Ugly Dolls Finish Up...

As we worked on our ugly dolls some of my students were super seamstresses and finished up really quickly. Others took a little longer. I started by having my super seamstresses work to help others but there came a point where they need another something to do. 

Since we were creating forms by sewing our ugly dolls we decided to draw forms, using shading to make them look realistic. Students were asked to create a drawing showing their ugly doll and friend doing something. They could finish them during class time or at home. 

They did a pretty good job... especially since some were done completely on their own time. 

It was really easy for my students to understand that a shadow was needed but they struggled with making sure their was a change in value on their ugly doll to show roundness. 

Ugly Doll's Take Over

Earlier this year I decided to tackle a sewing project with my 5th graders. It was a lot of work but it was a lot of fun! We looked at Ugly Dolls. If you don't know much about these guys they are a awesome little creatures who embrace their unique looks and rock out! You can get dolls, books, video's etc. You can click here to learn more. 

We started by looking at these guys and then designing our own ugly dolls with unique abilities. Sewing was probably the hardest part of these project and when I do another sewing project we will practice on plastic cards first but that is for another post. Here are a few finished ugly dolls. 

Jojo saves lives and loves trees. He also cleans up trash.

Dribbles can bend and twist into anything. This is helpful when you are missing something.

His name is Bucket Filler he was created by Ava. He sees people with his three eyes, and makes them feel better. His favorite color is bright yellow. His home is a bright yellow and bright colors. He has a job at a children's school so he can make kids feel better at school.

This is T-bat. He likes gliding, and helping people. His friends are Tedy and Ghost. His favorite food is pizza. He once went bungee-jumping with Tedy and Ghost. He loves to do anything with his friends.

He will always check up on you if your doing your homework but he can also be fun.

This was one of those projects that I feared was never going to end but in the end it was totally worth it. One of the best things was the whole project cost me less than $10. I asked for fabric and stuffing donations and my staff supplied enough to do this project 10 times over! Gotta love that. 

You can check out all our ugly dolls on Artsonia. 

aMAZEing Name Projects

Every year it is challenging to learn the 300+ names of the incoming 5th graders. For that reason I like to start with a project that focuses on drawing their names. I also like to have them work through the elements of art as a review. During one of the very first days I spotted a student creating their own maze and my first lesson idea was solidified.

 We used LINES to make a name maze.

Students started by writing out their name, following the lines on the grid paper.

Using a pencil they marked the start and finish of their maze.  They connected them with the "solution path"

They erased "openings" in the solution path and added the tricks and traps. The used the lines of the graph paper for all their work. 

They finished their images by tracing their pencil lines with mark. It made it very easy to see the lines when I ran them through the copier to make 2 copies for each student. 

It was so much fun to listen to them design ways to trick people as they fill out their maze.

Of course some students went their own way but everyone had a blast, used lines successfully and I learned their names (or at least got a good start on it!)

Perspective Practice

We always start our perspective drawing unit by practicing our box drawing.  It is a great way for the students to really practice following the rules of drawing in perspective.  Here are a brief few of this year's practice images.  Not to shabby for their first time drawing in perspective! 

inspirARTion

inspirARTion is a free Google app that I have fallen in love with.  

You can download it at the Google store.

I love that this app is designed for helping students draw images using the lines of symmetry.  You can select the horizontal line of symmetry, the vertical line of symmetry or several number of multiple axis' for radial symmetry.  The students love creating with it and I love seeing what they do.  Here are a few projects we have done with it. 

You can check out lessons we have done on artsonia:

colorful color wheels

radial designs

radial design take 2

Exploding Color Wheels

As review of colors wheels and as an starting point to painting, students created "exploding color wheels." The requirements were:

1. that they had to draw something in pen and ink 
2. make the color wheel "explode" from that object.  

I wish we had spent more time on discussing pen and ink work before we started.  However it was fun to see the students solve the issue of making their color wheels explode.

You can check out more at Artsonia. 

Shape Collages

Last year when I saw Tatjana Knudsen's Post "Meet the Creative Part of Me" I fell in love.  These simple shapes, bright colors and creative idea sparked something.  While my project is a pretty close copy I made a few changes...

A triangle dinosaur playing basketball

Students started by defining the element of Shape.  Then they selected 3 numbers between 1 and 9.  The first number was the shape they would have to use.  The second number was the animal they would have to make.  The third number was the action the animal had to be doing.  After they found out what they had to create I gave them some time to plan.

a circle cat texting

While they were planning we also painted our background papers.  We looked at the images by Karin Olsen and agreed that the backgrounds were filled with colors and not details.  Students worked hard to finish their colorful backgrounds before tackling the collage the following week.

a circle cat walking

As students entered the room they were given back their background paper and they worked really hard to finish their images.  Our last steps were to add sharpie details as needed and to write a short story about what was happening in the images.  The stories were pretty awesome!

You can see more at ARTSONIA.

inspiARTion app

This summer in one of my classes we had to look at apps we could use on Google.  I downloaded a few and once class was over I didn't think twice about them.  Last week I was exploring ways to teach the color wheel to my 5th graders in a simple way before we venture into paint mixing and I came across an app I downloaded this summer.

The app is called inspirARTion and it has some really fun features (and its FREE).  The two that I have really found to be unique are under symmetry.  You can choose vertical or horizontal lines of symmetry.  As you draw above the line it is transferred to below the line.... like magic.   Check out my name drawing that I quickly created:

Also under symmetry is "kaleidoscope" which allows you to choose 4-10 axis.  As you draw in one "piece of the pie" it copies the drawing to all the others.  I am letting the students explore and the kids are love, love, loving it.  Their assignment requirements are to use the colors of the color wheel in color order, get creative, show good craftsmanship and upload it to artsonia with an artist statement.  So far they are rocking it!

Here are a few examples:

Titled Sonic Boom... what he thinks a sonic boom would look like.
I see a science lesson starting here. 

You can check out all of them at ARTSONIA