Japanese Koi Fish with 3rd Grade

200th post! Woohoo!

Inspiration for this project came from this post via pinterest...

I Can statements: I Can tell you something about Japan. I Can draw and paint two or more koi fish in an environment. I Can use watercolors correctly.

As i've mentioned in other 3rd grade "travels" my goal is to give my students the biggest picture of a culture or country as I can in a one project time frame. I would love to spend months on one culture/part of the world but with our curriculum as is--this is the best way that I have found to frame the lesson. To help my students track their new found knowledge, each time we "travel" to a new place I have them fill out a passport page. You can read more about this process from this post.

Day 1: Intro to Japan, passport, and practice.

We started by looking at the Japanese flag, looking at Japan on a map, and then 5 facts about Japan!

1. Japan consists of over 3,000 islands
2. There are more pets than children in Japan (this BY FAR was their favorite fact)
3. Around 24 billion pairs of chopsticks are used in Japan each year
4. Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, is also an active volcano
5. Koi fish are symbols in Japanese culture for good fortune, success, courage, and perseverance. They appear often in Japanese art.

Students shared experiences where they have seen koi fish before and what they looked like and made them feel.

Then the first part of their passports were filled out and it was time to start working. I provided them with the handout I created below and they practiced 4 times (or more) drawing the fish.

 I put a really big emphasis on this sketching process because their final painting was going to be on watercolor paper and they were only going to get one piece (front and back) so they really needed to be prepared and practiced in drawing koi fish. When they had it down I gave them their piece of watercolor paper (only a few students got to this on the first day).

Day 2: Final drawings, crayon outlines.

During the next class everyone moved on to the watercolor paper and to help control their watercolors they outlined everything they drew with pencil in black or white crayon. 

I found some really great and LONG youtube videos of koi fish ponds to play during work time this day and on their painting days...they also were great inspiration for when it came time to choose colors to paint their fish.

Day 3: Painting and salt demo, painting work day!

We kicked off with a demo of painting using watercolors and how to apply salt for the best results in creating one of my favorite watercolor effects. Once students started using the salt I swear it was all over my room for the next month. I put up the image below for students to look at while deciding on colors for their fish. They were also allowed/encouraged to make up their own breed of koi fish ;)

Day 4: Last workday and wrapping up Japan passport entry.

The last full class workday was spent painting and adding tissue paper flowers.

I am SO PROUD of the quality of work that came out of my students on this project. I think I have to thank the watercolor paper for that-- which really encouraged them to focus, slow down, and take their time working.

 

3rd Grade Indian Elephants (2015)

In my district, the Elementary Art curriculum for 3rd Grade is World Cultures. Each year it is alternated between the Eastern and Western Hemisphere. My goal is to give my students the biggest picture of a culture or country I can in a one project time frame. I came up with framing my lesson in a way that gives them small background knowledge and then connecting one of those background pieces to artmaking. It really is a fun process for me because I am learning things I didn't know before about these parts of the world when I research for the lesson. To help my students track their new found knowledge, each time we "travel" to a new place I have them fill out a passport page. You can read more about this process from this post.

One of the first places I had my 3rd graders "travel" to was India. Indian elephant projects are all over Pinterest (via here, here, and here) which gave me a good idea of what I wanted to do.

I Cans Statements: I Can tell you something about India. I Can plan designs for my elephant and use them when creating my elephant. I Can create an elephant inspired by the Holi Festival in India. 

Day 1: Intro to India, passport, and elephant planning.

We started by looking at the flag, looking at India on a map (love using google for this because it becomes interactive) and determining if it's closer to China or the United States. Then we move on to the 5 facts!

1. India has 1.2 billion people, the United States has 320 million and is larger in area.

2. Because of pollution, breathing the air in Mumbai, India, for just one day, is almost the same as smoking 100 cigarettes.

3. 70% of the world's spices come from India.

4. The Hindu festival of Holi celebrates the victory of good over evil.

5. Elephants are very important to India because of India’s cultural history and Hinduism.

I try to mix in religion, interactions with other parts of the world, and something mind blowing in the facts. That way, I'm giving a bigger span of information for them to connect to and giving them something to remember. I always use the last fact to branch into our project.

We looked at photographs of Elephants embellished and painted for Holi and talked about how people might feel about doing this to animals and watched clips of the Elephants... 

After they filled out their passport page, they started planning out how they were going to decorate their elephants using this sheet...

Day 2: Creating the elephant.

Before we kicked off the day I showed this for a little inspiration...

Did a draw along for the Elephant on 3 different sizes of construction paper. A full 12x18 for the head and trunk (no ears), a 12x12 for the body, and a 12x6 folded in 1/2 for the ears. I had the sheet below for them to follow along with or work independently.

After drawing the pieces out the rest of the time was theirs to cut, glue, and continue planning.

Day 3 & 4: Designing and Embellishing. Passport wrap up. 

They spend the next two classes using oil pastels to design their elephants and a bunch of fun things to add some glitz and glam. Their goal when designing their elephant was to actually use their sketches. I really emphasized this and actually included it in their grade. For the embellishing I had three areas set up with trays of all different things they could use and tacky glue. We really spent a lengthy amount of time talking about how sometimes "less it more", a concept easily forgotten in Elementary School.

Their last job was to complete their passport for India. 

Aztec "Sun Stones" with Kindergarten

I have "Sun Stones" in quotes for a pretty good reason. These don't look anything like Sun Stones but they sure had fun making them!

I stumbled across this post via Pinterest on Art Project Girl. I fell in love with the way they looked but never found a follow up on them so I had to imagine what came next!

I Can Statements:
I Can make a unique sun and face.
I Can learn about the Aztecs.

Day 1: Started with an online globe up on the screen when they came in the room. The Kindergarteners had just finished talking about earth and what globes and maps were so it was perfect timing. I asked them to tell me when they saw the United States and then when I spun it a second time, to tell me when they saw Mexico. They totally loved it. We started talking about Mexico, how far away it was, and how long it would take to get there if we walked. Too bad Kindergarteners don't really have a sense of time, it would have been more dramatic!

Then we started talking the Aztecs. Without getting into too many details about Gods and sacrifice, I showed them a picture of the Sun Stone and talked about how big it is and a little more history. I taped a line on the floor of the diameter of the stone and had them all stand on it to really impact them with how big the sucker is! After that, we started talking about our project and how we were going to make a sun that looked different than any picture of a sun they had ever seen. We practiced drawing suns in different ways with different lines and shapes and then I did a demo of painting them. They watched a little double dipping mixing fun and they were hooked!

Day 2: We continued our chat about things looking different than how we would normally draw them for the face on our suns. I had some kiddos come up to my document camera and draw smiley faces in different ways to help inspire and I did a few of my own. They each got their Sun back and a sharpie and drew a face. Then I blew their minds again by telling them we were going to be painting with cardboard and marker caps instead of brushes. I did a demo of creating patterns with both tools to make the rings around the face like the Sun Stone. A few got carried away with the cardboard and totally over did it but man did they have fun in the process.

These make me so happy!

Chinese Dragons with 1st Grade

Sometimes I do a project that I think will be really fun and when the kiddos get down to working on it, the spark is missing. While they didn't complain about this project I really felt their enjoyment lacking so I will have to play around with this one a bit if I decide to do it again in the future....

I Can Statements:
I can discuss the difference between Western and Eastern dragons.
I can create an Eastern dragon using paper and string.

Day 1: For the introduction to this project I made a few google slides comparing and contrasting dragons from the two parts of the world. Because I was saying "Eastern" and "Western" so much we used our large world map in the room to to review directions and sides of the world. Then we talked about how dragons show up a lot in different festivals and they got to watch this performance video I found on YouTube...

When it was time to work I started with a demo on my document camera of gluing the string down and using the template I made below like a map to put the pieces over the top of to see if they were similar size and shape to what I needed... they were not required to use the template but many did. Then they got to work using the scrap boxes to make their heads of the dragon.

Day 2: Had them tell me differences between Eastern and Western Dragons and I was so happy to find that they remember a ton! Did a short demo on the document camera about using the "funky scissors", as I like to call them, to cut strips of scraps to be the body. I also showed them that I measured with my finger to make sure they weren't too skinny or fat otherwise too many will get covered up when the dragon curves. 

When they were done working I had a variety of How to Draw dragon sheets for them to use and draw dragon pictures from...I'll show you those later!

Changes for next attempt: We were a bit short on time because it was the end of the year but I was thinking about adding a border and possibly talking about calligraphy. Also switching up the materials into something more fun? Maybe adding some metallic paper?

While I don't think this was up there with #1 projects they loved they sure learned a lot and that I am proud of!

Chinese Dragon Resource!

Doing a little research before I start a Chinese Dragon project with my first graders... this video isn't something I would show the class but I learned a lot from it and was a great starting off point for research!

How much research do you do before teaching a cultural lesson? Do you trust what you already know or do you go out searching for information?