Our art room has sounded a bit like a rain storm these past few weeks with the tap, tap, taps of the 5th and 6th grade sharpie markers. I had somehow convinced them to do an experiment with me in which they had to try to work silently every day for an entire 10 minutes and during this time our sharpie rainstorm was even more prevalent. It would seem as though this sort of sound should be the kind of thing that would drive someone crazy. Repetitive tapping sounds? Not really my thing. It also drove my sub crazy the one day I had one in there. But the sound of engagement? YES! That tap, tap, tapping became a soothing sound to me. I knew the kids were wrapped up in making their dots perfectly, trying to mix colors, and trying to make their selected image pop out from the page. Once they were allowed to talk they would beg their friends to hold up their picture so they could step back and look at it from far away to see their progress. I was a proud art teacher.
I think though that my proudest, and happiest moment, was when one student came up to me and was struggling to fit her Bambi image on the page. She had came up with a solution to make it into a colorful grid instead, kind of like "what was that guys name again? Andy Warhol?" YES! yes it is Andy Warhol! I love to hear that my students are actually learning something in my room. They are learning artist names and using them to better their projects and even to beat their friends on Trivia Crack (which I think is awesome and hilarious). One student even asked me if he could do another when he finished his first one.
Needless to say this has probably been one of my favorite projects so far (and I know I say that in just about every post). I just love how much they took the project and ran with it. We studied George Seurat and Paul Signac. I showed them pictures from my recent Chicago trip in which I actually got to see Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grande Jatte and explained how I nerded out and cried a little when I got to see my favorite painting in person. We practiced mixing colors using only the dots made from the tip of a sharpie marker and then the students got to practice their pointillism in creating their very own selected image. I will for SURE be doing this project again in my classroom in the coming years.
I think though that my proudest, and happiest moment, was when one student came up to me and was struggling to fit her Bambi image on the page. She had came up with a solution to make it into a colorful grid instead, kind of like "what was that guys name again? Andy Warhol?" YES! yes it is Andy Warhol! I love to hear that my students are actually learning something in my room. They are learning artist names and using them to better their projects and even to beat their friends on Trivia Crack (which I think is awesome and hilarious). One student even asked me if he could do another when he finished his first one.
Needless to say this has probably been one of my favorite projects so far (and I know I say that in just about every post). I just love how much they took the project and ran with it. We studied George Seurat and Paul Signac. I showed them pictures from my recent Chicago trip in which I actually got to see Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grande Jatte and explained how I nerded out and cried a little when I got to see my favorite painting in person. We practiced mixing colors using only the dots made from the tip of a sharpie marker and then the students got to practice their pointillism in creating their very own selected image. I will for SURE be doing this project again in my classroom in the coming years.