End of year projects... Part Four

During the last weeks of school, I try to give the teachers a lot of different ideas for the final art projects of the year. I adapt each lesson to fit what the teacher needs, and many teachers selected different art projects. All of the art projects tied in with either the science, social studies or language arts core. Mrs. Purdy's 3rd grade class learned how to do a very creative art technique adapted from the Zentangle Teacher Training class I attended in Massachusetts. For this fun art lesson, we used large paper and markers. First we just wrote our name using our very best handwriting, then we added an aura around our name and finally we learned how to create "Mooka" ... a free flowing tangle pattern. Simply beautiful! The children had a lot of fun with this project.
Ms. Jacobson's class learned about the Aztec Indians and created beautiful foil masks using silver foil and wooden sticks to draw the designs. The children added a variety of pattern and texture to their masks. Once finished, we carefully cut the mask out and mounted it on heavy cardstock.
Mrs. Bostick's 3rd grade class did a similar project, but they chose to focus on butterflies. We studied the beautiful symmetry of the butterfly and looked at actual photographs of butterflies. Each child sketched a butterfly in their sketchbook and they traced it lightly onto the foil. Then they added pattern and design to their butterflies, cut them out and mounted them are heavy cardboard. Some children painted their butterflies with watercolor paint.