Paper Cranes

I don't know about you, but as the school year winds down, I'm always in search of quick, 1- or 2-day projects that are still meaningful and fit curricular needs. I challenged my student teacher to come up with a few of these, and for the fifth graders, she opted to do a 2-day lesson on paper cranes.

The inspiration for the cranes came from the story of Sadako Sasaki. Sadako was just 2 years old when the first atomic bomb was dropped near her home in Hiroshima. Though she and her family survived, Sadako later succumbed to radiation sickness in the form of leukemia. While receiving treatment in the hospital, she and her roommate began folding paper cranes as per the Japanese legend that folding 1,000 paper cranes would make one's wish come true. Sadako died at just 12 years old, yet her memory lives on through her story, as well as the statue dedicated to her at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

Some of my fifth grade history buffs were eager to tie an art project into their knowledge of World War II, and all students respectively watched the following video to learn about Sadako:

Students spent the rest of their class studying examples of traditional origami paper, then painted a sheet or two of 9 x 9" one-sided fadeless paper to make their own.

On the second day (our classes are 45 minutes each), I walked kids through the folding of a paper crane. (My student teacher made a rockin' PowerPoint to walk the kids through this, but if you need a tutorial for yourself, you can find a few on YouTube.) The kiddos did an awesome job and were thrilled with the way the wings of the crane flapped! I'm always impressed with the way some students pick up the folding steps and can whip up their own pieces after seeing the how-to just once.

What quickie projects do you turn to at year's end? I'll soon be starting a Pinterest board with ideas and would love to add yours!

Japanese Carp Kites for Children's Day

Happy Children's Day! Or rather, happy four days after Children's Day. If you ask me, EVERY day feels like Children's Day, but that's probably just the result of being surrounded by 300 of them most every day, including the weekends, when they somehow find me at yard sales, the grocery store, out to dinner, and without fail, any time I'm makeup-free and crossing my fingers that I won't see anyone I know.

Regardless, I love the little boogers, and May 5th is their day--at least in Japan, where Children's Day is celebrated with the flying of colorful carp kites!

According to legend, the carp fish had the ability to transform into a dragon when it had swum against the current, climbing up dangerous waterfalls. The carp serves as a reminder of bravery and strength and serves as a symbol for the children of Japan.

My first graders make a version of these 'kites' each year. This year, it was my student teacher's job to get these kids' kites a-flyin' in celebration of this special day. There are many ways to make these, but here's what we did.

Kiddos started with a 12" square sheet of fadeless colored paper of their choice. Using a homemade ruler, a 4" strip was traced, followed by 2" strips:

Then, starting at the bottom and working upwards, one line at a time was covered with glue, which kiddos painted on with a paintbrush:

Working quickly to keep the glue wet, tissue paper scales were added; some kiddos chose a pattern of colors, while others went a random route:

Some were meticulous. Some, not so much.

Oh, sweet 6-year-olds. You and your ways.

Once all the scales were on, eyes were drawn. The eyes are my favorite part! I find that they tend to reflect the personalities of the artist who made 'em.

On the second day, kids finished up by adding "lips" (12" strips of paper) glued behind the eyes, as well as crepe paper tails:

To FINish (HA!), fish bodies were rolled and stapled closed, and string was added to the top for hanging. Their beautiful teacher may have helped with this part.

My toe thumbs are lookin' goooood in those shots. Humina humina.

So Happy Children's Day! Actually, Tuesday was National Teacher Appreciation Day, so out of the way, kids--happy belated TEACHERS' day! I hope you feel appreciated every day, teacher friends! :-)

Cherry Blossoms with 1st grade

Wherever you might be reading this today, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and sound. Hopefully the innocence and artwork of our students is enough to make this day a little brighter despite all the bad going on in the world this week.

My sweet, sweet first graders have been learning about Japan, studying the beauty of cherry blossoms. Of course, there are bunches of ways to do blossom-inspired projects...

Art with Ms. Gram

alphamom

Creative Jewish Mom

I like the following version for a few reasons. The kids LOVE it, the results are beautiful more often than not, and it's a quickie, taking just one 45-minute period from introduction to project completion.

My student teacher, Miss Caruso, taught this this year, and it was a lot of fun for me to observe! First, she talked to the kids about the blossoms as a gift from Japan and showed a few masters' works--Hiroshige, Hokusai, van Gogh.

Next up, the kids blew watered-down black tempera paint all around their papers. Miss Caruso found that using straws was tricky for some kids, so some of our classes freestyled:

On the morning we did this with one group, the school had hosted a "Donuts with Dad" event, so everyone had sweet, sugary breath. Gross! Haha!

For the blossoms, Q-tips and pink paint were all it took to turn these black spider veins into beautiful branches!

For early finishers, a short video showed them a sped-up version of the same project:

 

 source

These are always a huge hit in the annual art show. More on that soon!