6th Grade Aboriginal Sand Paintings

I had posted previously that the last unit in 6th grade was going to be an Indigenous Cultures unit.  We just BARELY finished!  One class completely finished their projects and the other class has one more art class this week to finish their sand paintings!  (Check out some samples of this project that I did with Studio Art when I did my student teaching.)

Students designed their sand paintings using one Australian animal and at least 3 Aboriginal symbols on 6"x 6" Masonite board.  We primed the board with gesso and then when dry, transferred the design on the board.  I had the students do one color of sand at a time.  They squeezed the glue onto the designs (and used a paintbrush to spread it if need be), sprinkled the sand on, dumped the extras onto a folded piece of tag board, and then dumped it back into the sand bottle.  They did the background last, and then glued on beans, split peas, etc. if wanted.

I was hoping to have enough time to get into a Dreamtime story or two, but we won't this year, however I still wanted to share the awesome website I found that deals with Aboriginal Dreamtime stories.  It's called Dust Echoes. There are video versions of each story on-line that you can watch, or you can print out the PDF study guide for each story.  The study guide contains the story with teacher notes on the side to explain what the story is about.  It has a page of classroom activities that can be done with the story, as well as student worksheets that have a variety of questions and activities.  Definitely take the time to check out this website...it is so worth it!

Cranking away...

I've been cranking away at my 6th grade curriculum and I'm almost finished!!!!  I have revamped my power points and created the unit packets for Asian, Mexican, Aboriginal and Prehistoric art...today I will do Native American art and I will finally be finished with my 6th grade curriculum!

I feel like my eye balls are going to pop out of my head!  I think it's time for me to start working on some visual rubrics and art project examples!  My fingers are itching to do art.  Plus, I went on a major pinning spree this morning on Pinterest and found some great painting ideas I want to try!!!!

I found this really neat interactive website for Aboriginal Dreamtime stories called Dust Echoes.  It has the stories in video format for the students to watch on their own and then answer various questions to see if they understood the story.  It also has the story in print-out form if you want to read it to students.  Love it!

 The Mexican packet also includes a Venn diagram to compare the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead to the tradition of Halloween.  Students will have to read a short article about Halloween on their own and fill out the diagram on their own before we review it...hello common core!