cranes~tsuru

We've been making lots of cranes around here lately.  I've always had an origami basket at my creation station (where students go if they finish early) but lately after talking about the tsunami in Japan, students have been on a mission to create as many as possible.  I've run out of origami paper, but found out that magazine paper works wonderfully and makes each finished crane unique with the colors and text found on magazine paper...plus it's thin like origami paper :)

There are many resources out there on how to fold an origami paper crane, but here is a pretty easy one to follow:

School Mural

I was asked by my school's PTA this year to design a mural that the students would paint to be hung somewhere in our school.  The mural is to celebrate our school's 10 year anniversary of our dual-language Japanese/English program.  It took me from about September until about January to complete the drawing, and I am still adding now....my work is never really finished. :)  Anyways, after drawing, I transferred them onto 4 huge canvases with my projector, and the kids are just about done painting it.  I will post finished pictures soon.  Here are the drawings- four seasons, and they will hang in order so that they connect and flow from season to season.  I turned these into coloring sheets for my students and they have been having a blast coloring them if they finish their project early...

Fall

Winter

Spring

Summer

2nd Grade: Starry Night

This is a 3 week lesson and each one turns out so cute!  First day we look at Starry Night here and I give the students a palette of sky blue, regular blue, black and white tempera.  They mix right onto the paper to make the sky.  I challenge them to try and mix as many different shades of blue as possible. Lastly they add the swirls with white tempera and a small brush.  Second day, they add the hill, tree, and moon by cutting and gluing construction paper.  They add stars, glow, and tree texture with oil pastels.  Last day, they create a village using colorful construction paper and glue sticks.  They can make houses, churches, libraries, schools, skycrapers, etc.  They get pretty creative with this part. I love the variety I get with this project!