Flying kites and boomerangs

                                     

                                                                       Painting by a first grader.

The wind continues to blow, but after watching the news, I feel lucky that it is only blustery wind we are getting around here.

I was hoping for a mild day today so my third grade class could go out into the field and practice throwing and catching their four wing boomerangs. They had made their boomerangs last week, but there wasn't time to go outside and test throw them at the time. We did toss them around in the classroom a bit, and they would have flown much better had they not had bookshelves, cabinets, and walls to crash into! So I told the kids that "next time" we get together, if the weather is mild, we could go outside and play with our handmade, posterboard boomerangs.

                             

Today was that day, but alas, the ground is still wet from the weekend showers, and the wind kicked up enough to fly a kite. No boomerangs flew today. Instead, we began a 'handprint' painting based on Aboriginal design (using lines and dots).

In case you are interested in those handmade boomerangs, which are pretty nifty, btw... they really work... click here for boomerang pattern. Here is the link to the directions for making it. Here is a lesson plan for boomerang fun at Educational World that any teacher could use for making boomerangs, with links for information about boomerangs.

Tomorrow morning I'm working with a group of fifth graders who are making tessellations. M.C. Escher is one of my favorite artists. I'll be talking about his work, and showing examples. I hope to get some photos of the students' work... perhaps something I can post.

                                     

That's one of the perks of being an art teacher... instant access to new work being created every day. On the one hand, I don't want the kids to make a mess because I need to get ready for the next class to walk in. Yet, the creative person inside of me is saying "Yes! make a mess... explore the medium, mix the colors, find out what happens when you do this or that...!"

                             

The paint palettes are messy... some colors are completely used up. Every day someone tells me this color or that color is gone, and I replace it with a refill color. Red, yellow, and blue are the ones that get used up first, which makes sense as they are the primary colors. The students are learning how to hold the brush properly, how to clean it between changing colors, and how to be patient ... sometimes the artist has to wait while one color dries before laying down another color. That's a difficult one to learn.

                                     

One teacher hung up all her students' kite flying paintings in one big display... it made quite an impressive image.

I don't remember having art classes like this when I was in elementary school. Seldom did I get to paint. Crayons, cutting and pasting construction paper, and sometimes tape were generally the materials we used.

There is an interesting phenomenon that takes place when Kinders and first graders paint... well, actually, I've seen it happen at all grade levels.

It happens when a student stirs up the water in his cup. I see the grin on his face. He stares into the cup, mesmerized by how it changes color when he dips his brush in to clean it, and I know he is fascinated more by the water changing colors than the picture he has just finished painting.

I'm pretty sure it's because he/she lives in the moment... I could learn from that observation.

Mental note to self: next year, allow more time for the kinders to stir their watercolor water before I tell them to dump it in the sink!

 

Tags: Student art work, flying kites, making boomerangs, MC Escher, tessellations