade Robots

This lesson was taken from Deep Space Sparkle. Click HeRe to see her original project.
I LOVE this project.  I used 11x15" pieces of cardboard and when I ran out of that I used oak tag.  The cardboard works a little better as a backing but the oak tag is passable in a pinch.
On day 1 the kids did the background:  For it we used two primary colors and then cups dipped in white paint to create circular shaped stamps.
On day 2  For inspirationa and ideas for the children, I used painter and illustrator Eric Joyner, his robot and doughnut paintings are fabulous and really got the kids attention. After looking at a few of his paintings,  I put out up a bunch of boxes and cereal box pieces I had previously cut, and let the kids go to town.

On Day 3   I passed out Sax brand metallic paints in copper, silver, gold and brass and they painted their robots.  In some instances, the students were able to assemble, glue, and paint their robots in one period.

On the last day I gave out a bowl of tin foil pieces, buttons, google eyes, pipe cleaner pieces (from another lesson), foam shapes, and Sharpies and they added details to their robots.
Too cute!!

Ndebele Symmetrical Houses Grade 2

This project is based on the painted houses of  the Ndebele tribe of South Africa.

The project  took about 3-4 40 minute periods. 
To  make the houses the kids used 16x18" white paper that they folded in half and then cut to become a symmetrical house (or house-looking shape). 

I then had them use pattern reference sheets and draw a design on half of the house.  To make the design symmetrical, students trace their pencil drawings in /Sharpie and then folded the paper backwards so the marker would show up through the back.  Carbon paper was put in between the halves and traced onto the other side in pencil.  They traced the newly drawn side with Sharpie and then colored the whole house with Crayola paint pens.

 Initially I had wanted the project to be done in paint, but I realized very quickly that the designs the kids were making were way to small and intricate to be painted in.  I had the paint pens lying around from last year and so I gave them a try.

 The children seemed to like using them but after 5 classes of 20 children, over the course of 3 periods, the soft brush-like tips were smashed into oblivion and many of the markers had almost completely died out.  The paint pens are fun, but they're certainly not the most durable supply to color with!