Fourth Grade Day of the Dead Calaveras

Materials Needed

• paper patterns for skulls
• paper patterns for craft stick skeletons
• Claycrete (p. 386 Sax catalog)

• white glue
• craft sticks
• wax paper
• acrylic paint
• markers
• scrap materials to decorate
• scissors
Other Resources
Calavera Abecedario

Day of the Dead resources
skeleton patterns



The population of my school is almost 100% Hispanic. So this year, I decided to do a Day of the Dead project with my fourth graders. They already had a lot of information about the holiday and I actually learned a lot from them!

I started the project by reading the book Calavera Abecedario to my fourth graders. They made a list of the different Calaveras that the author used in the book. Then they discussed the similarities and differences between the Day of the Dead holiday and our Halloween.

They began creating their own Calavera by making an armature for their sculpture out of craft sticks. I had a skeleton pattern xeroxed for them to follow and they glued the sticks together in the shape of a skeleton. Then they mixed Claycrete (I ordered this from Sax Arts. I ordered 2 20 lb boxes and it was MORE than enough for my 100-120 students to create their entire calavara), water and glue together until it had a nice sticky texture (you don't want it to be dripping wet- it won't dry) and began placing it on top of their armature. When we did this part, it was important to wrap the Claycrete around the popsicle sticks so that it would not fall off when it dried.

During the next class, I had skull patterns ready for them. They also used the Claycrete mixture to make the skull of the calavera. 

Once both pieces were dry, we were able to attach the two pieces together, using a needle and thread so that they hung loosely together.

The students began decorating them using a variety of materials that I had pulled out for them- felt, tissue paper, beads, sequins, fabric, paper, colored glue, etc. This was pretty open. I put together a basket for each table and added whatever scrap/excess materials I could find. 

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Third Grade Illuminated Letters

Materials Needed

• copper foil
• graph paper
• pencils
• craft sticks
• permanent markers
• magazine/newspapers
Books
Magic in the Margins: A Medieval Tale of Bookmaking-W. Nikola-Lisa
Marguerite Makes a Book -Bruce Robertson
Bestiary: An Illuminated Alphabet of Medieval Beasts -Jonathan Hunt

Third grade read Marguerite Makes a Book by Bruce Robertson. We discussed the process of book-making in medieval times and compared it to how books are made today. We focused on the illuminated letters that were created and what characteristics they had.

We then looked at a variety of relief sculptures and noted how parts of the sculptures stood out and parts of them receded. They then started their own relief sculptures, using their initials and embossing a piece of copper foil.

First, they drew their initials on a piece of graph paper. I had them use graph paper to help them with measurement. It made it much easier for them to make their letters thick, using the grid. I have used a variety of different sizes, but have found that the smaller grids are more difficult for the students to use.

After they had their design ready on graph paper, they transferred it to a piece of copper foil by placing the paper over the foil and carefully tracing the initials with a pencil. I had to remind them to place a magazine or stack of newspapers under their copper so that the pencil would leave an impression.

They used popsicle sticks and their pencils to press their designs into the copper.

When their entire design was complete, we used permanent markers to add color. Pin It

Second Grade Barn Dance

Materials Needed

• watercolor paper
• 1/2 sheet watercolor paper- scarecrow
• oil pastels
• watercolors
• brushes
• black permanent markers
• kosher salt
• self-adhesive foam buttons
• pencils/erasers
• straw/raffia- 1" pieces
Barn Dance- Bill Martin, Jr

Getting to Know series- Moses, Rockwell Norman Rockwell prints
Grandma Moses prints


I began the project by reading the book Barn Dance by Bill Martin, Jr to my second graders. As I was reading, I asked the students to focus on the following things: the scarecrow, the objects they saw on the farm. When I finished reading, we brainstormed a list of things that could be found on a farm. We also talked about what the scarecrow looked like- what was he wearing, what is his job, etc.

I gave the students a 1/2 piece of watercolor paper and asked them to draw a scarecrow. I demonstrated how they could use basic shapes (squares, rectangles, circles, triangles, etc) to draw the body, clothes, patches of their scarecrow. They traced their scarecrow with black marker and then painted him/her using watercolor markers.


When it was time to work on the background paper, we had a discussion about foreground and background. We looked at different landscape prints and pointed out the size of objects that were in the foreground and in the background. We also took note of how the horizon line is rarely is straight line.

I had them draw their background in pencil, adding any details that they wanted to have on their farm- reminding them to keep in mind size. They traced everything with a black marker.

They used oil pastels to color their barn, animals, trees, and at the end added white stars in the sky. They did not color their ground or sky with pastels.

Once the oil pastels were finished, we got out the watercolors again. They used the watercolors to paint their ground (most used green, however, a few used brown) and the sky. We were looking for a night sky, so most used black (we rarely get to use black watercolor, so this was pretty exciting!). I showed them how to dilute the color so that it was not pitch black.

When the background is dry, the students cut out their scarecrows and stuck them on using self-adhesive foam "O" to give it a 3-dimensional feel. I had pieces of raffia ready and they added these onto their scarecrow for a little more detail. Pin It

First Grade Warhol Hands

Materials Needed

• black construction paper- 24x10

• colored construction paper- 6x9

• tempera paint

• colored glue

Hands Can- Cheryl Hudson

Andy Warhol prints
Getting to Know series- Andy Warhol
 
We started this project by reading the book Hands Can and discussing all the things that our hands can do. Then I gave each student a piece of white drawing paper and had them trace their hand 3 times. I showed them how to trace without touching their fingers (we didn't want super skinny fingers) and how to close the hand at the bottom.
 
Then they cut out their hands. I demonstrated how to cut the paper by turning the paper, not the scissors. This really helped when it came to not cutting off fingers. When they had finished cutting all 3 of their hands, they were ready to start putting it all together.
 
Each student got a piece of black paper (24x9). We did a quick review of primary and secondary colors (you can read Mouse Paint at this point, if you want). We had just finished another project using primary and secondary colors, so we were able to review pretty quickly. The students get 3 pieces of colored paper in the colors that they chose.
 
They glued these onto their black paper:
1) using glue dots (just a dot, not a lot)
2) leaving a black frame around each piece
 
When the colored paper was glued, they were then able to glue their hands onto each piece. I reminded them that the hands would not fit completely on the paper; the fingers would run over onto the black paper. Again, they were to use glue dots, so that their paper would stay neat.
 

During the next class, we began making handprints, using the opposite colors that we had already used. I had trays of paint (all 6 colors) spread out on a counter. Each tray had a brayer on it. The students had to first look at their project and figure out which hand they were going to use to paint, by placing their hand onto their paper and figuring out which one fit. Then they walked over to the counter and rolled paint onto this hand, making sure to get all of the fingertips.
 
They walked back to their table (we had a discussion prior to this about appropriate behaviors- no running, no touching anyone or anything, how to wash our hands when we were finished, etc) and placed their hand one of the white hands, to create a print.
 
They washed their hands and repeated this 2 more times until all 3 colors had been used.
 
The last step of the project was to trace their painted handprints using colored glue (I make my one using acrylic paint and white school glue). They returned back to the original colors that they had used (the construction paper), so that the glue had a good contrast to the color of the hand. Pin It

First Grade Line Monsters

Materials Needed

• Watercolor paper
• Crayons
• Watercolor markers
• Spray bottles
• Thick black markers
• Scissors
• Black paper
• Construction paper crayons
• Line poster

I did this one around Halloween time. We read the book There's A Monster in My Closet by Mercer Mayer. We looked at all of the monsters in the book. We focused on eyes, teeth, fingers, etc. Then I had each student draw their very own monster. We talked about how it needed to be larger than their hand (we didn't want any mini-monsters). They could draw as many arms, legs, eyes, etc as they wanted. It was their own creation. They traced their monster with a black marker.

We reviewed 2 concepts next: warm/cool colors and lines. They had to choose whether they wanted their monster to be warm or cool and then they filled their monster with a variety of lines: zig zag, wavy, spiral, dotted, etc using the colors that they had chosen (with crayons).

I demonstrated how to paint their monster using a wet-on-wet wash, continuing with the same colors that they were already using.

They cut their monsters out (we reviewed how to hold our scissors) and glued them onto a piece of black construction paper with glue dots ("just a dot, not a lot").

We finished the project by tracing around the monsters with construction paper crayons (they show up really well on the black paper) in the opposite color scheme than they had previously used. Pin It