Happiness is...

I decided to try something new this year in art. We always assume that students just like working with paint, paper and other art supplies to create images, designs and to express themselves. I come from a graphic design and art background but that doesn't mean I always like using the traditional mediums to be creative. 

This year, our classroom received Chromebooks and many students seemed interested in playing with Google Draw after we had done several activities with it in social and language arts. I took that interest and used an art project I usually do with construction paper (in the past, it has turned out fabulously) and modified it to be used with Google Draw. 

I think the results are outstanding. We worked for 3 45 minute periods. The students learned to overlap, copy and paste, add colour, different line thicknesses and to be creative in a totally different way. I even had a student who accidentally figured out how to add colour to the background but it then disappeared. He spent 45 minutes trying to figure it out and then proceeded to show EVERY student in the class how to do it. Good for him for problem solving. 

I am completely impressed with the amount of work students put into these images. If you feel like it please provide them with some feedback or comments. 

The Best Part of Me

My class has spent the last 3 weeks working on this project about body image. If you've never read this story you are truly missing out. The photographer decided she wanted to document images of a child's best part of themselves.

I've had this book for a number of years and just never did anything with it until this year. The students were given the task to come up with their best body part and explain why it was the best. We looked at the photos and built criteria around what the photos needed to look like. They had to figure out how to make them black and white thought the photo app. After they were finished their writing they went to work editing and then practicing their reading aloud. 

Please remember this is the beginning of October when this has been recorded. As a teacher I was struggling with doing this project, not because of the task bug the time commitment and the time away from regular instruction and building routines. After listening to them read and seeing their writing on their blogs I think I have quite a bit of information to assess them on and help them improve upon. I am confident that an improvement will  be made by the end of the year with their reading and writing. But for now I think they did a terrific job for this time of the school year. I hope you enjoy. There are 4 short videos and one more to be made.
Videos
Part #1

 


There is one more to come, I just have to finish it up.