Pastels

Pastels are VERY MESSY! I seem to have chalk pastels from head to toe when I get done working with them. In this lesson we were to practice our shading skills by drawing an object and shading it to make it look 3-D. We were then given a landscape and we used pastels to draw it. We were able to add and change things to make it how we wanted. As an extension I would have the students write about where they were when they saw a landscape like the one the drew. The students would be able to write an imaginative story based on the landscape.

Scrapbooking

This was a fun lesson learning how to preserve images and have fun while doing it. We were able to bring any picture or pictures we wanted to scrapbook to create one scrapbooking page. This is a very good way to let the student be creative. Scrapbooking helps tell a story about the picture. It sets the mood and can portray a desired feeling. It is important to place everything out before you glue. This will help prevent any disasters that go along with scrapbooking. As an extension, this could be incorporated with English. Writing about the pictures on the pages would help writing skills.

Perspective Drawing

In this project we learned about linear perspective and vanishing points. We drew our horizon and picked a spot on the horizon to be out vanishing point. We used a straight edge or a ruler to get all of the lines lined up exactly where they needed to be. Once you have all of the lines drawn and building created you can make them as detailed as you want. It was a fun project! As an extension I would maybe incorporate this with geometry, learning how to create different angles and the measures of the angle. This would be way more fun that learning the angles straight out of the text book.

Book Binding

We created our own sketch books! The first step in this process was to paint a sheet of paper however we wanted to. I love blending colors to create a rainbow effect so that's how I created mine. After the paintings dried, we took two pieces of hard, cardboard like paper and pasted it to the back side of our painting. We cut the paper in half and glued the edges inside to cover the whole thing. Then, we cut them apart. We took about 25 plain white sheets of paper and placed them between the two covers and clipped them together so they didn't move. We measured out 4 or 5 different spots along the edge of the paper to drill hole for binding the book together. Once the holes have been drilled the book is ready to be bound with tough string or dental floss. I found it very challenging trying to clip my book together without all my paper moving! I also ended up having wrinkles on my cover which drove me crazy! As an extension of the book binding I would have this sketch book be used as somewhat of a journal. This would allow the students to doodle and draw any sort of images they wanted at any time. This is a great way to get the students to express themselves. I would assign specific sketches as well.

4 Season Window

This is a Kindergarten lesson where we learned about the different season and how an apple tree changes with the seasons. First of all, we went through all the seasons and thought of words that came to mind. Then we described what happens to an apple tree durning those seasons and how they change. We were then given 4 different parts of a tree to represent the 4 seasons and we painted the background with watercolors. After they were painted them to fit the seasons we broke into two groups. One group worked on creating the Summer and Fall parts of the tree, while the other group created Winter and Spring. As we worked on the pieces a book about the seasons was read to us to incorporate some Literature. I thought this was very age appropriate. I found it difficult to blend the watercolors together to get a desired look. An extension of this project would be to write a story as a class about the apple tree. The students are to young to write a story by themselves but could come up with something as a class.

Stepping Stone

This was a first grade lesson that was taught by two of my classmates. We were assigned to bring picture or anything that we wanted to decorate a stepping stone with. I decided to bring a picture from home that I wanted on my stepping stone. The first thing that we went over was what a stepping stone was and then we were to draw out the pattern or design that we wanted on our stepping stone. This was a good lesson for following direction and letting the students be creative. I thought this was somewhat challenging because I'm a perfectionist and it was hard for me to get the bead placed just how I wanted them. If I were to have an extension on this project I would incorporate it with a math lesson. We would discuss what a pattern is and how they are made. They would have to create some other patterns with beads before the students were able to put them in the cement.

Print Making

During this lesson we learned about print making and what it is used for. The assignment was to make a Holiday card. First of all, we took a piece of styrofoam and drew the image we wanted on our card and then took a wooden tool to push the design into the styrofoam. It was as if we were making a large stamp. After we got the design pushed in to the styrofoam we took a piece of construction paper and rolled the design onto it. I really enjoyed doing this project, the only thing I had difficult time with was that the some of the ink we used was very sticky making it hard to roll it out. My design had a lot of detail which took a long time to get all pushed in but it was worth it. I think it turned out really well! As an extension I would have the students write inside of the card as if they were sending out a Christmas card to someone special. It would be a fun, creative, festive project.