Week of 1/09/23 - 4th and 5ths

4ths started their rotation to create glue bug batiks! I am so glad I get to see them not only for an hour 20 minutes in the new year but also for an additional 45 minutes each week in the rotation!!

We looked at the below photo I used as  "Hook" - students shared what they thought was happening in the photo. I introduced Batik as a technique to decorate fabrics. I was able to share my experiences creating batik when I studied textile design while pursuing my Masters degree in India. We watched a 2 minute video on the process to get the students to see how this beautiful art form is practiced to this day.

We looked at drawings of several bugs, drew the first together and students created 3 more of ones they liked. They picked one out of the four to use in their final artwork. Each student drew their favorite bug large size, on a piece of copy paper and outlined it with a black Sharpie marker. They then taped their drawing to a 12"x18" sheet of construction paper. They taped a piece of wax paper onto the drawing paper and finally taped a piece of white fabric to the wax paper. We used wax paper so the glue wouldn't stick to the copy paper and would protect the drawing. Each student could see their drawing through the fabric and wax paper and used glue to squeeze on to their drawing. We let the glue dry to continue next class.

  5ths worked in pairs on Tinkercad to create a 3d design for a chessboard piece to use with the 3D printer I received via the VAPA Enhancement Program grant. I gave students the prompt - if you could change any piece on a traditional chessboard, and how would it look, what would you name it and how would it move on the chessboard? I showed students a real chessboard with pieces, we had a discussion about how many squares there are, how many different pieces and how they move. It was interesting to see what designs students came up! Next step - printing on the 3D printer!