Updated! 5th grade Ceramic Selfies

These awesome Ceramic Selfies (see previous post: here) were fired and kids painted them with acrylic paint (I caved and bought the cheap bottles at Walmart and Michaels for bright, bold colors). 

Fifth graders are answering the question: End of an era. How do you feel?

Here the slabs are, ready to dry and be fired!
After, the kids painted in the lines with black acrylic and allowed it to dry.

   

   

I was so impressed how the kids picked their colors. Most of the darker colors were not selected. Even if students portrayed themselves as nervous or scared, the colors they chose did not reflect those emotions. These kids are ready and exciting for Middle School!

When they finished, they used their original self portrait and this painted version as a digital portfolio entry, answering the question: End of an Era, how do you feel? I cannot wait to read their responses!

What lives in the water? First grade Art and Science integration.

First graders learn about the water cycle and types of water ecosystems (Salt, fresh. Oceans, lakes, aquariums, etc)

What a great way to integrate art and science! So fun and easy. We had a fun and quick convo about creatures (plants and animals) of salt water, fresh water, tide pools, fish bowls. Students created their own drawing of their favorite ecosystem.

What lives in the water? What is the habitat?

Having iPads for research was the HUGE blessing here. Kids were easily able to pull up ecosystems and images as a resource.

We did oil pastel batik:

1. Draw water -based creatures and habitat 
2. Crumble paper, artistically! The more crumbles, the more batik-like it will look. Then smooth it out.
3. Go over drawing with heavy chalk outlines (or you can do white crayon for younger kids)
4. Oil pastel colors, apply heavy but do not go over the chalk lines (we call them Hot Lava!)
5. Paint over with black tempera or black watercolor, dabbing off pools of unwanted color

The kids were so thrilled with their end results. They were also excited about being able to apply their knowledge and fascination to this way cool project.