Week of 2/20/22 - Weaving with 4th and 5th grade

 4th and 5th grade students started a lesson on weaving this week. Having studied textile design while pursuing my Masters degree in India, this lesson is especially close to  my heart! Last year I had attached the warp to a cardboard loom for each student but this year I decided to have the students do it themselves! I also had cardboard looms that each student could take home via a Donor's Choose fundraiser back in December.

I first showed students a close up of a piece of fabric and we discussed what we were seeing - the overlapping, texture, direction of the yarn among other things. I then explained the concept of weaving and explained the terms - warp (vertical yarn), weft (horizontal yarn), loom (where weaving is done). We looked at weavers from Mexico and Ghana. I shared my saree from India and explained how there are weavers to this day that are create hand woven sarees that take up to a week to make!

 Each student was given a cardboard loom and a long piece of yarn. We added the warp together and experimented with pre-cut yarn of different thickness to add as weft to create weaving. Each student added a new piece of weft by knotting it to the previous. I differentiated the lesson by having 5th graders add extra weft to create interest.

 Students helped each other during the process - I love this collaborative aspect of this lesson :)

Since I have 4th graders for an extra 45 minutes until May of this year, I had them complete their glue batik that we had started a during last rotation. Each table had a tub of water where they soaked their batik work and then scrubbed the glue using tooth brushes and scrubbers. i I ironed each work to return to the students.

 

 

 

Week of 2/13/22 - Alma Thomas and Gee's Bend - 2nd and 3rds

 2nd graders looked at the works of Alma Thomas and engaged in a class discussion about what they notice and wonder.

We talked about her painting technique, choice of bold colors, her inspiration, and her quote in an interview with the New York Times - “One of the things we couldn’t do was go into museums, let alone think of hanging our pictures there. My, times have changed. Just look at me now.”

Each student picked a simple shape like a heart, square, circle etc. or if they wished to challenge themselves, they picked a landscape or rainbow. I demonstrated how to dip the paintbrush in tempera paint to create rectangular marks to fill in their drawing while lifting their paintbrush before making the next mark.

 We ended the lesson by having a class discussion about what questions students would ask Alma Thomas now that they had a chance to paint in her style. Here are some responses!

3rd grade students created a quilt inspired by the quilts from Gee's Bend. We looked at several examples and talked about the significance of these quilts, the contrasting colors, different layers sewn together, the community aspect of creating these quilts and the shapes present. 

 

 Each 3rd grade class received a paper in a specific color combination that they cut and arranged on 4 rectangle pieces and them glued them to create their own quilt. We also had a written piece to explain something new each student learned in this lesson.

 

 

Week of 2/6/2023 - Printmaking and clay with 2nd and 3rd grade

 2nd graders worked on collagraph printmaking!

We looked at the prints of artist Faviana Rodriguez and had a discussion of how the artist could make multiple works that look exactly the same! Students came up with ideas on how this could be achieved - the artist used a copy machine, she was so good at art that she could create the same art over and over!

Each student cut foam pieces, arranged and glued them on a piece of cardboard. They then used a brayer to roll printmaking ink over the pieces and pressed a piece of printed paper to create a print. Students looked at their first print, discussed what worked/ didn't work for them and created a second print.

 

3rd grade created a clay cupcake using a combination of pinching for the lining and coiling for the frosting! There was high engagement with this lesson and I can't wait to fire these for students to paint on.

Week of 1/30/2022 - Color mixing UTK, Kinders printing and 1st grade clay

 This was my 2nd week with UTK, kinders and 1st grade.

UTK worked on color mixing - I love the book "Mouse paint" to read to students which explains the concept of mixing 2 primary colors to get a secondary in a simple, fun way!

Each student created 12 boxes on paper, numbered them and then painted each primary color in 2 boxes of their choice. We then started mixing primary colors to get secondary colors and painted them in 2 boxes to fill all 12 boxes. There was so much joy when colors mixed together and changed!!

 Kinders learned printmaking!! Each student cut foam, arranged and glued their shapes on cardboard. They then used brayers to roll ink and pressed it on paper to create 6 prints. Using brayers was a unique experience for kids and we talked about how we are using repetition in the printmaking process. We also read the book "Matisse's garden" where the artist cut, arranged pieces and used up paper that he cut instead of throwing it away. It was nice to see the similarities in his process and what we did with the foam pieces in this lesson! It was great to see the prints the 5 year olds made!! Some arranged pieces to resemble an object and other took a more abstract approach.

 

1st grade worked with clay -  tiles with initials with 2 classes, mugs with 2 and cactus with the remaining 2 classes. Students used scoring and slipping in each of the projects and the additive and subtractive techniques to create their works. They have already started asking if I have fired the pieces and when they can paint them!