The Art Cart

Students learned about the Middle Ages in Europe and how Kingdoms relied on knights and castles for safety. Each student was given the first letter of their name, cut out in paper and they were able to decorate the letter with markers and ornament flakes that were meant to represent gold leaf used in early Illuminated manuscripts. (Craft stores do in fact sell actual gold leaf, and maybe I would have used it with a very small group of students- but I found that ornament flakes, or even gold tissue paper is best for large groups of students)

This lesson was also one of my favorites, especially because no matter how the students place the glue, the colored sand still looks really cool and the students had a lot of fun shaking the sand shakers. I first explained that North America was filled with many Native American groups and we learned about the different ways the Indians adapted to their environment. I bought colored sand from Michaels (DON'T BUY IN KIDS ART SECTION!!- I found sand super cheap in the section where they have all the terrarium stuff and fake flowers, there is kids sand art, but you will end up paying triple for a quarter of the amount of sand!) I was surprised how far the bags of sand stretched and I was able to save some in the end. I put the different colors into large spice shakers and let the students make a design with glue, then shake the colored sand over it. It's important to remember that if students want to use more than one color of sand, they will need to add glue in sections based on color- and pour the sand colors one at a time. 

Students learned about Ancient Meso-American cultures in Central and Latin America and they created a calendar stone based on the traditions of the ancient Mayans and Aztecs. Each student recieved a cut circle and a sun template to decorate in the center. They decorated the rest of the stone with patterned paper, crayons and "glyphs" based on the picture-alphabet of the ancient Meso-American cultures.

For this lesson students learned about the different art forms in Africa from small sculptures to ceremonial clothing, headwear, and masks. We talked about the importance of animals in African culture and the many different animals that make up the African ecosystem. Students made masks from cardboard, using colored paper, yarn, and cut cardboard shapes to make the facial features three dimensional.

In this lesson we learned about Ancient China and the importance of balance in the Chinese culture. Students played an interactive opposites game on the Smartboard then we created beautiful watercolor trees using diluted black tempera paint with watercolor brushes (some students may be able to use straws to blow the paint on the paper and make branch shapes). After the branches were painted, students took crumpled pieces of red and pink tissue paper to make little blossoms on the trees. 

In this lesson we talked about ancient Rome and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii. This was one of my favorite lessons because it combined art and science with a beautiful volcano explosion! I made a makeshift volcano from plastic cups wrapped in duct tape painted a dark brown dirt color. I placed the volcano inside a plastic bin and filled dirt in around it so it could absorb the water from the explosion. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the way the volcano came out (It was not so pleasant moving it from building to building!) I used a simple vinegar and baking soda explosion (with a little food coloring for extra lava effect) and the kids absolutely LOVED it! After watching the volcano explode, the students each made "mosaics" using tiny construction paper squares in different colors. I also liked this lesson because I had recently visited a Pompeii exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science and I was able to show my own photographs of the artifacts.

This is a classic lesson from grade school that I remembered enjoying as a child. The students were given paper templates in the shape of Grecian pottery on toned paper. The students used earth tone crayons to create shapes and designs on their pottery. We discussed symmetry and the use of geometric designs.

For my Ancient Egyptian lesson I had the students make an Egyptian "nametag" from paper tags I found at the recycling center. They used Egyptian Hieroglyphics to spell out their names and tied a popsicle stick to the top with colored string. I also included a "tomb dig" sensory bin filled with sand, that students each took turns digging through with a slotted spoon to find "artifacts" I had hidden beneath the sand. (I used small knick-knacks from around the house)

This lesson is an example of a lesson that didn't go quite how I wanted it to! I'm calling it my "Pinterest Fail" lesson. I discussed Stonehenge with the students and showed a virtual tour video. I talked about how the stones fit together and even showed the students a model I carved from plant foam that looked like a giant Lego piece. The students helped me create "Sand Dough" which we were supposed to make a miniature Stonehenge from. The students enjoyed creating the sand dough and forming small "rocks" with their hands, but the failure part came when I brought the dough home to dry- or attempted to dry. It didn't solidify the way I wanted it to and even after leaving all the "rocks" in the sun, the dough actually started to mold! So after scraping all the moldy (and stinky) rocks into the garbage, I decided that the dough would never become Stonehenge and that all Pinterest DIY Dough recipes are not created equal!

         This was the first lesson I did with my students. My first curriculum unit was titled "Art Through History" and the most logical place to start was cave painting- some of the oldest art ever discovered. Each student worked on a small piece of roll Kraft paper, or a piece of brown paper bag. I created templates of different animal shapes and allowed the students to use both tempera paint (in earth tones) and crayons to color and fill in shapes. I also provided assorted stamps for the students that had trouble tracing designs. The students had an especially good time crumpling the paper after to make a rock-like effect.