Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mexican Celebration Week!

Last week, in art class, I presented Mexican Celebration Week! 99.5% of the students enjoyed the idea. The only complaints I received were from two Hispanic students that said that it was dumb that we were celebrating cinco de Mayo since it's not a big deal in Mexico. I know that it's not a big deal for the majority of Mexican's but we can still celebrate. After all, it's a good reason to add in some Mexican culture to our art class!

The older students (4th, 5th, and 6th) have been begging to make masks ever since they saw the first grader's Korean masks. Therefore, I showed them Juan Horta Castillo masks and discussed his fame throughout Mexico and the US.

The first through third graders made images of Market Day using colored papers and simple shapes to make complex shapes. I got the idea from HERE. Then I added in my own flair by showing the students the Visit Mexico poster and an image of a Mexican market (pg. 40).
Finally, in honor of Mexican Celebration week AND Mother's Day, the Kindergartners made flower bouquets using Dahlias, the official flower of Mexico.  I drew the flowers and stems and had them copied for the Kindergartners. They then cut everything out and colored the flowers (the stems were copied onto green paper).

Creativity Journal

Creativity: to create something novel and appropriate to the situation (see post: "What is Creativity," December 11, 2009)*

1. Create something out of the word simcha (joy/happiness/festivities/celebrations/etc)

2. Finish my chairs (See post, "Update: My Chairs")

3. Pottery

4. Start a children's Art class

5. Teach Art at a Women's Correctional Facility

6. Come up with assignments for the American Arts packet

7. Change the assignments in the Drama Costuming packet - the students will create 4-5 female and male costumes from the 11 time periods included in the packet, plus the final instead of only writing (copying and pasting) info about each time period.

8. Create a book exchange/book club for illiteracy/aliteracy

9. Learn Art in a foreign country

10. Write a book

11. Start a children's magazine for children by children and publish it on the web.

12. Create trees and hands (not necessarily together, but maybe?)

13. Blog book - only novel in the sense that it's my own writing!

14. Create a chess set (even though I don't personally play chess, lol!)

15. S'mores with a twist

16. 3D art - I admire other forms of art, but I personally only truly enjoy the physicallity and manipulative quality of 3D art. There's something truly living in 3D art that I miss in 2D art.

17. Sign language hands (alphabet/words)

18. Hands of twisted metal coils

19. use different types of materials to create imprints in clay (wire mesh)

20. A shelf/centerpiece holder (a couple of bricks on the bottom, long, thin wood, 12" width laying on top, block (thicker than the bricks on the bottom - 6"?) in middle, and a short piece of wood on the very top).

21. vase (fill baggie with rice and seal the bag, wheel thrown then carefully squish).

22. 3D collage out of meaningful paper.

23. Babushka doll style vase with side cutout (possibly put a piece of glass in the side opening)

24. Babushka dolls - make smallest one first, with side opening and something inside(?), then the next biggest - place small one inside next biggest when done with the bottom of it and secure the two together. Continue this process with side openings in each so that you can see all the way through to the inside "jem" in the smallest one!

25. atlas - split into pieces and reassemble into something new - mobile? encase each piece in between glass sheets, hang as a put together puzzle.

26. paper dolls & scenery out of different types of paper, paintings, collages, maps, etc.

27. A storm cloud with a silvery lining (mobile?) ceramic/paper mache

28. "baby ducklings" for each child, somehow uniquely different somehow, name and date of birth.

29. "stained glass" with veggies/fruits & other natural things. Lacquered and soldered.

30. Men's dress shirts with faux cuff links printed onto the cuffs or fancy/fun buttons to replace the buttons on a standard dress shirt. button clips? a button cover-up to go over existing buttons without changing the button itself.

31. A pottery wheel bat that has form attachments in order to create smooth indentations in the "bottom" of the piece being thrown.

32. "Quilt" of the six-day-Christian-creation-period.

33. A dollhouse book for paper dolls! such a cool idea!!

34. print your own fabric using a large "rolling pin" stamp?

35. Cloth nesting dolls

36. map topography - cut out all of the countries and continents and islands, layer then largest to smallest hang them slightly apart. From an actual map? or traced out onto something else?

*Please be creative and use your own ideas and not mine. Although if you are inspired by my ideas and the inspiration and not the idea itself is used, then by all means, use the inspiration!!

About Me

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I love visiting with family and friends, reading, teaching, art, and day dreaming about world travel, especially going to Ireland someday. In 2009, I earned a MAED in Elementary Education. In addition, I completed both the Reading and Elementary Math Endorsements during the 2013-2014 school year. Currently, I teach first grade and love it!

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