6th Grade: Crayon Batik

I'm starting this project with one of my 6th grade classes this week! I'm going to have each student draw something that is a plant (flowers, leaves, trees, etc.). For my example, I drew The Tree of Gondor from The Lord of the Rings. This project has really great potential if students can follow directions well!

Step One: Plan out/draw the plant on a 12x12 piece of paper. I used white construction paper. The paper, of course, needs to be white in order for this to work!

Step Two: Color in the design. In order for this to work, you will need to press hard with your crayons to create thick, waxy layers. Anything that you want to make black, you should not color in - anything left "blank" will end up being black! For some reason, I wanted my tree to be white. I don't need to tell you why that was difficult!

Here is my completed coloring.

Step Three: Crinkle that paper! CAREFULLY! Otherwise it might rip on the edges. I've done it a few different ways.

• Option 1: Crinkle and uncrinkle the paper around eight times.
  
• Option 2: Crinkle the paper vertically, horizontally, diagonally, opposite-diagonally, etc.
  
  Basically, just crinkle it a lot.

Step Four: Smooth that paper out to prep for painting!

Step Five: Mix black tempera paint with a small amount of water and paint the entire paper with it! Crinkling the paper creates cracks in the waxy surface created by the crayons. The black paint mixture will fill in the cracks - batik! I really saturate the top to make sure I don't miss any spots.

Step Six: With a paper towel dab the excess paint off of the paper. Do not wipe it off! If you wipe it off, it will smear black paint all over your pretty picture! Dab, dab, DAB! There should be no pooling of paint by the time you are done dabbing.

Step Seven: Set your picture out to dry! You're done! Gaze with wonder at the beauty you've created!

3D Paper Relief: Radial Symmetry

 

This project is seriously the coolest! As a class, we discussed different kinds of symmetry with a focus on radial symmetry. With our limited amount of class time (only 30 minutes!) It's hard to do 3D projects like clay, plaster, etc. This project allowed students to make something 3D and introduced simple origami folds. I pre-cut 2 inch squares in a variety of colors for my students. I used colored printer paper from the office rather than construction paper because it's so much easier to fold. My only rules were that it needed to have radial symmetry and, of course, craftsmanship!

Here are the folding steps:

Start with a square

 \

Fold into a triangle (bottom left corner to top right corner)

Fold the top layer's triangle in half: tip to bottom 

Repeat on the other side

It should look like this from above

Push the flaps down to be flat. The little triangle flaps will be where glue is placed.

These little papers should fit right into each other!

Students started gluing along either a "+" shape or an "x" shape. Some of my students were creative and came up with more complicated designs! Here are a few examples:

This last example is the same lesson, but accommodated for a student who struggles with fine-motor skills like paper folding. He was really excited once we figured out a project he could do with ease!

Tints & Shades in a Landscape

Another project I did with 4-6th grade involving tints and shades. We went over how the front layers have more detail, and how things get smaller and more faded as they are further away. Students picked out one color for their artwork and were seated with other students using those same colors. Students added details with crayon/oil pastel after the painting part. To finish, I had the students write a 6-sentence paragraph describing the scene. These turned out so nicely!

Vocabulary:
Monochromatic
Tint
Shade
Perspective
Landscape

Symmetry: 4-6th Grade

I have been so busy, I've forgotten all about posting on here! This is a project my 4-6th graders did at the beginning of the year. We talked about symmetry and emphasis. This is also a good project for positive/negative space! Students were instructed to use complementary colors unless they had permission from me to do otherwise.

Zentangle Portraits: 6th Grade

This project is pretty simple. After drawing self-portraits, students split the hair into sections and added patterns. All pencil lines were traced over with a fine-point black marker. Patterns were not done in pencil first, but rather right away with the marker.

Tree of Life: 6th Grade

In sixth grade, we studied movement. I have always thought that Klimt's Tree of Life looks like it's moving! My students agreed and we set to each creating our own Tree of Life. Students used tempera paint and oil pastels to create these beautiful, unnatural trees!

I wish this student had been able to finish! He was working very steadily and doing an amazing job!

Radial Symmetry: 6th Grade

Sorry about my awful photography on these next projects! I introduced my sixth graders to types of symmetry before tackling this project. To accomplish this project, I pre-cut paper into squares (12x12) and had my students fold them into eighths. I had a box of shapes on the counter for students to start out with. I encouraged students to add their own organic shapes as well.

A lot of students struggled with knowing where things repeated, but most of the students understood after the first day.

Pictured below is my own, unfinished example:

A few of my students are fellow Doctor Who fans!

These students did an EXCELLENT job on their pieces!

A display at one of my elementary schools.