The last month has been packed full with nothing but tests, tests, tests, and more tests ....
so, in the ART room, we let loose and have a little fun while we learn, and experiment, and create!
Our latest project is inspired by a workshop I attended on our last teacher planning day, hosted by representatives from the Jacksonville organization, Hope at Hand. "Hope At Hand is a 501©3 nonprofit organization that provides poetry sessions to vulnerable and at-risk youth populations. Using creativity, language, art and therapeutic approaches, we facilitate healing and personal growth for children and adolescents." - this taken from their website: https://www.hopeathand.org/
Of the several poetry activities I got to participate in at the workshop, there were two that really stuck with me, and I have now turned them into reflective "Visual Poetry" Art projects for my kids here at James Weldon Johnson.
The first step was to read poetry together as a class, then use the lay out of the poem we read as a guideline for our own versions. Once the writing part was finished, then we really got into the good stuff :) For our first project, I taught the students about cross contour lines, and we all traced our hands before turning them into more three dimensional looking forms using our cross contour lines
Lastly, the students were given a little room to take their visual poetry into different directions. I told them that as long as they incorporated the lines from their poem into their cross contour lines, they were able to use any pattern, design, color scheme, or medium they wanted .... I think they turned out super successful, but you check out their amazing work for yourself!!!
Next week, we will be doing part two of this CROSS-CURRICULAR Art project by creating our very own "Word Art' masterpieces using a deeper, more reflective poetry exercise, so check back in to see how ROUND TWO turns out!