It is sage advice for us as teachers not to reinvent the wheel’, and it is so nice when it is followed up with a good idea. Carmen’s Financial Resource link will go in my ‘back pocket’ of resources to use when in an upper grade, as will many of the ideas and suggestions from the teachers in this blog. To add to the blog’s repertoire of ‘resourceful ideas’ I have one to share that can be adapted to any grade and it has been successful with my Grade 1’s.
One of the initiatives at my school is to be more ecologically conservative (waste less, conserve, recycle and reuse). In this spirit, I have planned some creative cross-curricular art activities that have the students re-using found materials and scrap materials in the classroom. It’s a simple formula for me to follow, requiring us to use what’s available in the classroom and it results in art work that the students become very engaged in and that is meaningful to them:
I start with a picture book or unit theme to act as a springboard to the task. From the unit/book I select something for the students to create in their own image (for example, at the beginning of the school year we read the story ‘Chrysanthemum’ by Kevin Henkes).
I then have the students design a ‘plan’ of their work, mapping out the materials and colour schemes of their work (in this case, a flower that reflects their own individuality, much like Chrysanthemum’s name in the story book).
I give the students a wide variety of materials to choose from (scrap paper, coffee filters, markers, crayons, pastels, water, old wrapping paper, foil, foam etc. ) to construct their item and encourage them t o follow their plan as they create.
I usually follow up the activity with a writing task which can be linked to a variety of Language expectations (writing in the voice of their created item, descriptive writing, narrative etc.)
It’s incredible how enthusiastic and engaged the students are in these kind of activities because it reflects their own creativity and individuality. There is no wrong answer as the artwork and writing is the students’ own creation, and it is a rich task that acts as a vehicle for me to teach and assess specific strands of the curriculum that need to be applied to their work.
I am attaching a picture of the flowers created at the beginning of the school year, and I will attach more photos in the new year of the students’ more recent creations (*the leaves of the flowers show student writing: “I am special because…”)
