2013 Group Mural: Walking the Line

I saw this idea on pinterest and had my 6th graders create a Walking Line Mural. We had a couple of days were class was 30 minutes due to state testing and that just isn't enough time to work on big projects. To organize the mural I had the students make a single file line with a pencil in their hand. I gave each student a piece a white watercolor paper. The first student was directed draw a squiggly line that went all the way across their paper. The second student had to connect their line to the end of the first one. The students were directed to write their name and their number on the back of their paper so I could display them in order. Each student connected their line to the previous line until every kid had drawn a portion of the mural.

The students were directed to paint their line with 3 different watercolors making it bright and bold. In the white space around the colored line they were instructed to use pencil and divide their space into 10 sections. Each section then had a unique line design drawn in so all 10 spaces looked different. Lastly the students outlined their pencil in sharpie.  This was a simple 2 day project and the kids were excited to see their mural on display and I liked that my white walls looked more creative.

2013 Group Mural: Silhouettes

These silhouettes were created by students that finished their art projects early. This took an entire quarter to complete and all 3 grade levels worked on it. To begin with I had my smallest class (9 students) trace their bodies on butcher paper. I had them choose their pose based upon an activity a middle school student would participate in. These kids were very musical so most of the figures were playing instruments.

As students finished projects early I assigned them to tear pages out of magazines looking for specific colors. I had a couple of days were I had an entire class do this step while they waited for their clay to fire. Some students tore out pages, some students used circle stencils and traced various sizes of circles with sharpies onto the colored pages. A third group of students cut out these circles. We kept the circles organized in envelopes by color groups. When I had plenty of circles cut out I had students begin to glue down the circles with rubber cement. I let the students pick their color schemes and love the final result.

These silhouettes filled my display cases 1st quarter. I got a lot of complements by the staff and the kids liked seeing the final product (especially the ones that got stuck cutting out all the circles as that was super tedious). They have since made their way onto the doors of my clay room.

I wish I could get these pictures to rotate...frustrating!

2013 Group Mural: Op Art

I decided this quarter that my early finishers would work on a group mural that I could hang in my clay room.  I saw this idea on pinterest and adjusted it a bit. This mural required little organization on my part. I took 4 pieces of watercolor paper that were 36 in x 24 in and set them in a block of 4. I sketched the outline of an optical illusion in pencil. Then as students finished their art projects they were instructed to begin coloring in the sections to the mural with oil pastel. I gave them no rules and let them color any way they wanted. I love the final result and how bright and colorful it made my wall.