Fantastic Castles

The first project of the school year is finally done and hanging! -- well at least the 6th grade one is. We spent an entire class mod (about 80minutes) looking at and discussing architecture from around the world and through out time. They really liked seeing all the different buildings and even commented on how even though they are from different cultures and times they all have similar features. 

I was really impressed with their ability to figure that out as well as articulate it.

After discussing everything they began to draw their castles out. Some students focused on castles, others were really interested in the catherdals. Especally St. Basil's in Moscow Russia. They kept calling the onion domes hersey kisses. It was really cute.

The level of discussion and talent in the 6th grade never ceases to amaze me. They are a constant surprise with their vocabulary and ideas.

After they had drawn out their castles we talked about and looked at different types of patterns. They had to decorate the facade of their castle with different patterns. 

Eventually the castles were cut out and glue to a piece of watercolor paper that had been given a colorful watercolor wash background. The contrast between the black and white buildings and the backgrounds are great! I just love how they came out.

I am extremely please with the way they all came out. I cant wait to see what else theses students have in store for the rest of the year. 6th grade is always exciting for me -- new kids coming from all different elementary schools -- it is just great! 

the only bad thing is --- this is the first time most of the have art. It is horrible that the kids have to suffer no art in elementary schools because of budget reasons.

But the end of a project is both a sad and a happy time. We are going to try to stay happy!

Education Wenesday

I try to teach a very multicultural curriculum in my art room. Although I may not be completely versed in all types and forms of art history I tend to do a serious amount of research before teaching the topics to my students.

Here in Maryland, 7th grade students cover both Ancient and Modern China in Social Studies. I love the idea of matching what they are learning in their core classes to art that I had to jump on this chance.

Here I covered the history behind Chinese Calligraphy and we discussed the popularity of the Calligraphy Characters as tattoos. I gave the students a list of commonly used Chinese Characters and they had to choose three that represented parts of themselves like honesty, trustworthy, courage, etc.

The only hard part was to use the calligraphy brushes in the traditional manner. Trust me when I tell you that creating Chinese Calligraphy isnt as easy as one would think. This art form takes years and years of practice to get it right. After one afternoon of trying to do it told me that I dont have the patience to study Chinese Calligraphy.

But the students loved it!!! All my other grades wanted to do the project and didnt understand why they couldnt. My answer to them was that each grade does different projects just like in the core classes they learn different topics and study different things each year. Well, that didnt go over very well. But my 6th graders are really excited to do this project next year.