Week of 12/9/2024 - 4th and 5th grades

 4th graders worked on their printmaking lesson this week. I created the below sample for students to see and we had a class discussion on what we notice, wonder and what materials were used to create this work. Students shared that the black design in the center was repeated and that there was a pattern of warm and cool colors among many other things.

 

I introduced the words printmaking and rotational symmetry to students. I explained that we would be creating a design with foam on cardboard and that we would rotate the cardboard to achieve rotational symmetry in our works. 

I gave each student a 6" piece of cardboard and a small piece of foam with a sticky back. Each student drew 4-5 organic or geometric shapes on the foam. I reminded them to make sure their shapes weren't too close together, too small or too big. We cut the shapes, arranged them on the cardboard in different ways. When satisfied with their arrangement, each student cut and removed the adhesive backing on each piece and stuck the shapes on their cardboard. I also had students draw a black dot on one of the corners to know how they could rotate their cardboard to create the rotational symmetry.

Each student was also given  a 12" white cardstock with 2 pencil lines that I had drawn to divide the paper into 4 squares. We used warm and cool color paint sticks to color these squares.

Once done, students worked in groups of three to roll black ink on their brayer and make their first print with the black dot on the spot where the 2 pencil lines criss-crossed. They rolled ink on their brayer and foam 3 more times, aligned the black dot to the center to create 3 more prints and compete their works.

5th graders started their design for the legacy mural. This year we will paint the mural during the last week of February instead of waiting until May like we have done in the past. This way 5th graders can enjoy seeing their work for 3 months while they are still at school!

The artist we looked at for inspiration this year is Lisa Congdon. We looked at her works to see how she created symbols, used bright colors and positive text! I had students create a mind map on copy paper. They responded to the prompt "What are your favorite things about Zamorano?" Students came up with 6-8 words like art, library, math, recess, field trips, safety patrol among others. 

Once done, they created symbols for each word by first going on the Google website and searching for a clipart of their word. They also learned how to refine their search by using words like "simple", "outline" and "black and white". They drew their symbol with pencil next to the word on their mind map. Once they were done they had the option to use the website Sketchpad or Chrome Canvas to create one or more symbols. We looked at the tools on each website and practiced them together as a class before students worked on their own. Students also had the option to create their symbol on paper if they wished to. Here are some examples. The best symbols will be picked and put together to create our final design. Stay tuned!!