Harold and the Purple Crayon

If you are an art teacher you know about Harold, his purple crayon and his great imagination. 

 If you don't know take a few minutes to watch this video (http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=147571)

This year I decided to use Harold as an intro. for my 5th graders to line.  We watched the video and then they created books about their summers... using nothing but lines.  

I love that this student made his book goes vertically!

 For each book they had to create a cover.  I love this one... CEO of AWESOME!

They also had to write a 2 paragraph summary of what they did the summer that they will be typing up during keyboarding class.  They had to write them during art/study hall but Mrs. Polodna is awesome enough to work with them on typing them up and using google drive to "turn them in to me."

Planbook?

I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with paperwork lately.  I feel like I am a doing  a lot of "doubling up."

1. Lesson plans sketched out in my paper calendar (I can't get rid of it)
2. Typed lesson plans in Google Drive.
3. Weekly overview typed in Google Drive.
4. Lesson plans linked to my Google Calendar. 

Last week I was introduced to Planbook.com and it looks like something I might like.  I was just wondering if anyone out there uses it and what they think of it?

p.s. Art pictures/projects coming tomorrow!

A little twist

Yesterday I posted about our perspective lettering project.  One of my days worth of kiddo's was going to miss, so I started them off with their letters drawn out.  These classes focused on reduce, reuse and recycle.

They still had to do the lettering and the pattern background but they look a little different!

Hubble Inspiration...

I saw this neat post from Mary Making a while ago that linked back to this neat post from Make It... a Wonderful Life and I knew that my 6th graders would HAVE to do it when they studied the planets and space.  Well this week was the week to "explore outer space."

We started by watching this quick video from  National Geographic about the Hubble Space Telescope.  Then looked at images from the Hubble. 

 Then I showed them how to "play" with chalk pastels... blending, smudging, smearing, edging...

Then they got to work... 

They were required to make a background and at least one planet.  

(We popped the planets off the paper with a single piece of cardboard.)  

I think I might want to be an astronaut now! Here are a few of the first ones turned in...