The other night, I stumbled upon this amazing smART art blog and was able to gather some ideas for all my students. The first project that caught my attention was a dream catcher with radial symmetry.
As a class, we discussed the following vocabulary words:
Vocabulary
Radial Symmetry
Dream Catcher
Students got busy creating 6-7 circles on their paper. Since I lack enough compasses for the whole class to use, students traced circles to get their dream catcher started. From there, student used designs - letters, shapes, patterns - to fill in their circles. The concept of radial symmetry is simple, choose a shape and repeat along the edge of the circle until the pattern meets again.
Spring time in New England has begun. The trees are ready to burst yet visually, their limbs still expose the reality of the previous season. My middle school students were given the task of creating their own spring tree by up-cycling branches and using yarn, tissue paper and a whole lot of critical thinking to get this project started. Here's what the first class looked like:
More pictures to come as the project gets rolling. Next steps, adding butterflies, leaves, and photos!
Part of the sixth grade History and Social Studies curriculums is studying Ancient Civilizations. The Egyptians make for a great opportunity to collaborate and demonstrate student learning with the arts. Students are required to learn the following:
7.13 Describe the kinds of evidence used by archaeologists and historians to draw conclusions about the social and economic characteristics of ancient Nubia (the Kingdom of Kush) and their relationship to the social and economic characteristics of ancient Egypt.
7.14 Describe the role of the pharaoh as god/king, the concept of dynasties, the importance of at least one Egyptian ruler, the relationship of pharaohs to peasants, and the role of slaves in ancient Egypt.
7.15 Describe the polytheistic religion of ancient Egypt with respect to beliefs about death, the afterlife, mummification, and the roles of different deities.
7.16 Summarize important achievements of Egyptian civilization: the agricultural system, the invention of a calendar, monumental architecture and art such as the Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza, hieroglyphic writing, andthe invention of papyrus
To incorporate the above History standards, student created Egyptian profiles of either a pharaoh or god. They also created a papyrus style paper to matte their profiles and finally, added hieroglyphics to embellish in true Egyptian style.
PreK–12 STANDARD 2: Elements and Principles of Design
2.10 For shape, form, and pattern, use and be able to identify an expanding and
increasingly sophisticated array of shapes and forms, such as organic, geometric,
positive and negative, or varieties of symmetry
Create complex patterns, for example, reversed shapes and tesselation
2.11 For space and composition, create unified 2D and 3D compositions that
demonstrate an understanding of balance, repetition, rhythm, scale, proportion,
unity, harmony, and emphasis. Create 2D compositions that give the illusion of
3D space and volume
Below are pictures of students making papyrus paper. Students ripped strips of brown paper, dipped them into 1/2 glue & 1/2 water mixture and then overlapped the strips onto plastic tablecloths to dry.
More to come as the artwork begins to come together!
Sketching Egyptian Pharaohs then adding paint to the drawings.
Adding hieroglyphics to the papyrus followed by gluing down profiles to complete the project.
