STEAM Lessons

Spring break is next week! I will be teaching two days at a STEM camp doing STEM-related art lessons with 3rd-6th grade students. These are the lessons I've come up with in this short time to share. I've given my friend in charge these four lessons, he will choose two that we will do next week. 

Feel free to use them with your students. Some are high-end and very costly, but would be great for small groups (art clubs, home school, etc.), and a couple are very cheap and can be done with standard art supplies you may already have around. (There may be some specific notes from me to him on there, ignore those and enjoy the free lessons.)

Image found at Whimsie.com

This first is the most expensive, but very cool. It's using chemical reactions of potassium sulfate and copper to create a relief sculpture with a dark patina. You can view the lesson in PDF form here.

Etsy Shop can be found here.

The next was inspired by an Etsy piece, it is a plush cyanobacteria. This lesson is easy to make and focuses on the impact of algae in the environment and its effect on the atmosphere. I like this one for this camp because we will be at the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro, which is located in the wetlands. What better place to talk about algae? You can find this PDF lesson here.

Image from Big Old Art Room blog.

This fossil lesson is one I've done before with my 2nd graders and they were very successful. It was also a lot of fun to go explore and find the natural materials to press into the clay. Lots of trails to explore around this area. The PDF lesson can be found here. 

Image and other examples found at Artisan des Arts.

This project is essentially "marbling" paper using chalk pastels. An intimidating but simple process, it does create stunning images. Lesson found here.

I'm hoping to do more things like this and make my curriculum fully STEM-integrated. It's a good start. :)

Pop Art Onomatopoeia

 

How many times can I spell that word wrong? A lot. Because that word is just a wrong word. Who decided it should be spelled that way.

The first projects at this interim position were based on "Word Art", which was great to help me learn names and because I did a similar unit the first week of school last year. So it was very easy to pick up and I already had a lot of resources for these projects. Just sharing a few of 4th & 5th grade's illustrated onomatopoeia drawings in the Pop Art style. They had to use primary colors and some kind of "bubble". (I'm letting that first "Boom" in even though it also used green, it was just so nice!) These were very original and well done. :)

Moving On

Last day MAQ selfies because how else would you say goodbye?

Official announcement time: this past Wednesday was my last day as an Art Quest Facilitator at Martin Art Quest in the Frist Center. 

These past 7 months have, with no contest, been the most fun that I have ever had working. It has been absolutely wonderful to be surrounded by artists of various capacities and specialties and my perspective on the art world has been widened. 

I've met the most incredible people that I hope to stay in touch with. And of course it's been awesome working with my bestie. ^_^

I will still occasionally be at the Frist Center to help out, so it's not a complete goodbye!

BUT

I am leaving for new things. I will be an interim art teacher until the end of the year at Millersville Elementary. The art teacher there has done a wonderful job of getting things prepared for her maternity leave. This is one of the most beautiful schools I've ever seen, and the hellacious commute it worth it when you see the mountain view. 

Can't wait to get started there and to resume regular posting, thanks for hanging with me throughout this mild hiatus.