Saturday, February 21, 2015

Bad Case of Stripes - Statue of Liberty

I don't think I have ever spent so much time on American Symbols, but my class and I are enjoying it.

Most of our reading during this unit has been informational text. This is a good thing, because we don't always get a lot of it, but my students are getting ready to take a literature assessment. Before they do that I wanted to review the elements of a story (setting, characters beginning, middle, and end). I decided to use the book A Bad Case of Stripes and this Statue of Liberty art project as a way of demonstrating the difference between the two types of texts. They got it and had fun in the process.

The project itself is very simple. I provided my students with a sharpie and a piece of white cardstock, construction paper would work too. I just wanted a thicker paper. I cut the cardstock down to, I believe, an 8x10 piece beforehand. This allowed for the black border. We did the drawing as a directed drawing. I've posted a picture of the steps, so you can get the idea. Since my students were using a sharpie, I gave them a work mat (construction paper), so that the sharpie would not get all over their desks.


After we finished the directed drawing my students used watercolors to paint their pictures. I showed students how to use the paint going all the way across their paper and making even stripes/lines. I told them they could use any color except for black. I also referred back to the story and discussed stripes not being the only options, but that it needed to be creative. I used the part of the story where Camilla says the Pledge of Allegiance and then looks like the American flag. Everyone did a really good job at making their own Statue of Liberty unique in their own way. While I used this as a Statue of Liberty art project it would work for really anything.

As I was planning to do this project, the night before, I thought I had this book, but of course, when I went to find it, I struck out. Luckily, with a quick call to the library, our librarian, Mrs. McGinnis, hand-delivered it to me. I liked the activity so much, that I decided to order a new copy of the book to always have on hand. 

I hope that you and your class have fun with this project. It really is a great way to not only make a connection to the Statue of Liberty (American Symbols), but also to literature. 


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