Student Results: I-phones and Nintendo DS craft

The students loved this project! The older students seemed to love the DS more and the younger students liked the phone more. It was interesting to see so many different results. The white paper in the photo is the template handout I designed for the students so they could create more detailed devices. This project seems to lend itself well to markers and colored pencils. I feel like the next time we would make them I might try having the students glue on the screens so they could have an easier time designing them. Some of the older students designed computers inside one of the folds as an extension to this lesson. 

 

Teacher Example Time: I-phones and Nintendo DS craft

This week Kindergarten through 3rd are creating their own I-phone/Nintendo ds combination out of construction paper. I wanted the students to work on their folding and also come up with their own screens, cases, and games. The students love this lesson with designing their own electronics. I have previously done this lesson with the addition of mini computers.

Update: Ladybug Kinetic Sculpture wins the Race!

The students held their Kinetic Sculpture Race yesterday in the hallway and in the classroom! It was a surprising occasion. On the test run day the turtle won the race over the others and then out of nowhere the ladybug wins two out of the 2 races for the Kinetic Sculpture race. The students enjoyed their prizes for participating in and winning the race.

This is a picture of the ladybug before the chassis was created 

Update: Hand Puppets

The students LOVED this project. It's definitely a keeper. My middle school students are even asking to make them. The students loved coming up with different designs for the puppets while there were examples for the students who need more structure.

I came up with a handout that the students to look at with diagrams of the expectations for each section. The students came up with different solutions for the tooth shape. There also were students drawing braces on their puppets! 

It's STEAM: Thaumatropes

The students in 4th grade created thaumatrope this week looking at how optical illusions can be created. This week was a troubleshooting week for students to understand the concepts of how the thaumatrope work. We found a lot of students had trouble understanding two concepts: having one of the images upside down and tying the rubber band on. 

Teacher Example Time: Hand Puppet

Next up with elementary are Hand Puppets. I'm excited about this lesson because it allows the students to become creative with form as an interactive craft. I've done this lesson before and the students absolutely loved it. I will post some results after some puppets have been made. Here are my teacher examples.

Monkey Art

We changed up safari animals and moved onto monkeys. We studied Henri Rousseau last so I was thinking about what other animals the students could do beyond tigers. Monkeys are surprising challenging for students to draw. I ended up needing to simplify the lesson some so it would be more successful for all. As a class we discussed the unique features for monkeys as I drew on the board a demonstration of possibilities. There were several teacher examples and professional illustrations available to help the students create their paintings. I asked the students to be as creative as possible so the students were coming up with all sorts of personalized things to add to their art. They used tempera paint to help add color to their work. We ended up with a mini lesson in between where the students figured out how to mix the color brown with the available paints. These are examples from one of the second grade classes. Aren't these exciting? 

Update on the Kinetic Sculptures

The students are in the troubleshooting stage of building the chassis for their sculpture! The race is coming up soon! This will be an exciting event. 

The Balloon Powered Vehicle Kinetic Sculpture Race

One of the seventh grade classes is currently getting closer to completing their kinetic sculptures to race for the prize. The students looked at Baltimore's 2014 Kinetic Sculpture Race via youtube and also looked at videos on how to create balloon or rubberband powered cars. Then they sketched out their ideas for the type of sculpture they wanted to create. After their sketches were approved they started building the sculpture. We will be beginning to build the chassis for the project on Monday. 

Teacher Example Time: LED Cereal Box Art

So I never do this but I'm going to start posting more about things I'm working on for the students to do. Recently, I've been really intrigued by incorporating science and engineering more into Art. LED paper circuits came up on my searches. We don't really have super thick paper so I figured we would use the next best thing available, cereal boxes. I love the color for the cereal boxes because it will force students to make more decisions about their art. It's easy to paint on and also easy to glue on. I made a prototype of a squirrel that I walked around with to show the students this project. 4th and 5th grade will be starting this project soon. Also, middle school will be but I want them to finish their kinetic sculpture race.