Kinder Texture Burgers

I was looking for a lesson that would introduce texture to my kindergarten students and be simple, open ended, and fun. After looking around awhile I came across a few sites that had projects where imaginary burgers were stuffed with all sorts of uniquely textured  and interesting items. The humor and whimsy of the projects really appealed to me, so I figured I'd give it a try. 

 

 I used the food sculptures of Clase Oldenberg as inspiration and the kiddos examined some examples and discussed the similarities and differences of the various textures they observed.  I always feel like viewing and discussing art with kindergartners is like pulling teeth, but they seemed to get a big kick out of Oldenburg's work.  Does anyone else feel like it's unusually hard to get kinders focused, observing and critically thinking about art? Do any of you have any good tips or strategies you use with the little ones for art appreciation? If so, I 'd love you to share em'!

 

The project took 3-40 minute art periods. Day 1 was viewing the work and discussing texture. I also passed out some objects with texture for the kids to feel to help them understand the concept. Then we spent the rest of the period making the table (which was pre-cut to fit the paper), the plate, and the bun, which the children drew, cut and glued themselves.
On day 2 I demonstrated how to collage on about half the items. It's important to show the kids how to glue the items in a vertical manner one on top of the other, otherwise they have the tendency to start scattering everything all over the page which takes away from the humor of the burger. 
Day 3 was the same as day 2 , with new items and the additional step of going back and checking the previously glued pieces to make sure that everything was stuck down thoroughly. It also allows the students that were absent on previous days time to catch up. 

Here are some of the items that we either added, or that I had brainstormed for adding to the burgers:

Ketchup-red felt, thick red string, red fabric 
Mustard-yellow pipe cleaner, yellow felt
Onion-purple, pink or white ribbon, or paper pre-cut into small swirls
Buns/Meat -corrugated cardboard
Olives-yellow and green foam shapes
Lettuce-green colored crumpled or twisted tissue paper
Seads, pasta
Shredded Lettuce/ Onion/Coleslaw-different colored raffia

Bon apetit! 

Oaxacan Turtles

This project came out so adorable I had to blog about it! I didn't teach this one though, this came from my colleague who teaches with me at my school. She did it with her first graders. The whole project took about 3 to 4-40 minute art periods. The turtles themselves were created using white low fire Amaco clay and instead of using slip to attach the pieces, I shared a great tip that I got from Cassie Stephens blog using small cups of water and toothbrushes. My colleague tried using the toothbrushes and it worked really well. The first batch of turtles were glazed with Mayco Stroke &  Coat glazes, but the second batch were simply painted with tempera. Both the glaze and the Tempra work equally well on the turtles because of the designs that were painted over them. The finishing details were added using acrylic paint markers.

2nd Grade Wayne Thiebaud Unit Part 2-2D Mile High Value Ice Cream Cones

The second project based on Wayne Thiebaud was created by giving the kids a white piece of 12 x 24" paper and showing them a few options for how to draw an ice cream scoop. I use the drawing portion as an opportunity for some differentiation by showing the children some options that included a simple half circle shape all the way to a more complicated melt,y drippy type of ice cream scoop. The differentiation was really helpful as my second graders are really diverse group.

After they drew their scoops we discussed value and I showed them how to create tints and shades by using black, white, and color of their choosing. The second whole period of art was used to paint the scoops.

 During the third day, I gave out a large piece of white paper for the background. The students were told to divide the paper at least three times and fill in the three shapes with at least three different designs in oil pastel. While this was happening I set up a center in the back of the room where students used cardboard and metallic paints to print patterns on brown paper which would later become their cones. On the fourth day of the project, the students cut and assembled all their pieces onto their background and filled any large empty white spaces leftover on their background. On the last day, the students used watercolor paints over the oil pastels to complete the work

4th Grade Henry Moore Unit-Part 2: Mixed Media Abstract Figures

I was a little apprehensive when beginning this lesson because of just how much higher order thinking it required. Not that my students aren't stellar, because they are, but I thought it might be too difficult a project for them to handle. But boy am I glad I gave it a try because the results were fantastic. After completing the Clay Henry Moore project, I showed the students a few examples of Moore's figure sketches and then the students took turns posing and sketching one another. They really got a big kick out of posing and drawing one another! After doing a few preliminary sketches and after I showed them how to break the body down into basic ovals or rectangular shapes, they then took their sketches and chose the one they liked the best to abstract. I demonstrated how to take the sketch and break it down into even more basic shapes and then add other features to make it look less like a figure and more interesting as shapes that create positive and negative space. Before drawing their finished abstract figure, I had them create a backing of collaged tissue paper and then watercolor.  Lastly, the students painted their final drawing larger using black temperature over the watercolor and collage background.

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!

First Grade Sunflowers Display Case

As I was putting up the display case today at work everyone that passed by said "Oh, how lovely...It reminds me of Spring...I wish it was Spring"  (considering that the weather forecast was calling for a BLIZZARD TONIGHT) lol.  Oh well, here's a display case to remind us of the warm and sunny days soon to come! :) If you would like to see the original post on how the sunflowers were created you can click HeRe

Clay Slab Leaf Bowls with Crystal Magic Glaze

 This project took a total of 3 40 minute sessions.  To start the lesson I had students come in and choose a paper leaf template they liked to cut out.  The leaf templates fit onto a 8 1/2 x 11" piece of printer paper.

After cutting out their leaf I demonstrated how to roll out a 1/4" thick slab of clay using a rolling pin.  I didn't have students use sticks as a track so I really tried to emphasize that they roll as evenly as possible without having the clay be overly thick or thin in any area.  Students used their template as a guide for how large the slab should be.  Once everyone had a slab rolled I went over the directions for writing their initials in the clay with a wooden stylus and for how to wrap their clay in damp paper towel and seal in a plastic bag.  Just a helpful tip, for certain clay projects I put the whole classes work on plastic cafeteria trays and wrap it myself, but for other projects I'll have the students use ziploc freezer 'slider' bags.  I prefer the slider style because it ensures that the bag will be sealed, the regular 'press' ones (where the yellow and blue become green when you press it) can believe it or not be troublesome for certain students.

 On day two I handed out the slabs and then demonstrated how to 'cut' out the leaf shape by tracing the template with a stylus.  It's important when creating a slab anything in clay to cut a clean edge otherwise after the clay is bisque-fired the edges may come out sharp or jagged.  After the students cut out the shape of their leaf and smoothed the perimeter I had them gently press it into a bowl.  The clay doesn't have to be pressed all the way to the bottom of the plastic bowl it just has to be centered and pressed in slightly for the bowl shape to be created.  Some of my students wanted to press so hard that the clay began to crack or tear.  An option you also have is to drape the leaf over an upside down bowl, but since the bottoms of my plastic bowls were flat I was worried the leaf wouldn't produce as rounded a shape as if they were sunk into the bowl. Students had the option of adding veins to their leaf or leaving it blank.

 On the final day of the project, after the leaves thoroughly dried out and were bisque-fired, the students glazed them. I tried Sax True Flow Crystal Magic glazes.  They have these tiny chunks of different colors in them so when fired, are supposed to create a tie-dyed effect.  My personal opinion was that the glazes were O.K. and not great.  I love the idea of getting a speckled effect but here were a few problems I had with them:

1.  Most of the 'speckles' settle to the bottom of the glaze bottle so no matter how much you SHAKE or STIR the bottle by the time you finish it there was always A LOT of the particles leftover. 

2. Each color only contained 1 alternate color speckle inside it.  So for instance, the yellow which was called 'buttercup blue' had only blue speckles.  So in order to achieve a variety of different color blends you really had to overlap many different colors of glaze. 

3.I ordered the 12-color set so I received all of the colors seen above, but  they are not as nice as they appear...The original glaze colors (not the speckles) are quite a muted assortment of off-white, white, grey, soft blue, soft pink, soft purple.etc.  I would have liked these colors to pack more punch, I think the glazes would have been even nicer if they came in brights like orange, green, pink etc. 

4. When fired, you have to be very careful because  in order to really see the speckles you have to apply AT LEAST 3 coats of glaze and then when you glaze fire, even with the clay prongs under the slabs,  the little speckles tend to melt and drip onto the kiln shelf.  I didn't have any projects fuse to the shelf, but I had a few prongs I had to break and quite a few really jagged and sharp chips I had to file before I handed these back to the kids. At one point I had 3 band aids on my fingers from clay 'paper' cuts from some of those jagged edges.

5. Because of the thickness of the glaze application you may loose the carved initials on the back of the projects so I had to make sure that the students carved them on the back really large and really clearly.

The pro's of the glaze is that it does come out very shiny when fired, it is a low fire glaze so you can fire it at cone 06 on a fast fire and that even though the effects weren't necessarily what I was hoping for, the kids thought it was the coolest stuff ever :)

 * Some of the colors seen above are 'Buttercup Blue', Oriental Carmel', 'Tahiti Grape',  and 'Herb Garden.'

Mayco Stroke and Coat Color Sample Tiles

 

I'm experimenting with glazes this year.  I purchased 2 multicolor sets of Mayco's Stroke & Coat low fire glazes.  A fellow art teacher of mine highly recommends them so I figured I'd give them a try.  I put 1-2 coats of the colors I purchases on bisque fired tiles.  Considering  the fact that most glazes take 3 coats or so the colors came out pretty bright. 

I also purchased some Nasco and Amaco glazes and some specialty 'crackle' and 'speckle' glazes.  I'll  post those too when I have some samples. 

My fist glazed pots EVER!

I can't believe this is my 3rd year full-time teaching and this is the first opportunity I've ever had to glaze fire a ceramic project with my students. Last year I did pinch pots with first graders and those got bisque fired (in my shiny new kiln), but we painted them with neon tempera. These are pinch pots I did with a self-contained class of 6 students and they came out great. OOOOOH shiny! Lol :) :)
I used Nasco Liquid Ceramic Glaze, painting on 2 coats and doing a fast fire at cone o6.

2 more pinch pot videos

2 More Pinch Pot videos











Below are the url's in case you want to check out where they came from:

Teacher Tube

http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=138017&title=How_to_make_a_Pinch_Pot

http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=192909&title=How_to_Make_Native_Clay_Pottery

How to Make a Pinch Pot Video

A really thorough 10 minute video on how to make pinch pots. I also like how she has the feet and rim that she adds to the bottom, its a nice twist. I think I'm going to use this video as a guided practice lesson for my k and 1st graders, that way I can walk around during each step and replay parts if necessary.

4th grade rose windows

In 4th grade at some point in the year students study the Medieval Ages. In accordance with that, I did a lesson on stained glass 'rose' windows. To begin with, we brainstormed as a class all the things we knew about the Medieval Ages, then I introduced the vocabulary that went along with the lesson including transparent, opaque, radial symmetry, symmetry. pattern, design, and the use of stained glass during medieval times. I gave each student a 14 x 14" square of white paper and a pre-made 'slice' to trace to create their circles. I would have used a compass, but the classes didn't have them. After their circle was made we discussed ideas for designs which they then drew on their slice and traced over it on both sides with a black marker. They then flipped and traced their designs till their circle was complete. Lastly we added watercolor paints and outlined the design with a mixture of tempera and glue (home-made puffy paint) to create the leaded outline effect of stained glass windows. The lesson was very challenging for the 4th grade but was worth it!