MES Nature Art

This week was all about getting out and celebrating Earth Day.

Kindergarten watched a telling of the Lorax and created their own collage with the Truffula Trees (always a good theme).

1st grade discussed migration and the return of birds with their bird mobiles. We practiced drawing a bird on paper then traced it onto transparency film.

To make the Earth better: Be nice to butterflies.

To make the Earth better: Plant Flowers

2nd grade brainstormed many ways to help the earth then drew their thoughts in chalk outside.

3rd, 4th, and 5th grade watched a video of Andy Goldsworthy and made collages using natural materials. They could try to make a design or simply play with the media. Very creative solutions. 

Spring Family Day 2015

Participants at the Selfie Station.

Today was the Spring Family Day at the Frist. I didn't get to get any of my own pictures, but here are some I pulled from the Frist Center's Facebook Page.

Creating royal paper hats in the studio.

In addition to these activities, we also had triorama making, wooden peg dolls, dancing, performances, and all of the wonderful activities we always have in Art Quest.

MES Flower Art

Lots of floral art for spring time at MES this week. 2nd grade was asked to draw the most realistic and detailed flower they could from observing fake flowers on their desk. We then made graphs showing what color choices we liked best from the drawings in the room. These kids did a great job with the math activity, and it was a fun way to get them to use math practically and look at everyone's art. 

1st grade discussed the parts of a plant and what their jobs are, then drew their own flower after working together to label the parts on a handout.

3rd grade was show Van Gogh's Sunflowers then asked to draw a real or imaginary flower in a vase. Love the contrast, I wish we could have used black paper for all of these. 

Kindergarten looked at Georgia O'Keefe's flower paintings and tried to draw the biggest flower possible.

MES Origami

I was so intimidated to teach this, but also thankful because I have a lot of origami planned for summer camp and this was great practice! Students worked to complete origami cat & dog heads, stars, hopping frogs, and kites. Some of them got really creative in their designs. A few classroom teachers also did origami in their classrooms this week, incorporating angles and fractions, which we also discussed in the art room. So happy to have cooperative and enthusiastic coworkers. :)

You can view the PPT I used here. Not a lot of direction, but the images for the projects are posted. 

Spring Break STEM Camp

Image take from Camp STEM's Instagram.

This experience was different and so fun. The campers made two projects, clay fossils and felt algae. It was wonderful to have the scientific background and the elements of our surroundings to pull from for these lessons. Also, they're just a great group of kids that I'd love to work with again. :)

You can visit their website here. 

You can view an article written by MTSU on the STEM Camp experience here for more details on the other activities. 

Camper's Fossil

Check out a video of the background on this project on Camp STEM's Instagram.

Fossil Station Set Up

Me helping a camper with her fossil. Image taken from Camp STEM's Instagram. 

You can view more details about the lessons, including lesson plans, in my previous post. 

Nora Peebles-Ross working on her algae. Image taken from MTSU's article.

Michael sewing his algae. Image from Camp STEM's Instagram.

Find a video on the background of this algae project on Camp STEM's Instagram here.

And a bonus adorable picture. All-in-One Recycling did an activity with the kids and brought a tiny version of the truck that has our artwork on it from the collaborative project with Campus School's Girls in Science Club from last year. I love seeing these drive around town. ^_^

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More Information on Camp STEM. Hopefully we'll be back for summer camp as well. :)

Camp STEM's Facebook

Camp STEM's Twitter

Camp STEM's Instagram