Creative Expression

Today I introduced a mini project to my class – how cruel of me immediately returning from Spring Break!   However it seemed to be just what everyone needed go kick off the week and jump back into the swing of things!    I gave them a checklist with success criteria and off they went.  Their task?  Depict the life cycle of a star.   Many chose to do average sized stars like our sun but also wanted to show what happens to larger stars – mostly I think for the challenge of visually depicting a black hole might bring!   (Hello negative space lesson).   So many students went the traditional poster, marker route which they love and I have no issue with.   Many however took time to look around my well-stocked classroom and came up with some unique ideas.

– cutting Styrofoam balls in half to glue down to cardboard
– chalk pastels on black paper (a beautiful way to make nebulas)
– one student pulled out the flour and found a non-cook play dough recipe so he could model the shapes of stars and nebula
– with the help of an Ed assistant, one of my autistic students made a large painting, found some round stamps to make stars, and then used black, blue and yellow paint to splatter and create a cool looking universe

Although it was loud and messy everyone was deep in their own work and ideas and created dialogue with each other to provide techniques or advice to each other..  It truly was a collaborative and creative work period.   Look forward to some more in progress shots and the final products!