Printed Calaveras

This lesson is straight from Calvert Canvas.
However, instead of linoleum, we used foam AND mounted two (out of three) instead of four prints.

I started my lesson with this image:

I used Visual Thinking Strategies to get student's minds going. 
I asked, "Whats going on in this picture?"
Eventually students started to come up with a story, after pointing out elements of the work, and I would ask "What evidence do you have of that?" in order to have the class see the visual clues. As students were talking, I would point to what they were talking about and paraphrase. 
I think this activity, in addition to the rest of the power point presentation, helped students understand that a skull and skeleton might have different meanings in other cultures. I have done this lesson before and this has been the only time where the majority of the calaveras are not creepy and frightening.  

First we viewed the power point and practiced drawing a calavera as other students completed the previous assignment.
The next class, we revisited symmetry, finalized our calaveras and traced them onto foam.
Finally, after a printmaking demo, we created at least three prints. This took about two classes. At each table, there were written directions in case students forgot about the demo from the previous class. I was stationed with the ink, in order to monitor how much was being given out. We used a variety of colors and I pretty much used all of the random papers that were donated over the last year. 

 I love that the student above wanted to make her calavera into an animal. I love her enthusiasm too. 

I think that if I were to do this again, I would make the foam and paper smaller. The prints and foam above were 6x9. I was afraid that 3x4.5 would be too small to really get detail. However, I think the smaller size would balance out the negative space, as the majority of students had trouble drawing large.  

 

calaveras de azucar

yesterday was a good day!
I received an email right after my last post, from the department of education, congratulating me on receiving my license. I was previously only certified to teach grades five through twelve visual arts, so in November I applied for my k through eight license. and now, its official!

after being at school (on my day off) and thinking back to the fall for my last post, I've realized that I have accomplished a lot more than I thought with my students. they all know the elements of art, and can point out the ones they use for each activity. they all know primary and secondary colors, at the very least. which I still think is a big deal, knowing how art was taught before I was here. and slowly but surely, each is learning to take pride and enjoy their work. and I feel pretty good about that.

november
between november and december, I worked on my fear of glitter.
dia de los muertos, or day of the dead, is a Mexican holiday celebrated on november 1st, that remembers those who have passed away. it is a joyful celebration complete with food and great decoration, including skeletons representing those who have died. I love the colors and symbolism so much, that I had all my students working on something related.

grade two painted "calaveras" or skulls with tempera on black or gray paper
grade three (and I think grade five) drew a skull and flowers on white paper, then cut and pasted onto black. adding gems and jewels and glitter.
grade four drew with glue- yet another reason I am nuts- on black paper, a skull with flowers or other details to decorate or describe the person it represented. when the glue dried, we colored around the lines with oil pastel.
grades 6-8 looked at the skeleton from the science lab, and together we drew a skull. many sugar skulls are intricately decorated, so using sharpie, students used symmetry and pattern to decorate their skull. to introduce some bold color, we added construction paper crayons in some areas.

I made sure, at least with the elementary grades, to attach a little info. slip to the artwork before it went home. and I stressed with all grades, the joy and happiness of the holiday. the last thing I wanted was for a parent to complain I was teaching their kid about morbid things.

november also brought my favorite activity of the year.... but I think I'll write about that tomorrow. making sure the layout of the pictures is proving to be a little more difficult than I want to deal with right now.