Cave Art Comes Alive

The lesson that my partner, Brittany Kranz, and I created was called "Cave Art Comes Alive".  The purpose of our lesson was to introduce 2nd graders to storytelling through art.  They would be able to use pictures to represent memories from their past.  To prepare for this lesson, we collected dirt and natural elements (leaves, twigs, pine cones, etc.) and brought them into class.  We also collected brown grocery bags from one of the local grocery stores.  To create the "cave wall" canvases we cut out sections of the grocery bags and got them wet and crumpled them up.  We then let them dry out until the day of the presentation.  To create the mud paint, we added water and powder tempera paint to the dirt in for different colors; red, green, blue and yellow.

On the day of the presentation, we set out the students "cave wall" canvases and also premixed all of the paint for them.  We showed the students a PowerPoint, which taught them new vocabulary, history of cave painting, and also allowed them to reflect on past memories to use.  The students were told to think of their favorite childhood memory and that would be what they would do their cave painting of.  Next, we demonstrated how to finger paint on the brown bag with the mud paint.  Students seemed to understand the technique and so we let them start on the projects.  While walking around during work time, I realized that the students seemed to be enjoying their work.  They were thinking of good memories and doing art at the same time.  I also thought it was wonderful that I got to learn more about my students through the stories they told.  Once the students had completed their work, they were told to put them in the drying rack.  The students were also asked to fill out their rubrics for the project.  Once everyone was cleaned up, they were told to go with a partner and discuss the questions on the reflection sheet that they were given.  The following questions were asked:

1. How did you create your cave painting?
2. How did you feel while making your cave painting?  Did you feel happy, sad, excited,...?
3. What other element did you chose? Why?
4. Why did you choose to paint this?  What inspired your cave painting?

Once the students finished answering the questions, the lesson was complete.  After the students had turned in all of their projects and reflection sheets, we graded their work based on the rubric.  We then hung them up on our bulletin board.  The following pictures are of my example for this project and our finished bulletin board.

Ancient Europe and Stained Glass Window Art

Robert and Jonathan taught us how to create our own stained glass art.  First, the teachers showed us a PowerPoint that displayed the history of stained glass and showed many pictures of stained glass windows.  Next, they told us that in our project, we would have to use two different color schemes in our project.  Some examples of color schemes are cool colors and warm colors.  After we were taught about the color schemes, the teachers demonstrated how to create a stencil with one of the four Holiday pictures that we were given.  The students were then shown how to cut out the inside of their stencil, which is where they would glue tissue paper to resemble stained glass.  After that, students were told to glue pieces of tissue paper onto the back side of their stencil.  When they were done with that, they were told to cut out the outside of their stencil, which left them with their own piece of "stained glass".  As you can see, I created bells with holly for my stained glass.  On the left side, I used a warm color scheme while on the right side, I used a cool color scheme.

An extension activity to use with this project would be to create a historical timeline of stained glass.  Students would use their research skills along with tools from the teacher to create a timeline of the history of stained glass.

Nature Printmaking

This lesson, taught by Elissa and Tonya, allowed students to create their own "stamp" using foam boards, carving tools, and colored ink.  At the beginning of the lesson, the teachers showed students a PowerPoint which had examples of printmaking and a history of the technique.  Next, they instructed students how to create a sketch on the foam paper of a nature scene.  Once the students finished sketching out their nature scenes, the teacher told them to come over to the ink station and watch how the ink is rolled onto the "stamp" or foam sketch.  Next, the students were able to choose ink and a background which were complimentary colors.  Finally, the students rolled the ink onto their foam board and turned it over and stamped it onto the piece of construction paper.  The students were left with a stamp of their foam board on their construction paper.  Students created their own print as well as their own printmaking tools.

An extension activity that could be done with this project would be to have the students write a poem about their artwork.  They could write a haiku that focuses on their picture or nature in general.  The teacher could then display the prints along with the poems.