5th Grade Tradition: Masks!

My first day at Shady Hills Elementary School was in March 2006. Shortly thereafter, one of the 5th grade teachers called and asked me if I had ever done masks. The teacher, before the one I just replaced, started this tradition of having the students make Plast'rcraft masks. Well, I had never done them before........ and I was able to find full directions on the internet....... and did the first one on my daughter's face......and then I had my husband do one on my face.......... yeah, this will work!

 

Here are a few from that first year.  The 2 examples below are what I call masks that go "beyond the face."

 

 Below are masks that have been painted and/or embellished with feathers and glitter, etc.

 

 Here are some of the more unusual or unique ones that students have made.

 

 

 

Well....... it's that time of year again AND my 5th graders are getting REALLY excited and I'm trying hard to get all the necessary info to them to be successful. I have an iMovie that was made a while back, but I feel the process has been streamlined since then and I want to present it as a power point. There is more control over showing slides then a video. More of an opportunity to ask questions.

I actually figured out how to stop the iMovie and take screen shots! So here goes!
Get everything ready.

Strips of Plast'rcraft, oil (vegetable or baby oil), cotton pad, plastic strips (cut from garbage bags), foam tray, nylon loop. Not pictured-large garbage bags used as smocks.

 

Tie back hair and oil face.

 

Wet and apply Plast'rcraft around and then across the face. Do 3 layers, do not cover the nostrils!  Place a nylon loop, after the first layer, at the top for hanging. (I use fishing line.)

   

Let the stuff harden, this will depend on the person's core temperature as to how long until you can pop it off. Figure between 10-20 minutes. Then cover up the nostril holes.

It needs to dry and then it's ready for whatever the artist decides to do to finish it.

 

If they choose to make a mask that goes "beyond the face," they will need to make a pattern, cut it out of poster board and attach to their mask. It needs to have tabs to attach to the mask. Staple and/or tape poster board to the mask.

 

Then cut small pieces of Plast'rcraft and attach one half of the piece to the poster board and the other half to the mask. Cover all of the poster board, it's not necessary to do 3 layers. If it starts to sag, place something under it so that it will dry in the position you want it to.

To go faster and look nicer the eyes- are covered. These masks are intended to be decorative. Students are paired off to work. And as they finish, they are paired off again until everyone is done. Parent volunteers come in to help. Admin gets a sub for my other classes. One hour per class of 20-24. I get a 20 lb. box of Plast'rcraft which should be enough for 80 students.

I would be happy to answer any questions you have!

   

My first blog post was 6 months ago today! And I have almost 7000 page views!

So, really, truly THANKS for READING!!
Now, I need to figure out how to set up the thingy for followers......  'Til next time!!

Tick Tock-Still Making Clocks!

Continuing from the other day: My unit on Functional Art-

This lesson for my 2nd, 4th and 5th graders started out with a power point. (3rd graders were busy on another project.)

After a short discussion of functional  art, I started the power point.

One of the slides had the students compare and contrasting the above clocks.

We then talked about how to plan our clock according to the following questions on this slide. Then they each received a worksheet with these questions.

 

We looked at slides with different themed clocks. Here is one example.

 

We considered what shape our clock should be.
What should our numbers and hands look like.

   

I have a big supply of donated cardboard that the students painted their clocks on. The cardboard is pretty thick, so I though the students should consider the background of the cardboard to be the wall they would hang the clock on. This way we wouldn't need to cut them out.

Students were encouraged to create a pattern or shape for their clock on the back of their worksheet. I did offer tracers for some of the younger and less confident students. I also went on the internet for some free coloring sheets for their requested shapes.

 

When students were ready to paint, I spoke to them about the different size paint brushes and when to use them.

 

    

I had some packing corners left from some computers and students used them to make desk clocks.

 

Not everyone has finished making their clocks, so I will publish more photos another time!

I haven't even finished my sample......... Where does the time go?
By the way, am I the only one who doesn't finish stuff??

Thanks for reading!

Time for Functional Art

Essential  Question: What is functional art? To me this is a really FUN unit to do! Because it proves ART IS EVERYWHERE!!

 

I have done functional art with my students in the past. They made benches and lunch boxes but this was the first time I thought about having them make clocks.

AND as always I had all these different things going on in my head-Monday's classes missed mixing purple-so they should use only red, blue and white to paint their clocks. Another day I thought the students should learn about mixing green, they used only blue, yellow and white. White was added as a little mini lesson on value.  Finally I gave out red, yellow, blue and white and let them play....... Silly me, just should have done that in the first place, duh.  Bonus-they were in awe of the colors that they made!

 

My inspiration piece for this project was this clay clock I bought on vacation-so long ago that I don't remember where. Students were quite curious as to how to tell time with no numbers on the clock!

For my little k/1st grade students I read them this big book, which they loved. We talked about what the little and big hands tell us. We talked about where the numbers go on the face , whether you can see them or not, the numbers are always there.

 

The first day of the lesson they painted on the bottom of those really good Chinet plates. The second day of the lesson, we talked about where the numbers go on the face of the clock. They were given a choice as to whether to cut out and glue on numbers or write numbers on them. I also had them use Sharpies to detail their work and have their art POP!

 

I had student volunteers make a hole in the middle of each plate. (They used a template to poke the hole through.) Then the little ones were able to assemble the hands with a paper fastener. (The hands were pre-cut with holes-again, thanks to my student volunteers.)

Sorry, my budget does not include the money to actually make these clocks tick..... However, I did let students know it was something that could be done with a kit from one of the craft stores.

I did a variation of this lesson with my older students, which I promise to share next time!

Meanwhile, thanks for reading! By the way- how do you teach your students about functional art?