Our Attempt at a Peace Pole

I was cleaning up some files and found this group of photos to share.

In our aftershock program we decided we were going to transform our schools support poles into peace poles. (You can read more about them here) The students wrote out "may peace prevail on earth" in lots of different languages. They decorated them and made them look really, really nice.

We put them all up...

with the help of some goofy 6th grade girls.

They looked really, really nice when we left....

But the next morning was a different story...

I think it took me so long to blog about these just for the sheer disappointment we had in the project. They didn't just fall down; they fell down and taped themselves together. These goofy girls are now freshmen in High School! Wow!

Aftershock #1

I like to help out with our school's after school program called AFTERSHOCK. It is a great chance to know the kids a little better and tackle some art projects or ideas you just can't do with large classes or 300+ students. This year our sessions are broken into 4 week groups. For my first 4 weeks we did a beautify NMS group. We tackled the severely neglected flower bed from the front of the school. I didn't take any before or during pictures.

Here are the after pictures!  A HUGE improvement!

the hardworking crew!

2 of my 6th Grade ROCKSTARS!

Miss Haylee helping us add beautiful flowers to the inside of our building

We finished one day early a decided to fill our front windows with flowers! 

Cartoons in Clay

Students in my after school cartooning program were assigned the task of creating their own cartoon character.  One of the things I had them do was create a clay slab version of their main cartoon character.  They turned out pretty cute!

Origami Day

So one of my last days with my after school kids left us with just a few kiddos.  We handed out the iPads and I challenged them to find YouTube video's that taught them Origami.  They got to work ~

and they created some really neat projects.  It was fun to watch what each person decided to create.  The girls tended to go toward clothes and animals, the boys toward boxes and ninja stars. 

All around I was impressed with what they were able to do. 

Here are a few of their favorite YouTube channels for Origami.

Art for Kids Hub

PaperKawaii

Origami How To

Rob's World

Cartoon Posters

This quarter the Aftershock kids are focusing on cartooning.  They have spent some time developing their own personal cartoons.  For today our focus was on creating a "poster" for their cartoon character.  Here are what a few of them came up with...

**pictures were snapped "in progress" and then kiddos took them home.

Lego Mania

A while back I saw this awesome post by Abby Schukei over at Exploring Art: Elementary Art.  She had done these cool Lego people with her 5th graders.  (Check out the post here)  Since my Afterschock kiddos are focusing on cartooning I thought this would be perfect for the class I would miss when I took kiddos to the Joslyn Art Museum for Celebrating Creativity.

Miss P works hard at everything she does and really wanted her picture with her Lego person... happy to oblige!

I printed off some Lego guys so they could really see the shape of the awesome little people.  They drew them out and colored them while I was gone... and they did a pretty good job!  I could really see their personalities coming through!

I love these so much I think this will be going into my sub file as an awesome sub lesson! 

Thanks for sharing Abby!  

... now go check out her awesome blog! 

More Circles

After students finished up their circle (dots) with clay we tackled some fun "Cassie Stephens" inspired sewn dots.  I will admit it took me watching her how-to video on YouTube to feel comfortable tackling this project.

The students did a great job of following directions and I am thinking some sewers have been born...

Dot Day in Clay

So the first day that I was teaching Aftershock art just happened to be September 15... International Dot Day!  The class had been challenging; students were working to find the balance between fun after school activities and showing classroom behavior.

So I started with clay...

Students were told they had to create a circular design with texture.  All else was left open for them to decide.  We were using up old clay left from last year so I wasn't getting too worried about what they wanted to make.

and of course a few finished early and got to "play" until clean up time. 

Lunch is Served

This year our school is piloting an after school program called AFTERSHOCK.  There are several different "classes" offered for our 5th and 6th graders to keep them busy until their parents get off work at 5.  Due to a conflict in times, the first quarter aftershock art teacher was unable to finish teaching and I jumped in to finish.  These lessons were really informal and a lot of fun...

During this time the lunch ladies got rid of a few old, stained lunch trays.  They asked if I wanted them and of course the answer was yes.  We took one Aftershock art class to create these fun projects. 

a little school lunch surf and turf

a few students "made" their food rather than drawing it on the tray 

some students did not even do food...