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Oil Pastel Butterfly

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Description: For this activity, we used a combination of oil pastels and water color paint to create half of a butterfly wing. We began by receiving a blank piece of white construction paper and a wing template. Using the template we traced out the wing, and discussed organic and geometric shapes. Next, we drew in the shapes we wanted on the inside of our wing. After we completed that we outlined all of our pencil marks in sharpie. Next, we chose either a warm color palette or cool color palette to color the inside of our wing using oil pastels (I chose a warm color palette). After we finished coloring in our wing using blending and the color palette we chose, we used the opposite color palette from our wing to paint the background. We used watercolor paints and the wet-on-wet technique (getting the area super wet with water and then tapping the paint onto the wet and letting it spread on its own) to create a background with the opposite color palette. Extension Activity: As an extensi...
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Clay "Balanced Meal" Project

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Description: For this activity we were asked to make three different foods from three different food groups out of clay. We began by going over what a balanced meal looks like and the different food groups. Then we were asked to choose three foods each from a different group, and write them down. Next we were given our clay slabs, which we kneaded the air out of. Then we rolled out the clay, and traced our chosen foods onto the slab. Next, we cut out each food and used different methods such as slip and score and coils to create the food. After we finished creating each food, we carved our initials on the back, and received paint. Finally, we painted each food to look as "realistic" as possible, then left it to dry. Extension Activity: As a possible extension for this activity, students could create their own plate where they label each food group to represent what a balanced meal should look like and place the foods they made out of clay on their respective groups. This way ...
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The Seasons

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  Description: For this activity, we began by learning about the four seasons and defining characteristics of each. Then, we were given a piece of white construction paper and folded it in half to create a crease that separated the paper into two sides. We were next instructed to draw a tree on each half that looked similar to each other, and pick two seasons that we wanted to focus on. I chose spring and fall. Then we began drawing our seasons we chose in pencil, having one side be spring and one side be fall. We were expected to include least two different characteristics for each season, which we then colored in using two different mediums (I used marker and crayon). After this we used a ruler and marked the paper for each inch, and labeled the marks using skip counting. One side was labeled 1, 3, 5...etc. and the other side was labeled 2, 4, 6...etc. We then took another piece of white construction paper and marked it for each inch, but we did not label this one. Instead, we fo...
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Vegetable Printmaking

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Description: For this activity, we used stencils and vegetables to do jelly printmaking. We began by placing a thin layer of pain on the jelly, and then we used vegetables to make various prints in the paint. After that, we placed paper on top of the prints we made and rolled the paper onto the jelly. The paint and prints transferred onto the paper, creating various artworks. We then cut out the different prints we made on the paper and glued them onto a large piece of construction paper to make a gallery. Finally, we wrote 1-2 sentences describing the prints we made.  Extension Activity: As an extension for this activity, you can use different items to make prints. For example, you can connect the project to a social studies lesson about fossils. You can have students create fossil prints, similar to what they would see for trace fossils in a museum. The students can then describe which fossil they printed on their galleries.   
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Watercolor Galaxies

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Description: For this activity, we used crayon and water colors to create a galaxy. First, we began by learning different techniques for how to use watercolor. Next, we talked about how crayon is resistant to watercolor and can be used to create drawings that will show up even when watercolor is put over it. Then, we drew at least one constellation on our paper and some stars or a moon if we wanted. Then we drew a landscape, for mine I included some trees and hills. After that, we painted watercolor that was meant to look like a galaxy.  Extension Activity: As an extension for this activity, it could be connect to a science lesson about astronomy. By discussing galaxies, stars, and constellations, students can learn some basic astronomical concepts. Students can also label or write about the galaxy they created.  
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Paper Sculpture Whoville

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  Description: For this activity we created our own version of Whoville using paper strips and glue. First, we decorated the paper strips with different patterns using sharpie. Next, we learned about four different types of folds we could use to fold the paper strips to create cool sculptures and folded tabs into them to prepare them to be glued to the paper. Then we used a glue stick to glue the small tabs we made to the paper in whatever places we wanted. This resulted in a 3-D Whoville of our own.  Extension Activity: As a possible extension for this activity, it could be connected to a reading and writing unit. Children can either read themselves or listen to the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas being read aloud which features Whoville as its setting. In addition to this, students could also write a brief paragraph about what makes their Whoville unique. 
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Perspective Drawing

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  Description: In this activity, we learned about how to draw with perspective. We started by drawing a dot in the center of the paper and then drew several different rectangles around the dot. Next, we connected all of the rectangles to the dot using a ruler to draw straight lines. Then we drew different patterns onto each rectangle, and finally we colored the lines connecting the rectangles to the dot with oil pastels to help show perspective. It ultimately created the illusion of a birds-eye view perspective. We also outlined everything in sharpie, to help make the project neat and help it to stand out.  Extension Activity: A possible extension activity is to connect this project to writing. The result of the project looks very similar to a city, so students could write a brief short story about who lives there, what the city is like, etc. based upon how old the students are.   
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