Books: deconstructed and altered and holy moley- these are amazing

ALTERED BOOKS
5th grade

Some kids prefer creating in the hall so they can spread out and focus.

OK peeps, I have done this altered book project with fifth graders for a few years now, and I was kicking around the idea of not doing it this year...but...WOW I am so glad we did.

The kids really blew us away. These sculptures are beautiful and meaningful. And finished in three class periods. What??

This school year has seen a few changes in our Art program:  1:X pilot program and a more student-led direction. This allowed me to step back and let the kids decide how they wanted to create their altered book.


I started off the same:  the kids and I talked about how the world is changing rapidly, especially with technology. We talked about the benefits and downsides to tech and non-tech. These kids are so insightful and globally aware. It was exciting to talk with them.

Close up ^.^

So. Which do you prefer: a traditional book or a device? 

I like both.

 I have a copy of "The Hobbit" from eighth grade that was literally falling apart until I begged my librarian to repair it. That book is precious to me (haha see what I did there?)

Hello, friend. 

 I also have both Nook and Kindle apps on my iPad. I love them as I can have an entire series in my hand for those boring waits at Dr. offices. Or middle school pick up. Or anytime I don't want to lug fifty pounds of books around.

This was a great, I mean great conversation to have with the kids. To hear their pros and cons was awesome. They talked about the affect on natural resources to the carbon footprint from a device to backpack weight to the breakage from dropping a device. They talked about how much they like to turn a paper page to liking the ability to highlight and define words on a device.

Then the conversation turned to conservation. What happens to damaged or outdated library books?



Did you know that public school library books cannot be donated or sold? That they have to be recycled?

Just ONE box of "discard" books, with some old piano books from my kids' closet.  Those are fun to work with!

That really irritated the kids. I think this gen is, among many other things, servant based. They don't like the idea of beloved books being tossed. They do not like garbage polluting the world. So we talked about up-cycling (wiki:Upcycling).

This year, my only direction was to allow this sculpture express how they FEEL about CHANGE:

• How do you feel about the huge change of tech vs. non tech? Book vs. device?
• OR, how do you feel about leaving elementary school and going to a new school?
• OR, how do you feel about changing this particular book?
• OR, how do you feel about changes in the environment?
• OR, ?

I left it wide open. And they stepped up.

I put a bunch of supplies out for them:

Craft scissors, rubber cement, tissue paper and cellophane, scrap papers, ribbon and beads, yarn, hole punchers, wooden sticks, cardboard tubes. Anything that has been collected and sitting around, I grabbed and left them to create. 

This project took 3 class periods, beginning to end. Including assessment in their digital portfolio. I was really impressed by the books they chose and how they altered them.

Final assessment with iPads

The kids were so excited and focused. Even kids who struggled at first got their groove on. These Altered Books are sensitive and well-thought out artistic creations of kids stepping into their teenage years. I am so proud of them:

3D pop ups

mobile!

A duck pond!

Fire was a common theme...

Creature Feature

Another 3D pop up

5th grade ceramics: Self portraits vs. Selfies

I have become fascinated by the subtle differences between "self portrait" and "selfie", especially when kids explain the terms.

Encouraging my 5th graders explain or demo self portrait--- immediately every kid has a yearbook smile and a Mona Lisa stance. The term suggests formality. Ages of Masterpieces.

Yet say the word selfie, and duck lips appear. Hand poses, head cocked. And then...personalities pop out. Quiet and shy, scared and nervous, confident and ready. Social media ready.

So I threw out our latest challenge, as it is April and standardized testing is upon us. (OH! Hey! This signals to the kiddoes that school is OVAH. Oh, wait, it isn't??) They are all heading to new schools next year, whether to the neighborhood middle school(s) or moving or whatever, everyone is facing a big change.

Our theme?

The end of an era. Show me how you feel.

This needed to be a ceramic portrait. The kids were instructed to use emotion, expression, unique clothing, an interesting perspective, something to show us how they feel about the end of elementary school.

*disclaimer*...maybe, juuuuust maybe, there is a slight chance that this was influenced by the fact that my daughter is graduating high school in a few weeks, and maybe I might be a little melancholy and maybe I thought what mom or dad wouldn't love a ceramic portrait of their baby leaving fifth grade? 

We used the iPads to create digital selfies, something most of the kids already had in their camera roll, just saying, which were printed in black and white.

In the interest of Why Re-Invent the Wheel??? I showed them Blick's awesome video:

The beautiful thing about using videos as your demo is that the kids GET IT. You don't have to re-do. These kids today learn everything from videos, so you are speaking their language. 

tracing the photo with Crayola markers--

Using the ribbon tools to softly carve...

allowing the clay to dry....

Stayed tuned for AF: After the Firing. The kids and I are super excited about these!