Seuss-like Fish with Kindergarten

 

This is a good “Read Me Week” project…we read “One Fish Two Fish….” by Dr.Seuss. There is a great BrainPopJR video on Seuss that I show the kids before we read the story and talk about the project. It’s a great intro.

http://www.brainpopjr.com/readingandwriting/authors/drseuss/preview.weml

This could easily be a one-day lesson…but I stretched it into two days. Next year, I will have them draw and paint on 9x12 paper instead of 12x18. I actually cut up an old stack of poster board that’s been sitting in the closet forever. I’m really trying to use what I have this year. My storage closet is overflowing!

We draw with oil pastels a Seuss-like fish…then paint with primary colors. They can mix the colors on their paper if they want to.

I finally found an awesome way to store paint! Big ziploc bags! Duh!

 

Here’s a day two option…I have them create a striped background with paper strips on black paper. Then we cut out the fish from last week and glue them to the background. Another option that I tried last year, was a huge Seuss fish underwater mural collage that we displayed in the hallway. Everybody cuts their fish out and glues it to the big mural.

I kinda like these with no fish on them.

Monograms with 4th Grade

Here’s a project we’ve been working on for the past few weeks. I try to do this project every year with my 4th graders. Most of them really enjoy it, even the boys!

We design our initials on a piece of paper, outline with sharpie and transfer to a piece of burlap by tracing our letters. They add more designs as they finishing stitching their initials. I use the phrase “don’t bite off more than you can chew” a lot with this project.

 

The weather was so nice when we were in the middle of the project, that I took one class outside to work on these. Let’s just say that only happened once.

I demonstrate how to straight stitch the letters, then I show them how to fill in their letters and designs with satin stitch. Finally, I show them how to cross stitch and tie french knots.

I see my 4th graders at the end of the day…which is not the best scenario for kids who don’t have recess anymore. So, let’s just say I’ve had to relax my teaching style for this grade level. I have to pick my battles. At the end of the day, if they’ve made something, I’m happy.

Collagraph Fish Printing

 

A favorite project of mine, that I look forward to each year, is this fabulous collagraph fish printing lesson. I do this printmaking project with 3rd grade.

I have broken this down into a 3 day unit.

Day One is learning about printmaking and how to build a collagraph. Kids often have trouble understanding how to build up the layers so I talk very slowly and probably over-explain, which worked this year. We practice sketching a fish in our Idea Books and then draw the outline of a fish on cardstock or cereal boxes. We cut it out and glue it to our “printing plate”…aka cereal box (I pre-cut the cereal boxes into rectangles).

Day Two is all about building up details and layers. I demonstrate starting large, then adding a medium shape and finally the smallest shape. I usually get my paper edger scissors out along with hole punchers to make the day a little more exciting.

Day Three is printing day! I can print 4 people at a time and they each make two prints. While the kids are waiting to print, they create an underwater picture…I tried an underwater collage today which didn’t turn out very well…so tomorrow I’m switching it to a sharpie drawing that is colored in with crayons. We’ll see how those turn out! (they turned out much better!)

 

Here’s my printing station in action….

 

 

Round One Prints

Sometimes I end up liking the inked up collagraph more than the print itself!

Another class of printers!

I love these.