New Posts from Before Covid Sent Us All Home... Starting with Faux-Stained Glass (1-3 grades)

So, as you all know, Covid sent us home mid-March of 2020. I never did post anything on here from that school year because I was posting the blog directly to the school's website. However, I am taking some time this summer to add some projects that I think were pretty great... for posterity. I will not post them all on this entry, but will start with one here and work my way through my photo files as I go.

First order of business is Faux-Stained Glass:

Sometimes I like to start the year with a multi-class project, and with this one I wanted to have the students create something that could be put up and enjoyed for the rest of the school year. I decided to teach them about Frank Lloyd Wright's stained glass artworks and have them each create a "panel" of their own design. So, first we looked at Wright's work, and talked about the geometric shapes he used as well as the repetition of shape and pattern. 

Next, each class voted on three colors that everyone in their class would use for their designs. Once that was determined, I gave them each a sheet of paper, pencil, eraser, and geometric shape stencils to create their own designs.

The next step was to trace the shapes onto colored cellophane, and then cut them out, placing them inside of a laminating "pocket". This got a little tricky as there was some static that was generated and things would fall out or move around. The children were troopers though and stuck with it. 

Once they had all of their shapes cut and placed where they wanted them, I ran them through the portable laminator that I usually use at home and they got to watch their creations fuse together into their beautiful artworks! The final step was to use a black Sharpie to trace around their shapes to give them the look of stained glass.

To install the pieces, I used black tape to create a grid design on the art room windows, and then taped the artworks up - grouped by class to keep the colors consistent for each window. Here are the wonderful results!

Here are some semi-installation views: