Printmaking Ornaments

 Description: 

In class, we had a history lecture on the background of printmaking, as well as a tutorial on how to do printmaking. We began by sketching 2 different designs. Then, we chose one of our designs to draw on a piece of paper. After that, we taped our paper onto styrofoam and traced over our design again, followed by cutting out the ornament. We, then, took our paint rollers and evenly applied paint to the rollers and painted onto the ornaments. Next, we flipped the ornaments onto the construction paper, with strings colored on, and rolled the print onto the paper. We repeated this process with our own ornaments and then switched ornaments with a partner and did the same steps with a different color.

Extension Activity: 

An extension activity I would do with my own class is have my students use different materials to print their design on, such as wood, plastic, and cardboard. The students would then write a reflection summary as to which material worked best for their printmaking ornaments.

2D Snowflakes

 Description: 

The lesson began with a little insight of what a snowflake is. Then, the students were shown how to create their own snowflake out of paper. We folded the papers into triangles, twice. Then, we used the teachers' templates to create shapes on our papers and then we cut them out. On the third paper, we were able to create our own desgin. Once, we cut all three snowflakes, we then glued them down on our construction paper. On our own personal snowflake, we put glue down in our own design, followed by shaking salt over it. Next, we put dots of water-color paint onto the glued salt. Lastly, we did a gallery walk sort of show-and-tell and had to write down three things we noticed between all of the snowflakes made from the class.

Extension Activity: 

An extension activity my students could do based on the project already made is to create a story that tells the journey of their snowflake. It can either be a fictional story or a non-fictional one. The main requirement is the students have a thesis statement, three events, and a closing statement.

Painted Turkey

 Description: 

The students were given a lesson on stain glass and shown images of examples. The activity to go with the lesson was to create a stain glass replica painting of a turkey. The students began by taping their construction paper to outline the body and feathers of the turkey. Then, the students painted the feathers and made the face of the turkey. The main requirement for this project was that each student had to use one primary color, two secondary colors, and 2 tinted colors while they were painting. After the paint was dry, the students carefully took off their tape to reveal their beautiful turkeys.

Extension Activity: 

An extension activity that you could do with students to correlate the stain glass aspect is to have each student create a design using their tape and then put all of the designs together as whole window design. By doing this, the students can do a more independent project to show their own creativity. Yet, the end project will be the students combining their individual projects to create one great masterpiece. As a little wrap-up, the students could write a little summary about what they learned from their two projects (turkey and individual piece), what part they liked the most and why, and what part was most challenging and why.

Zentangle Pumpkin

 Description: 

After a brief lecture on zentangles, the students were able to create their own zentangle project. In this project, the students drew a pumpkin and then created six different zentagle patterns within the pumpkin. Each student had to include at least one fall pattern and one personal pattern within their zentangles. I chose vines, found in the stem of my pumpkin and coffee cups found in the middle of the pumpkin.

Extension Activity: 

As a teacher, I would like my students to go more into depth on the zentangle idea. I think each student should be provided a square paper for them to choose one zentangle pattern. They will also have to write a short paragraph as to why they choose that pattern. Then, the entire class will glue together their squares and we would create a zentangle quilt.

Hidden Safari

 Description: 

The students chose an animal to draw, however they had to draw it upside down and with a cool color. This way, they focus on lines and shapes instead of the whole animal itself. Then, they drew patterns over the animal using warm colors. The students also made red light glasses, so they could see the hidden animals. Lastly, students had to give three hints about their chosen animal for others to guess. 

Extension Activity: 

An extension activity that I would do in my own classroom would be to do this activity, but reverse the colors and lens. Instead of drawing the "hidden" image with a cool color, my students would use a warm color. They also would switch the red lens to a blue lens and create patterns using cool colors. Another catch to this would be that they would create an entire scene (jungle, living room, park, etc.) and hide something within the scene, kind of like a "Where's Waldo" picture.

Van Gogh Collage

 Description: 

Using a type of glue similar to modge podgedge podge, students laid down a layer of tissue paper. Once the paper was dry, the students used oil pastels to recreate the swirls like Van Gogh created. Then, the students made a silhouette as the third layer. Finally, students were asked to write three sentences about what they learned from the Van Gogh lecture.

Extension Activity: 

After listening to a lecture on Vincent Van Gogh. Students will create a series of Van Gogh collages that make a story when shown together. For example, the series 'Life on the Farm' could have the barn, like pictured below, a tractor, the farmhouse, and a pasture of animals.