Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Cave paintings - DONE!


I must be blogoholic because I've been posting a LOT lately. But it seems like a bunch of artwork got done at once, and I wanted to get these photos off my camera and onto the computer, so this was a natural next-step.

These are "cave" paintings by my 4th graders, painted while sitting or lying on the floor in the dark under the tables, closed in by cardboard walls, working by the light of flashlights (as I showed in a prior post). Some of the paintings did not come out so great, probably because the kids couldn't see what the heck they were doing. Also, the surface of some of the "rocks" were a bit rough, if the student didn't knead his hunk of recycled paper glop enough before forming a patty. Anyhow, these individual photos are some of the BETTER pieces.
But no matter how the product LOOKS - I also had some kids tell me today that these were the BEST art classes of their life (though another child disputed that making a papier-mache tiki last year was pretty awesome too).
All I know is, changing the art room environment took a bit of time, effort, and planning to set up, but totally worth it. The kids think their work is great and will remember this project.
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Below is the entire bulletin board display. The handprints were done by the kids on brown paper hung on the wall. We were going to spray (stencil) some hands also, but my spray bottle kept clogging and dripping and we gave up on it and stuck to stamping the hands.

3 comments:

  1. These look great! This is such a fun topic to teach. I haven't done it in a few years but your pics are inspiring to start again!!

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  2. I'm im LOVE! With the process and product. It is really a memorable unit. As a grown up I don't remember much from elementary school. . .but I did have a teacher like you who let us make teepees, mocassins, she even brought in an electric blanket and hot chocolate and big recliner chair for a student who earned reading points. When you earned all your reading points you got to sit in the chair and she served you hot chocolate and a book! I'm sure you two would get along just fine. The funny thing is I went back to teach at the school and saw her. I told her she was my favorite teacher and she didn't remember me. That is what is so amazing when you impact SOOO many kids. You probably have had kids come to you saying that (just pretend you remember them!) haha

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  3. I'm curious as to whether many of you use the Lascaux website with your students. I used to love it - it has a flashlight that illuminated whatever you clicked on. The site revamped a year or so ago, and it moves you down through the cave, but it is hard to get it in ENGLISH and I find it very frustrating moving around. Drives me crazy.

    Thanks Erica, I try to remember all the kids but it's tough! But I have a LOT of students these days whose parents (one or both) were also my students! It amazes me when they show up at Open House.

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