Second Grade Aztec Art

The projects from last year: Second Grade Aztec Art

This year's project added a couple of choices for the students:











1.  copper repousse by itself












2.  printmaking












3.  copper repousse and printmaking together

I stressed to the students that those that opted for choice 3 would really have to stay focused, since they would have a lot more to do to complete their project than the other options.

From there, we began our project by creating 2 practice drawings in our sketchbooks, after having read the book, Musicians of the Sun. They were allowed to create a drawing based on one of the characters and stylize it as they saw fit.

We learned about complementary colors and they colored their sketches.

They chose 1 of their drawings and copied it onto a piece of 5 x 5 manila paper, without coloring it.

As they were doing this, I began meeting with small groups to demonstrate the steps for each different project.

Project 1:
They taped their manila paper to a piece of copper and traced the design. I made sure that they knew they had to place their copper/manila paper on top of their sketchbooks in order for the design to come through.

Then they took their manila paper off and used their pencils to color in different parts of the positive space, making these "pop out" of the copper- lots of oohs, aahs and Wows! during this stage.

They used Sharpies in their chosen complementary colors to color their design and it was glued onto a piece of black construction paper.

Project 2:
The manila paper was taped onto a 5 x 5 piece of Styrofoam. The design was traced with their pencil.

Then they took their manila paper off and used their pencils to color in different parts of the positive space (same as the copper project).

They picked up 4 pieces of construction paper (2 of each of their complementary colors) and went to my printing station. They created 4 prints that were exactly the same and set them on the drying rack to dry. The next week, they came in and glued these onto a piece of black paper.

Project 3:
This was a combination of the 2 projects. I had them start with the Styrofoam. However, instead of creating 4 prints, they only created 2. When these were completed, they used the exact same piece of manila paper with their design on it and taped it to a piece of copper. They followed the steps for the copper project, however, they had to create 2 pieces of copper instead of only 1.

All of their pieces were glued onto a piece of black paper.






All in all, giving the second graders these choices worked pretty well- better for some classes than others, but as a whole, well. I think it will work much better the next time, because they will be used to making their own choice, reading directions and problem solving, instead of depending on me to give them all of their answers.

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Fourth Grade Kente Cloth

 I have done variations of this project for many years. This year, we took a trip to Africa and learned about Kente cloths. We looked at a variety of different cloths and the patterns that were used in them.

I gave each student a 9 x 12 sheet of styrofoam and we divided the sheet into a 4 x 3 grid with our rulers. My directions for this were that each section needed to have a different pattern in it.

They spent the first day working on their patterns (drawing them in the styrofoam with their pencils).

The second day, we reviewed complementary colors. Each student chose the 2 that they wanted to use. They had to create 2 prints of their design (1 in each of their colors) and we set those up to dry.

 On the 3rd day, we worked on making our loom. They chose 1 of their prints for their loom and we folded it in half (like a taco, with the opening at the top). I had them use a ruler and draw a line across the top of the paper to use as their stop sign when they were cutting:

They cut their loom, stopping at their "stop sign".

Then we get the second piece and cut that into strips. I have them number the strips so that they know what order they go in. They weave these into their loom and then glue the edges so that they don't fall out.

When they have finished weaving, they glue the entire piece onto a piece of kraft paper.

For the finishing touch, they use a hole punch, punch a row of holes on both ends and then use yarn to add a fringe.

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