"Origami Animals"

In this lesson we were taught how to create different origami animals. They taught us the 10 commandments of origami and paper folding. We had to make sure to make crisp folds. The animals that we got to create were a fish, frog, and a dog. We then had to create one of our own, whatever we wanted it to be. After we created our own origami animals we were instructed that we had to create a short story about the animals. We also had to name the different animals. You could incorporate this lesson into a social studies lesson if you were learning about Japan and different art forms they make and design.  I created a bear for my own origami folding.

"Nighttime Wonders"

This lesson we learned about different etching techniques and incorporated that into our scratchboard art. They started out this lesson by looking at the painting "A Starry Night" and we discussed elements that were in the foreground and background. We then got to create our own starry night and what we pictured at night. We started by coloring a piece of cardstock paper using at least four different colors to create whatever colorful design we wanted to for the background. We then taped our colorful design onto a working mat so we could paint over it with black paint. While this was drying we sketched out our nighttime picture, this picture had to include objects that were in the foreground and background. We were instructed on different etching techniques we got to practice those. Then we used white chalk to cover the back of the cardstock we drew the nighttime scene on. Then we put the black paint and traced the design so we could see it. It was all outlined in white chalk, then we took the etching tool and traced over the chalk to reveal the colorful background we colored previously. You could do an extension activity with this lesson by making a scene of a book they read or are independently reading and then write a short description about it and share it to the class.

The "Egg"citing life of printmaking

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For This project we were introduced to printmaking. This was something that I have never done before, or really heard of. We learned about how to do printmaking, We first went on an Easter egg hunt, this egg had the shape that we had to incorporate into our print. Then we drew out a design and then had to trace over it using a Styrofoam tracing paper. We then had to use paint rollers to paint over the foam paper. Then to transfer our drawing onto a piece of construction paper we had to press down and make sure to rub the design on the construction paper. Then we had to find a partner with the opposite color we had, either warm or cool color and also print their egg design also. When they were dry we cut out the eggs and put them on a bigger sheet of construction paper and drew a little Easter basket to put them in. We also had to write three sentences about the project and what shape we had. You could easily incorporate this lesson into math. This way you could still use the shapes, if you are talking about geometry. They would have to incorporate different shapes on their prints.

"Silhouettes"

This activity was called Silhouettes, and for this the students learned about the history of silhouettes and what they were. After we had the students pick a partner and they were to trace each other's outlines of their faces. After they had the outlines we provided magazines for them to pick out pictures that represented them or things that they like. After they picked out pictures they had to write five words that describe them. The object was to cover as much of the paper that they can and not leave any white spaces. An extension activity that students could do with this would be to use this in a social studies class and have the students draw an outline of a famous person in history, such as a president and fill the silhouette with things they learned about the famous person.

"Fin, Noggin' Duuuude"

For this activity we learned a little bit about sea turtles. We watched a clip from "Finding Nemo".
We also learned about some art elements and different water color painting techniques. We got to draw our own sea turtles after that, we drew whatever kind of designs we wanted but had to create a pattern. The pattern was to have balanced symmetry, so the same thing on each side. We crumpled the papter to make is seem more like water, then we got to choose whatever water color technique we wanted to paint it. When we were done it, looked like the turtle was swimming underwater. One extension activity the students could do would be in science talking about turtles habitats and ocean animals.

"Speaker for the Trees"

This activity was called Speaker for the Trees. We were introduced to the activity by watching a clip from the movie "Lorax" and looking at how different the trees are from normal trees. Each and every tree is unique and not the same, just like each and every person. After looking at different trees, we got to create our very own trees. One design was with warm colors, and the other was created with cool colors. We also had to create a distant landscape design with trees, and also a close up of a tree. We created these using black or white paper and also using oil pastels, crayons, and glitter pens. An extension activity you could do with this project is to incorporate it into language arts by creating a design that would represent a scene in a book that they were reading. They would be able to create a scene that is unique and their own.

"Hidden Safari"

This project was titled Hidden Safari, and we first discussed animals that we might see on a safari in Africa. We got to pick what color of paper we wanted and what animal we wanted to draw, such as a lion, tiger, giraffe, or elephant. I chose to draw a tiger. We also created a magic ruby red mask that would allow you to see the hidden animal when you put them on, we drew the animals in a sky blue and tried to hide it with designs. We had to draw whatever patterns that we wanted to. The red, orange, and yellow (warm colors) hid the cool color blue so that we needed to look through the red mask we made in order to see the animal we drew.

Another project that you could do with this is to draw a president or social studies or draw a significant item in history. You could easily do this with any subject Science you could draw different biomes or habitats for animals.