Week of 3/17/2025 - 2nd and 3rd grade - Week 2

It was another great week with 2nd and 3rd graders!

2nd graders worked on a Kolam art! Kolam is an art form from India where traditionally dots are created at the door steps of homes using rice flour every morning. Dots are connected with lines and color filled inside the shapes. Kolams are symmetrical in nature and believed to bring good luck and prosperity to homes! An interesting aspect of Kolams is that once created, the critters would eat the rice flour during the course of the day and a new Kolam would be made the next morning focusing on its ephemeral quality and teaching people to not get too attached to what they were creating!

Each student was given a 12" brown card stock with 5 rows on 5 dots traced with a black Sharpie. I also gave each student a white paper inside a sheet protector that had the 5 rows of 5 dots. We practiced how to create a Kolam with a dry erase marker together incorporating symmetry. Once done, students erased what they had created and created their own unique Kolam. This step is crucial in building confidence and skills. Students then created their Kolam on the brown paper by looking at the white paper. They used red, blue and yellow tempera paint to color their shapes incorporating symmetry. We let works dry during the 1st class.

Students returned later in the week to use white tempera paint to outline their shapes using a narrow paint brush, add a border and details to complete their works.

I love hOw everyone started their work with the same 25 dots and yet every work in UNIQUE!

  3rd graders painted their cupcakes using acrylic paint and followed up with a written component where they came u p with a name for their cupcake, flavors present and cost for their cupcakes!