4th Grade S.T.E.A.M. Activity

4th Grade created slime as apart of their weekly S.T.E.M. activity.  First, we found the most promising recipe to follow.  Once our concoction was made, students discovered that we needed to make some adjustments to the recipe to make the slime slimier.  We decided to make the slime more "artful" by individually customizing the slime by adding color and glitter.  This turned our S.T.E.M. project into S.T.E.A.M.

Kindergarten-painting

Kindergarten explores painting techniques as they use masking tape to mask their name, then washing over their paper with tempera paint.  Fun!!

3rd grade self-portrait

3rd Grade Self-portraits

1st grade Still life Drawing

1st Grade Still Life Drawing:

Blind Contour Drawing

4th Grade Contour Drawing


The pumpkins below were drawn using the blind contour drawing method used by artists to help them develop a better understanding of what they are drawing.  Through "blind" contour drawing, artists only look at the object they are drawing, and not at the surface they are drawing on.  Artists do not pick-up their drawing instrument while drawing, nor do they look away from their object.  This makes it difficult since we always want to look at our paper while drawing to check our accuracy.





Landmarks-5th grade

Landmarks by 5th Grade


5th Grade students studied landmarks, creating some of their own below:


The Golden Gate Bridge

Eiffel Tower







Japanese Gardens

A Japanese garden is made of only natural material, such as botanicals, rocks, and trees, that highlight the Earth's natural beauty.  2nd Graders created their own Japanese garden on paper.  Pictures of their work are attached below. 

 

S.T.E.A.M. Solar-powered Prints

A "cyanotype" is a photographic print made when UV light is exposed to a photo-sensitive paper.  It changes the chemical structure of the paper, but only the parts of the paper that are exposed to light.  When placed in water, the UV-altered areas remain a permanent deep blue color, while the chemicals on the surface wash away and expose white paper.


Attached are pictures of the incredible 4th grade cyanotype projects as part of our S.T.E.A.M. project.  Bravo!

International Dot Day

Beginning in 2009, a group of educators began celebrating September 15th as International Dot Day- a day for classes to explore the story, "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds, to acknowledge the powerful themes of bravery, creativity, and self-expression.  The story tells of a teacher who challenges a reluctant student, Vashti, to "make her mark" in a very creative way.  So, encouraged by her teacher, Vashti sets off on a journey of self-discovery, letting her creativity bloom and inspire others.

Below is a picture of our September group project.  We created this collage using only markers and coffee filters.