Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Quite possibly the best lesson ever.....

Okay, You guys that know me... or well, follow me, know that I hardly ever take credit for a completely original idea.




To me, it's just as important to work smarter, not harder. This lesson is a PERFECT example of taking something fantastic and making it even better!



These Japanese  Koi fish were found on www.artprojectsforkids.me  a website that absolutely could teach a hamster to draw... (no offense hamsters). I love this site and frequently use it's step by step approach to teach kids to ANALYZE (what? a higher order thinking skill from Bloom's Taxonomy in Art Class?) and CREATE (what? the HIGHEST thinking skill on Bloom's Taxonomy?) their own drawings. Even though the instructions were basically the same for each child, all of the drawings look different.

 
So there. Quite possibly the best lesson ever.... and I had nothing to do with it's creation.

Friday, March 14, 2014

It's CLAY DAY!

 

 
Check out this little herd of elephants! My 4th and 5th graders really loved working with clay and creating this wonderful little creatures.

 
The kids really enjoying discussing fractions when we divided our clay into pieces to form our elephants. Then I really blew them away discussing the science of firing clay and the evaporation of water molecules!
 
 
 
 
 
After firing, we will paint them gray and take them home to treasure forever!