Still Life Drawings - 8th Grade

Still Life drawing can be boring --- however, I've found a "new" way to keep my kids interested!
The secret to my success.....marshmallows!  Such an easy way to introduce the idea and keep their interest.  Bonus, they are excited to eat the marshmallows when they're done.  ;)
I like this because it's a nice way to have them attempt drawing an object sitting in front of them without too much detail and stress.
We first review how to draw a simple cylinder.  I demonstrate via a document camera and they follow along.  We also practice shading.  All of this is done with low lighting in the room.
Next, each student is given a paper placemat and some large and small marshmallows.  They are asked to set up at least four different arrangements with their marshmallows and draw them - shading included!

 

I'm back!

I have been away from my blog for a long time -- too long!  I'm going to do my best to keep it updated.   :)

Clay Stamps

I have not made clay stamps with my classes before -- we'll see how it goes!

The idea is to have the kids use their stamps on a sculpture that we will be making in a few months.

They seemed to really like the idea.

I began by showing a view video clips -- showing examples of how clay stamps work.  

Using my document camera, I demonstrated how to create a "roller" stamp (which helped me to introduce the term "slab") and then how to create a stamp with a handle. 

I took this photo to show how we stored and organized our projects. I had four classes doing this and wanted to keep them sorted by hour.  I used to put their names on the shelves, display a list, etc. but that ends up being extra work I don't have time for.  This time I had some colorful dot stickers and placed them on the shelves (as you can see in the photo).  1st hour was blue, 2nd hour pink, and so forth.  It worked out well!
Also, to help reduce the temptation of touching other kids' work while on the shelves, I covered the shelves (except for the current hour that was working) with a $1.00 plastic table cloth from Wal-Mart.  Worked like a charm!

I always save boxes -- especially the marker and colored pencil ones.  These are GREAT for keeping things organized.  I use them to help keep my pastels and inkwells sorted.
Luckily, I had a few to help store the stamps as they dry!!

A few "roller" stamps

This one was made with the student pressing in a bracelet that they were wearing.
I did encourage them to use a variety of tools -- this opened up a new view on creating textures with everyday items.
We used pens, coins, bottle caps, etc.

A "roller" stamp design.  Students were instructed to roll out a slab of clay & cut out a rectangular shape (about 2"x 4" I think...)
Then, they carved, pressed in, added to, etc. to create a design.
Using paper towel to help hold it's shape, the stamp was rolled, slipped and scored and complete!


Fun!!

Micrography Lesson 2013-14

 I started them out with a Thinking Map activity.  This worked well as it helped them to brainstorm a lot of words for their picture.  This is something that they referred to quite often as they worked.

 Using a transparency (or "extra/leftover" pieces of laminating sheets from the library) and vis-a-vis, students outlined their image.

 The outlined picture was placed on top of a white sheet of paper, then underneath their "final drawing paper".  The white paper underneath the transparency helped it to be more visible, even though my tables aren't necessarily dark in color.

If you look close, you can see the outlined picture underneath.
She kept her photo nearby to help with the details, and more importantly, different areas of value.

Work in progress

8th Grade Sugar Skull masks

Here is just a sample of the fun Sugar Skull masks we made.  The kids loved it!  I will post more examples and my lesson plan soon.

(done with a fine point Sharpie -- drawn in pencil first)

So here is what we started with.  Each student received a plastic mask form.  To prevent the paper mache from sticking to the mask (when we need to pull it off later), we put a sheet of foil on as our first "layer".

The green mixture in the cup is a simple mix of glue, water, and food coloring.  The reason for the color?  Just for fun.  It was near the Michigan/Michigan State game and I was showing my support for State.  Go Green!  ;)

Every other layer was newspaper, then torn brown paper towel.

They ended up with a total of 6 layers.

The brown paper towel was the last layer.

After the last layer was dry, students painted on a layer or two of white gesso.

This made for a nice "blank canvas".

In the photo above -- you can see the student has removed the paper mache mask from the plastic form.  

Now that they have their mask -- it's time to decorate!

Students were told that they had the choice to make a Sugar Skull design or another design idea.  The paint we used was acrylic....it works so much better than tempera.  Markers were also used.
:)
Here are more student examples: