A Play in the Making

For Arts class our groups each chose a story to read and then we are acting out a scene from the story. My group read the book Morning Girl by Michael Dorris.  The scene we chose to act out is when one of the characters, Star Boy, gets himself stuck in a storm and he clings to a tree for safety.

We decided to create a tree as part of our scenery for the play.  We started with a piece of cardboard, brown paint, green poster board, and green paper. Here are some pictures of the process.

5 Themes of Geography

In class we have been talking about the 5 themes of geography and how we can incorporate these themes into the classroom when teaching students.  Our project was to create a Powerpoint about a specific location that incorporated the 5 themes of geography.  I chose Australia as my location and below are some of the pictures that used for each theme.

Location:

Place:

                               

Human-Environment Interaction

Movement

              

Regions

**All images from google images

Salt Dough Maps

To further our discussion on geography, today we made salt dough maps of a state or country that we were interested in learning more about.   To begin I pre-made salt dough using 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt and gradually added water until the dough was thick but not wet.

I then found a topographical map of Italy on the internet which I printed and cut out.  I rolled out my dough on a piece of cardboard and laid the cut out map on top of the dough and traced the outline with a toothpick.  I removed the excess dough and set it aside.  Next, I removed the map from the salt dough and used excess dough to create the mountains of Italy.  Then I used green, blue, brown, and black paint to color my map to show the mountains, land, and water throughout the country.

Here is my map of Italy:

I used toothpicks and note cards to pinpoint some of the major cities in Italy.  

Here are some of the maps created by my classmates:

I think salt dough maps are a great way for students to be hands on with their learning.  I would use this activity in my classroom and allow students to choose their country or state within the parameters of what we are learning about.  This project is a great way to integrate Social Studies and Art.  

Shaving Cream Art

Tonight we created an art piece using shaving cream and paint.  I think this has been my favorite art piece so far! After viewing the painting Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh we were asked to create our own interpretation of that painting. I think elementary students would definitely get into this project!

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

Resource: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Night-Visions.html

Here is my creation:

                        BEFORE                                                            AFTER

I think my classmates enjoyed this project too!  

Trade Fair

Today in class we had a trade fair and it was so much fun!  To prepare for the trade fair I had to come up with something to bring in. The items could be new, used, store bought or homemade. Some classmates had advised me to bring in eggs from my chickens or even a chicken itself! I seriously thought about that idea but instead I ended up making my trade fair item.  I found a homemade dry erase board on Pinterest and decided to spruce it up so it could be used in a classroom.

To create the board I started with a picture frame. 

I then cut a piece of silver scrapbooking paper to fit underneath the glass.  Before I placed the silver paper in the frame I decorated it with school themed scrapbooking stickers.

After placing the silver paper in the frame, I used a hot glue gun to attach a bow to the corner. Then finally I added a small piece of ribbon tied to a dry erase marker that I attached to the hook on the back of the frame. Here is a picture of the final product:

I think it turned out pretty well!  

Below are some of the items my classmates brought in for the class trade fair:

Some of the other good things to trade included bread, donuts, girl scout cookies, Scentsy bars, greeting cards, homemade book marks and even a MYSTERY bag!  

 Taylor and Ryan look pretty happy with the things they ended up with from the trade fair!

I ended up with One Tree Hill Season 2 and some greeting cards!  I borrowed the first season from my sister so I would know whats going on when I watch season 2 and I am now hooked on watching One Tree Hill.  

I think students in an elementary classroom would have just as much fun as we had that day.  To participate in this activity students would have to know about bartering and supply and demand.  Communication skills and also critical to the success of this activity.

What is beauty?

Today in art class we discussed what beauty means to each of us.  Our discussion was very interesting because we all have different views as to what beauty is all about.  After our discussion we each made a puzzle piece that would be part of a large puzzle in the end.  Here is the what the puzzle looked like before we began drawing:

This is Emily and her piece of the puzzle.  She is SUPER talented!

 Here is my puzzle piece....

And finally our finished class puzzle.  Each puzzle piece represents our own view of beauty.  As you can see each puzzle piece is very different.  

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Decorating Cow Books

Today we decorated our cow books in class.  To decorate the books we used different types of wallpaper samples, pieces of cloth material, and some people even used blue jeans!  Although there were only a few different patterns and colors to choose from none of the cow books looked the same.

Here is a pic of Amber and Carmen showing off their creations:   

Below is a pic of Christine and I with our cow books:

My cow book was a little plain for me so when I got home today I decided to spruce it up with some scrapbooking stickers and a couple pictures of my family. I also added a pic of one of my favorite animals:)  

Here is the finished product:

Can't wait to see what our next class meeting will bring!