hip to be square.

The 5th graders are going retro this week. Some with a sculpture project and others with a collage project. 3 classes are creating space invader wood block sculptures that are inspired by the video game and the sculptures of Jason Torchinsky. The other 3 classes are creating abstract collages inspired by the geometric forms from minecraft and other 8-bit video games.

Both projects have been big hits.

A few things to think about...

1. Make sure, when starting a grade level sculpture project, that you have enough supplies. (I realized halfway through that I wouldn't have enough wood blocks, so hello minecraft;)

2. Expect a noisy class when the kids are working in teams on sculpture projects. I'm totally cool with it, but the classroom can get energized.

3. Have plenty of paper squares cut for a collage project that requires many 1" squares for 34 students per class.

4. On the same note, make sure your paper cutter is well oiled, so it won't be so darn irritating on your ears throughout the lesson.

 I love the planning to make the arms work:)

 Nice job keeping their classmates clean:)

pattern and meaning

Last week the 5th graders looked at the textile designs of Malene Barnett and focused on pattern, meaning, and color value.

Malene is a textile designer based in Brooklyn. Her patterns and designs are based on cultures and places that inspire her. There is a great interview at designsponge with her, that sheds light on her experiences and creative process. I shared parts of this with the classes as well as examples of her work from her company website. I talked about where her ideas come from and how much planning, sketching, and refining goes into each of her finished pieces.

 planning!

more planning!

This pattern was inspired by traditional Mexican embroidered textiles

We also looked at how she uses line or broken lines to make colors look lighter or darker than others in many of her patterns. This was another example of creating value in art, something the 5th graders have been exploring in numerous lessons this year.

The students played the role of textile designer with this project. I asked them to create multiple sketches of pattern ideas. These patterns were supposed to be influenced by something that inspired them. Before moving onto the next step, students turned to a neighbor and shared WHY they were selecting one pattern over the others they had tried.After that they created a styrofoam stamp of their pattern. They colored it with water soluble markers, and then stamped it onto another piece of paper. They then were asked to color it at least one more time and stamp it again to create a larger textile design. They could use the same colors or rinse their plate and apply new colors.

When the project was complete, they filled out an exit slip where they reflected on value and their pattern inspiration. (ELA 5.W.10  Writing routinely for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.)

These exit slips are becoming routine for all grades now. Instead of getting a "why do we have to do writing in art?" I'm simply getting "where are the exit slips to fill out?"