2 Soul Sisters Art Ed: A "Paper" Full of Sunshine

The Sunshine Project by the Second Grade was "shining brightly" with some great methods to review concepts taught earlier in the year. The Sunshine Collage was one of those "my brain is dead and the creativity has dried up in my head" situations. I walked out of my room into the copier room and there I saw the CDs just sitting there looking dull. I thought, hmmmmmm, I have some scraps of painted paper in the art room that would be great at brightening you up, good old CD friends.

And so, the CDs were no longer dull and the painted paper was no longer in a big brown box. And, the old teacher's brain was really not dead, because the idea popped in her head... at the exact right moment.

Directions:

Teacher Prep work: 1-Hot Glue a CD on a 12 x 12 sheet of paper. 2-Cut strips of scrap paper into approximately 1" wide strips.

First, I had the kids glue 1" wide painted paper strips down vertically and horizontally. I would not let them use warm colors.

Then, I told the kids that they must cut out a warm color circle to cover up the hole in the center of the CD. For many, this was difficult. When students made the circles too small, I suggested they place the small circle down on the warm color paper and draw a circle a "little" bit bigger than the small circle.

Next, I had kids get the warm color of 1" cut strips of scrap paper. I told them to place them down around the CD diagonally. Soon they begin to see the sun "come out".

This was a great project because:

a. I got rid of some cool scrap paper.

b. I got rid of some CDs.

c. Kids had a refresher on vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines.

d. Kids had to look at a space and attempt to cut a circle large enough to cover the space. They had to use problem solving skills to get the paper cut to the correct size.

e. Many students relied on the help and advice of others as the project progressed.

f. Due to each CD being glued down in random places on the paper, the kids were forced to think about how their sun rays would surround the CD.

e. We reviewed warm colors.