The Dream Rocket Project

My 2nd and 3rd grade students spent the majority of November working on the Dream Rocket project.

In 2008, the IFC launched its current project, the Dream Rocket. The Dream Rocket project is a large scale collaborative fiber wrap. Up to 8,000 fiber panels will be created by individuals from various regions of the world, and then combined to wrap the Saturn V Moon Rocket in Huntsville, Alabama. The designated theme of the panels, “Dare to Dream”, challenges individuals to expand beyond the present state of the world and imagine the future. Perhaps most importantly, individuals are challenged to imagine their contribution to that future. These individual dreams and aspirations will combine to create a monumental work of fiber art of unprecedented size, providing a tangible demonstration of the beauty of individuals collaborating to meet universal challenges.

*I chose 2nd and 3rd grade students because of our schedule. This project is NOT just for elementary students, and not just for schools. A lot of community groups representing all ages have participated.
The basic idea of the Dream Rocket project is that students work collaboratively to create 2x2 foot panels based on one of many "dream themes". The suggested themes include Space, Imagination, Art, Music, Science, Conservation, My Favorite Story, etc.
I decided that there would be 3 projects for each 2nd and 3rd grade class which made a total of 15 for 3rd grade and 21 for 2nd. I showed some example panels off the Dream Rocket website and explained that we would be participating before the students started brainstorming ideas. I pulled up a blank document in Microsoft Word and typed their ideas. I asked each class to pick one for "My Favorite Story" since there is a chance the local library could pick one to display on their Bookmobile. Brainstorming ideas before splitting into groups let me make suggestions and offer guidance, and combine similar ideas. The students voted until there were three themes standing, then I assigned a theme to a location in the room and the students split themselves into equal groups.
I'm not sure if this was the best idea overall. I had a lot of bad combinations of students put themselves in the same group. Though the 3rd graders handled the group project better than most 2nd graders, it made for a pretty frustrating month. I spent half of my time trying to mediate disputes and I was really thankful for the help of Paras when they were assigned to a class in the Art room.

At the end of the first class, the groups made plans within their chosen theme and some started to sketch on their panels. 3rd grade students used 2x2 ft pieces of canvas given to us by the Dream Rocket coordinators and the 2nd grade students worked on 2x2 ft pieces of donated sheets that I primed with discounted off-white house paint. The 2nd and 3rd classes were spent painting. In the 2nd class, I thought it would work well for some students to work on the background while others worked on the subjects to spread out the work. In the 3rd class period, I got smarter and asked everyone to work on their background until it was totally done, then move on to the rest. In the 4th class period, the students finished anything that needed to be finished with oil pastels and filled out the "entry form"- marked their theme, titled their artwork, explained their idea, and recorded the materials and group members.

Here are some of the more successful panels, the ones where the students found a way to work together and make compromise.  Some of the other panels... well, let's just say you can tell there were a few too many "bosses" in those groups. Looking back now that I've had some recovery time, I'm glad we participated, excited that the students' artwork will help cover a real rocket, and not in a big hurry to work on a primary grade group project for a while! :)

 

2013 State Fish Art

Last year was the first year I offered the State Fish Art contest to students in addition to the Jr. Duck Stamp program. It was another successful year! Once again a lot of students found fish easier to draw than waterfowl. Someone suggested that maybe their experiences seeing fish are behind glass in an aquarium so they feel more comfortable translating them to 2D... Beyond the drawings, we also had success in the contest! Four of my students placed in our state taking 2nd and 3rd in both the Mighty Minnow (K-3rd) and 4th-6th grade age groups. Beyond the Mighty Minnow group, students are required to write an essay about their chosen fish species in addition to their artwork submission. (This is why few of my intermediate students actually enter the contest!)

4th-6th grade Winners:

Kansas 4th-6th grade 2nd place (6th grader)

Kansas 4th-6th grade 3rd place (5th grader)- this student drew from the mounted fish I brought to school!

 Here are some of the other 4th-6th grade drawings made by my students.

Mighty Minnow winners:

Kansas K-3rd grade 2nd place (3rd grader)

Kansas K-3rd grade 3rd place (1st grader)

The results were just posted online this week so while I haven't had a chance to congratulate my 5th and 6th grade winners, it was so much fun to go make the announcement to the classes of my 3rd and 1st grade winners. 

Eric Carle

I get email updates from Eric Carle. In the latest email, there was a link to his blog! The blog is really cool, it has artwork and writing, his latest post is about his childhood Christmas memories.

http://ericcarleblog.blogspot.com/

The blog reminded me of the Eric Carle unit I did during student teaching last spring. Each grade K-6 did a wax resist painted paper collage project inspired by Eric Carle.

Kindergarten students learned about complementary colors and made fruit pictures. (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)

1st grade students learned about the moon while making moon and stars pictures (Papa Please Get the Moon for Me)

2nd grade students learned about warm/cool colors and made caterpillars. (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)

3rd grade students cut hearts from their painted papers (3rd grade did wax resist and tempera with texture combs) which were displayed in the hall for Valentine's day.

4th grade students drew a letter out of a hat and chose a word to illustrate for that letter.

5th grade students made imaginary animals. To get the students thinking about combining parts from different animals, they were instructed to just draw the head of an animal. Next, the drawings were rotated in their group and each student added to it (exquisite corpse style.)

K-5th grade students were in charge of painting their own papers and 6th grade students were assigned a color to create for the classmates to use

6th grade students were to tell some sort of story with three parts/three illustrations. It could be a song lyric, joke, story, nursery rhyme, or process.

Clay Roundup

I like to save clay for the last project of the year- we only do it once a year so students are excited and engaged, despite the approaching end of the school year. This year, however, clay projects were completed closer to spring break since I didn't know if baby #2 would let me finish the school year. (He was actually 3 days late but I ended up taking off a week early for my sanity.) I want to just post a quick rundown of each of my K-3rd grade clay lessons. 

*Click on the links next to the grade level headings to see a longer post with more information from a previous year.

3rd grade- The Pot That Juan Built

Students learn about Juan Quezada through this awesome book then make slab and coil pots. As long as they learn and use the techniques, they can make whatever they want. This year I didn't limit any color choices. The main body of the air dry clay projects were painted with tempera cakes and I gave black liquid tempera for details.

 2nd grade- Transportation

Last year I planned "transportation" as the theme for the 2nd grade lesson because it ties into their social studies curriculum. The students really enjoyed it so we tried it again this year. I demonstrated using pinch pots, coils, and attachments to make a few basic forms and the students made anything fitting the theme.

Wish I had noticed I messed up the photo. I loved the rider on this horse.

 1st Grade- Pinch Pot Creatures

One year the students made pinch pot turtles, then I added ladybugs, then I figured as long as they showed they learned how to make a pinch pot and attach things, the subject didn't really matter. Most students stuck to the animals I demonstrated- turtle, ladybug, fish- but some branched out and tried different ideas. There was even a beaver but I didn't get a photo of it. I know that the first time I saw the turtle idea, I was on Deep Space Sparkle but I've seen the other creatures too many different places to site an inspiration source.

Giraffe!

 Kindergarten- Knee Bowls, Choice, Adapted Ball Bowl

Most of my Kindergarten students made knee bowls- a slab of clay formed into a bowl by pressing over their covered knee. The students used tools to make designs and/or textures in the surface then painted in the next class period. This year I had several students who had made knee bowls with me in PreK and already knew the process and skills. Some of the students chose to try out the "adapted" ball bowl project I picked up at a workshop, and some made whatever they chose out of clay.

 Several Kindergarten girls sitting together made snowpeople family portrait sculptures. Below is one of my favorites, a self portrait riding a horse.

Next year if we get a district-wide agreement on what skills need to be mastered in clay at each grade level, I'm thinking about free choice as long as they demonstrate the skill.

Check out the related post, Loving Lumpy Pots!

Jr. Duck Stamp Program

5th grade student, Honorable Mention

Ever since I took part in the Jr. Duck Stamp program in high school, I've been a big fan.  I know a lot of teachers don't do the program with their students because it takes so much time but  I had always planned to do it with my students and something the other elementary Art teachers in my district were already doing. (Check out last year's post to see a photo of wetlands in my area and photos of my high school duck stamp drawings.)

If you are not familiar with duck stamps, here's a brief summary, at least as brief as I'm capable of being (if you want a more in-depth look at duck stamps, check out the US Fish and Wildlife Service page.  Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, or "Duck Stamps," are sold by the government to raise money for wetlands conservation.  98 cents out of every dollar generated from duck stamps goes to purchase or lease wetlands.  A lot of people think it's all about hunting because those 16+ who want to hunt waterfowl are required to purchase a duck stamp but they are also bought by stamp collectors and people  who want to use them as a pass to get into National Wildlife Refuges.  Wildlife artists compete each year to try to get their paintings chosen to be printed on the duck stamp.  Jr. Duck stamps have been around since 1989 and the goal of the program is teaching "conservation through the arts." The students create a realistic drawing of an approved duck or goose to show that they have learned about the species and their habitat.  Students can enter their artwork into a contest at the state level.  In Kansas, they choose 3 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place winners and I think 12 honorable mentions in each of the 4 age groups.  All the first place winners are put together and the Best of Show is chosen to represent the state at the national level contest.  The national winner is actually printed on a Jr. Duck Stamp and the student gets scholarship opportunities.  I assume that all the states have similar processes.

The Jr. Duck Stamp program is a great way to incorporate science and observational drawing and ties into the curriculum for most grades as you can talk about the animals, their habitat, and environment.  I always start off by assessing prior knowledge of wetlands and habitats.  I then show the students some of the duck stamps my dad has saved for me and explain what they are all about.  I have lots of photos I have taken of ducks and geese printed out for the students to reference and some calendar photos that one of the teachers gave me.  This year I had created a PPT of me making an example drawing with photos of each step since I was gone on maternity leave when my 4-6th grade students had to start the project.  I showed the PPT to my younger students as well since it is a lot quicker than me demonstrating in person.  I did draw a few things up on the board like legs and feet and beaks/bills to point out that they are not stick legs and not plain triangles for the beak.  I told the students when we practice observational drawing we can pretend to be scientists and draw all the important details.  Each student chose a photo to reference when drawing but I encouraged them to change the background or something to make it their own.  I allowed three classes for each grade level to work on this project.  The first class was mostly introduction, passing out paper, labeling information on the back, and filling out an entry form.  I encouraged each student to take home an entry form for the art contest just in case they decided to enter. Some of the classes had a little time to start drawing in the first day.  I had the students draw out all the important details in pencil before starting with color.  This is a good time to talk about composition.  The students have to use 9x12 inch paper (must be horizontal) but the design needs to be appropriate for printing on a smaller stamp.  I tell the students to draw big so we can see the details and to fill the space.  Even if their reference photo has a whole flock of geese, I ask them to focus on drawing one or two.  So far I have just given the students colored pencils to work with but I may let them use paint next year.  I always preferred to use colored pencils when I entered because I felt like I had more control over the media and could be more detailed.  On the last day, I talked about ripples, reflections, and shading.  If any students finished early, I had them write a conservation message which is an additional contest.  Most of the students enjoy this project but a few complain about it being "hard".  I always tell them that just because something is hard doesn't mean they can't do it and that we learn more from challenges than doing things that are easy all the time.  Next year I may give the students a choice of Jr. Duck Stamps or the State Fish Art Contest since the goals for the project are similar.

If I remember correctly, I sent in about 300 entries between my two schools this year.  I ended up having 7 students receive Honorable Mentions and all I can say is that the drawings that placed higher must have been AMAZING because I am so proud of my students!

5th grade student

5th grade student

6th grade student

6th grade student, Honorable Mention

4th grade student, Honorable Mention

4th grade student

1st grade student, Honorable Mention

1st grade student/future Art teacher, Honorable Mention

2nd grade student

3rd grade student, Honorable Mention