One of my favorite things to do in the classroom is teach art. I really want to be an art teacher, but I need to take a test to do that, and man oh man, when would I ever find time to study!! So instead I am working on including art in our regular curriculum. Last year at the beginning of the year I wanted to really take some time and get to know my students. So I sent home a letter over the summer letting them know that for the first day of school they would need to have five fun facts about themselves. Little did they know that was only the beginning.
DecoArt was generous enough to send me a whole mixed media kit full of all of their AMAZING products so I had a lot of cool stuff to work with. I had everyone start by painting an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 sheet of white construction paper. The only requirement was that there be no white showing. I let them choose the colors, mediums, styles, textures, everything! I really wanted to reinforce the idea that there is no one right way of creating art and that everyone’s process is unique to them. And I was blown away by the results!!
While those were drying I took a picture of every single one of my students. I printed them out on regular copy paper in black and white. I sized them to 4×6 sized prints. I then had them cut around just their heads. They had a black cutting the photo-bombers out in the background as well and teeny tiny puppets. 🙂
While they meticulously cut their heads out of the paper I typed up all those facts. Five for each student! I printed those off as well and then had them cut them into strips. Once they had all their papers cut and their paintings were dry it was time to put it all together.
First they glued their heads down on the paper. They could choose to have them in the middle, on an edge, upside down, where ever they wanted. Then they glued down those tiny strips of fun facts all around their faces.
I displayed them on the bulletin board in the hallway out side our room for the entire first month of school and it was so much fun to watch them (and many others) stop and read them as the passed by. It was a great way to get to know them, and for them to get to know me!
