Project #13 - Lacy Clay Ornaments

The last lesson that was taught was taught by Melanie Jorgenson and Karla Jorgenson. They taught us about different styles of lace. They told us the history of lace and how we would make clay look like lace. We were instructed to draw a rough sketch of what we wanted our ornament to look like. We needed to make it big enough, because we would be using the sketch as an outline for our ornament. After we drew it out and traced it with a Sharpie, we taped a piece of wax paper over top of it. Then, we were given a baggie of clay and water. We had to knead the two together to make sure it was mixed together well. Next, we had to cut a small corner off of the baggie. We had to act like we were frosting a cake, and outline on the wax of our sketch of our ornament. We got to paint with water colors as the clay dried.


For an extension activity, I would have children decorate different ornaments for the city’s Christmas tree or design an ornament for a family member such as a parent or a sibling. They could even draw ornaments in scale and proportions. If one ornament they drew was 2 inches across, the next one they made had to be twice as big as an example. The students would understand proportions and a math lesson would be integrated.

Project #12 - Stepping Stones

The lesson taught by Jackie Eikamp and Kirsten Cronin was stepping stones. They made us bring in a photo that meant a lot to us previously. They laminated them for us as well. During our lesson, we were instructed to shake the cement around in our container to get all of the air bubbles out. We had to draw out a rough sketch of what we wanted to do. After we had our sketch done, we had to place paper towels on our cement to soak up any excess water. We then had to place the picture and decorate however we wanted our stepping stone to be. They taught us mosaic, balance, and other different designs. My design was balanced because I had the same things on both sides of my stepping stone.


For an extension activity, I would have students decorate a garden area that was allowed by the principal. They could plant a flower and then would be responsible for the growth of their plant. After each week, they would have to measure their plant/flower to chart the growth of it. Students would get a math lesson as well as a science lesson integrated into this. They would use their stepping stones as a decoration for the classroom’s garden.

Project #11 - Print it!

The print making lesson was taught by Allison Vetch and Laura Opsahl. They taught us different terms that were related to print making such as roller. We had to draw a sketch of what was going to be on our egg. They chose eggs, because it's close to Easter. We could decorate it however we wanted to. We then had to take our meat foam trays and press the part we didn't want to print, down. After we went through that step, we went to the ink. We had to make sure that the art was evenly laid out on the foam tray. We then placed a piece of paper on top of our meat trays, and pressed firmly. We had to let them air dry as we continued to do three more. After they were dry, we had to place them on a piece of construction paper with our name on the bottom.


For an extension activity, I would have students place all their different eggs together and place them in a basket drawn on a bulletin board. This way the class would have a basket full of their eggs for a display for Easter. To go with the egg theme, you could teach students how to write a poem. They could write a short poem and write it on one of their eggs. You could then display it on the walls of the hallway in your school.

Project #10 - Scratch Art

The next lesson was taught by Nicole Bruemmer and Justin Kiefer. We learned about scratch art. We learned different terms such as hatching and cross hatching. We learned the different styles of scratch art, and what each of them looked like. We were to design a picture from the shape that was given to us. I thought my shape looked like an ax, so I drew a log that was going to be cut in half. I used circles, hatching, and cross hatching on my scratch art. I tried to use it more close together and then space it out more to make the log look like it was rounded. We then had to place it on a piece of paper to add more to it and a border.


For an extension activity, I would teach the students how to shade with the different techniques. This way they could have to draw a rounded object and have to use the different techniques to show light and dark values on the scratch art. Students could use this for just regular drawing as well rather than just for scratch art. This would help the students with using different ways to shade rather than just with the side of a pencil.

Project #9 - Pop of Pop Art

The next art lesson was taught by Ms. Mammenga and Ms. Katzenberger. They taught us about Andy Warhol through a power point. After the power point, we had to draw a specific thing with our group. We then had to trace it with a black marker. After we traced it, we had to choose from either warm colors, cool colors, monochromatic, or analogous colors. We learned that this meant that the colors were next to each other on the color wheel. I chose warm colors, so I first colored my vase yellow, and then colored around it with orange, and around the orange with red. We were taught to either blend our colors together by coloring around or near and rubbing them together or coloring right on top of one another to rub them together. I rubbed them together when the colors were close together. After we were done coloring them and blending, we had to place a black background on them that was an inch around on each side.


For an extension activity: I could have students use math to draw things to scale. I would have them draw very little things like a paper clip or a pencil that they would have to draw to scale to make them bigger on their piece of paper. This would use a lot of good math skills.

Project #8 - Rainbow Fish Collage

For our next peer lesson, Ms. Anderson and Ms. Deslauriers taught us about paper collages. They reviewed the book Rainbow Fish, and then instructed us with our art project. We were instructed to draw out a fish of any sort, and then to trace it with black marker. After we cut it out, we then had to rip out small pieces of paper to make a collage on our fish. We could use any colors that we wanted. We reviewed primary and secondary colors. We also reviewed that a collage was any paper or pictures put together in an artistic way. We could then add sequins to our fish to make it look like the Rainbow Fish.

For an extentsion activity: I would have students create a fishbowl on a bulletin board. We could have it measured out and make sure that the bulletin board would fit the fishbowl. We could then place our fish inside the bowl. Also, for writing, we could have students write a small story about their fish that they drew. We could have the students also share their stories when they were finished with them.

Project #7 - Pebble Painting

The next lesson was mine and Pam's about Pebble Painting. We introduced the lesson with the story "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" by William Stieg. I paraphrased the story, and then Pam went on explaining how to do our project. Students were instructed to place a piece of paper on the bottom of their boxes, and then to pick a pebble to dip into a primary color. Placing the pebble in the corner of the box, they had to shake the pebble around so that they would "paint" with their pebble. The students then went to a different table to a different primary color and use a different sized pebble. After the students had three different sized pebble paintings with the three primary colors, they students then made a secondary color. The students were instructed to place two spoonfuls of two primary colors inside the box, and then choose a pebble to mix the paint around the paper to make a secondary color. After the student had four different paintings, they were instructed to cut out shapes and place them on a piece of large construction paper.

Extension activity: I would have students use writing with their paintings. We had included this in our rubric, and told students to write about what types of shapes or things they saw in their paintings. Students could describe those things or they could write a story with their paintings. They would be allowed to share these with their peers.