Hands-On Art

End of the semester.  Mid winter funk.  Sometimes during the year, we just hit this stretch where it's been cold, snowy (well, that's good) the kids crabby from putting fifteen layers of clothes on at every recess and we just need a break.  For me, it means colors and just a step back to draw.  Fifth graders can be a goofy bunch at times.  My "Crazy Cactus" project is one I use for kindergarteners to teach patterns and color.  Well, some of the 5th gradres saw my examples on the board and begged to do them as well.  They had just finished a long stint in clay, so this was a total change.  "Okay, okay....we'll do it for a quick project-but, they better turn out better than the kindergarteners!"  So we jumped into it and they look great-really brightening up the room and soon the halls.

I had my canon along in class, so I walked around while they worked and just made pictures of what their hands were doing and thought these were interesting.