Collograph prints/ Oil Pastel

The students in my fifth grade class, were asked to make 4 prints.  On print #1, they were asked to use watercolors over their print (you can see these in my previous post).  On their second print, they were asked to use oil pastels.  I wanted them to see how different materials/media can change the look of a picture.  I encouraged them to fill space and try blending.  I found it easier to get them to fill space than to blend colors.  Like always, there is one brave sole who will try it out.  And once they see success, they will experiment some themselves.   

Collagraph Prints/ Water Colors

This lesson was done by my 5th graders this past semester. Is is based on Milagros from South American. I have done Milagros with shrink art and metal, but wanted to try something new.  I like to try out different ways of approaching a lesson, it keeps it interesting and fresh. 

This basically took us all of this semester to do these, because there were so many pieces to this lesson.  Each student used a day, some more, to plan their image.  Once they had their image, they began to draw and cut out pieces from old file folders. 

These were glued down to create the stamp for the collagraph. I asked that there be multiple layers on their "stamp".  When it was time to print, they printed 4 good/decent  prints.  They were asked to watercolor the first, use oil pastel on the second, their best print was to stay black and white, and the last was free choice. 

Some of the free choice ranged from sharpie to crayon resist to metallic watercolors.  These are all samples of the prints as a watercolor. 

Milagros from previous years, shrink art and metal.

Milagros from previous years, gold scratch board and watercolor and metallic pencil nichos.

Milagros from previous years, shrink art and foam print nichos.

This is the best book to have for this lesson, love it!

Paper Weaving with Second Graders

It's that time of the year where we have started all of our weaving projects.  We start with second grade doing paper weaving.  I decided to keep this project pretty simple, we used construction paper crayons on colored construction paper.  

They started by doing line designs on gray construction paper.  I asked that the lines be super tight and multiple colors stacked.  Once they finished the gray paper, they were allowed to choose a second, brighter color, to help with contrast.  Again they were applying line design, but they were asked to change orientation of line.  

After the second paper was complete, they were given rulers to draw out lines for cutting.  I like using rulers when I can, it gives me an opportunity to teach them how to hold the ruler.  It always surprises me  to watch them use a ruler.  

Students then cut their strips and lay out their longer pieces.  We use blue painters tape to anchor the top.  This works really well, the tape comes off easily and can also be reused multiple times.  Once a kiddo is finished she/he is asked to find another student to help.  This really moves the project along, and I love that the kids really enjoy helping and teaching their peers.