Paper, Paper, Everywhere!

I am trying to organize all of our painted paper, but what to keep? How small of pieces do you keep? What do you throw away? I admit that when I first started teaching, I threw away a lot of paper. The longer I teach or the older I get or the worse that budgets get, I have a much harder time throwing away things that I can see that we could use. The problem is, will we? Tell me what you do with your scraps.

Mona for President

Dia de los Muertos

These lessons are from last year, but I was a bit slow to share. Kindergarten created the pumpkins and 2nd grade made the papel picado. Third grade did a great job creating their skeletons with oil pastel on black paper.

Students had a skeleton to use for observation drawing, then used their imagination to create the skeleton participating in life.

My sixth graders created linoleum block prints of their skeletons. The kids really enjoyed the linoleum block cutting, but even these smallish prints took too long, I think.

My fourth graders really got into this ofrenda project.  The idea came from Mini Matisse, who linked to the Minneapolis Institute of Art project. The finished projects do not have a particularly polished look, but I was happy with what the students learned.

Students were to choose someone they loved, who had died to honor through their ofrenda. The examples I am showing are pets, but many more chose people as well. Students were given scrap paper and small buttons, baubles, and so on. I also purchased small skeletons and skulls through Oriental Trading, enough for each student to have one. Students were also given the option to bring in their own items or photos to use in their ofrenda.

Quarterback Mona

I have enjoyed seeing so many other teachers who "dress up" the Mona Lisa in the classroom. I decided that the one on my door needed some decor as well. I'm not sure that I like this as well as those on prints. Hopefully, it will make my kids laugh.

Olympic Rings

 As I wrote before, this Olympics poster definitely looked like paper roll stamped rolls to me. First day of school for Pre-K and Kindergarten. It made for a bit of a wild class, with so many kids who don't know they can't just wander the room.

 Even though this wasn't much of a creative lesson, the kids still managed to make them their own. I love passing these young classes, and hearing myself called "the paint lady." Painting is a nice way to start the year.