Squash Blossom Books in 4-8

 Selecting the section of paste paper

 Cutting a small square

 Making the paste paper

 Creating texture

 Two finished book covers

 Gluing the paper on the cardboard

Selecting the right piece

 Putting it all together

 Gluing in the pages

 One finished book

 An open view

Open with covers

The fourth grade through eighth grade students all learned how to make small squash blossom books, inspired by one that had been given to me. They began making paste paper and texturing it. When the paper had dried, they cut small squares to fit over 2x2 inch cardboard ends, glued them on and then began folding the five inset papers that would be the center of the books. A ribbon was glued on to the ends to be the closure.

2/3s Stamp Robots

 Stamping the basic shape

 Adding small details

 Cutting around the robot

Cutting it out

 Coloring the planets

Smudging the pastel background

Using white paint on black paper, the 2/3s used found objects to stamp unusual and original robots. These were cut out to be placed on outer space settings that will be drawn with markers on large white paper that is toned with pastel to create a sense of atmosphere.

K/1s Make Bird Puppets

 Coloring the bird

Drawing birds

 Adding marker detail

 Cutting out the parts

 One finished bird

One more completed

As the K/1s begin their study of birds of the Northeast in their classroom, they worked on tagboard bird puppets with wings that flap in art class. After drawing and coloring their bird body and two separate wings they cut them out, fastened the wings on with brass fasteners, and tied a string on the back to allow the wings to move up and down.

4/5s Take a Stab at Origami

 Helping with the star box

Starting the flower

With two of the students acting as teachers, the 4/5s learned how to make an origami star box and a flower. The teachers and students did a great job!

2/3s Work on Comics

 Sharing a story

The story develops

While I was in Barcelona, Melissa Mendes, author of The Freddy Stories and daughter of Michele Ridgeway, taught the art classes about comics and how to create characters and stories. The 2/3s wanted to continue working on these this week, and so they did.