Live Christmas Tree Sculptures: 5th Grade Group Activity

So today I was able to try out a pin I found on Pinterest for a group activity.  I did it with those elostreous 5th graders...and it was AWESOME!  They were really into it.  I let them choose their own groups for this and it was a blast!

Here's what we did:

I gave each group a tray with the following: green streamers, tape, wire, pipe cleaners, yarn and foam shapes.  If they wanted anything else for their tree, they had to ask me during "production".

Everyone started wrapping and creating!

I dare say, but I really wanted to keep a few of these students wrapped up all day! ;)

I invited our principal to check out our "project" and she helped out the group on the right make a star hat!



Requisition Time!

I know most other teachers at my school cringe when it comes time to do the requisitions for next year...even the other art teacher hates it!  Me, on the other hand, I LOVE it!  I am a neat freak when it comes to organization (though you wouldn't be able to tell by my desk...) so I use this time to take inventory of what I have "in stock".

I'm not sure how other schools do this but we must have our requisitions in by the first week in January for the next year.  We have the opportunity to buy from the Boces bids or order from places like Dick Blick or Nasco.  I generally get my paper supplies, pipe cleaners, buttons, beads, etc. from the Boces bid (not always the best quality, especially the construction paper, but I have to give somewhere.  The watercolor paper is at least good!)  I turn to Nasco and Dick Blick for everything else.  A lot of the time, they tend to be cheaper than the Boces bids and of much better quality.

For example, when I bought Elmer's glue my first year, it was the Elmer's School Glue (which isn't very good I've learned) and over half the bottles were clogged and really hard to squeeze when I got them!  This last year, I bought the glue from Dick Blick and it was of much better quality...I think only 2 of 24 bottles had to be unclogged when I got them.

Anyways, the point of this post is for me to share my Art Room Inventory list that I created to go through my supplies and figure out what I do and don't have.  Since I haven't figured out how to sync Google Documents with my blog yet, I have shared my Art Room Inventory on the smART teacher website.  You can find it here.  These are all of the basic supplies that I take an inventory of every year to gauge my requisitions by.  I don't include glazes because I am usually out at the end of the year and I just order different class packs every year.  Hope it can be of some use to my followers!

6th Grade: Ancient Egypt Unit

Two weeks ago I started the Ancient Egypt unit with my 6th graders.  As of right now, we are three days into it.  On the first day, we filled out the first three pages in the note packet, which consisted of notes about hieroglyphics, the Rosetta Stone, and the evolution of the pyramid.

For the first project, students are making paper sculptures of a pyramid.  On the outside they must make it look like a pyramid (we'll even add some real sand texture when finished) and on the inside, they must have the following: (1)a diagram of the rooms inside the pyramid, (2) hieroglyphics and (3) tomb paintings.   When we are finished, I'll give them a little bit of velcro for the flap to close and open the pyramid sculpture easily.

The 6th grade actually just started learning about Ancient Egypt in class too, so this was perfect timing!  I love it when things in art class match what they are doing in social studies...especially when I see the light bulb go off in their heads!

To do these pyramid sculptures, I had them trace a pattern I made, cut it and fold it along the lines.  I made my own pattern out of 18"x12" card stock.  I simply printed off a triangle from Microsoft Office and pieces it together to make my own pattern.  You can find a smaller version for 8 1/2"x11" paper on The SmART Teacher (which is, by the way, my new addiction!).  This pattern differs a little from mine as I don't have a bottom piece for our pyramids.

More pictures to come upon completion!

I showed students the rubric before having them complete these...in my rubric it does say that to receive a 4 in some categories, you should use a ruler...hmmmm...