Also studying the country of  Spain, the Kindergarten class will be presenting a play based on the childrens book, "Ferdinand", so each child is creating a set of bull horns for the event. I will post some pictures after the painting session tomorrow.

The youngsters at the Island School are studying the country of Spain for this year's cultural study. I went in to help the 3rd grade class create a 3-D topo map of the country, which we did in two steps.

Day one: we created the map on foamcore, starting with a outline of the country and paying close attention to a few printout topo maps to guide us. Using paper clay (cellu-clay) they covered the entire contry with a thin coat, then added layers to build up to the highest mountain ranges.

The kids also made some small scale flags for the major cities of Spain.

We gave the map two days to dry, and then we went in to paint the features using the color topo maps for reference.

Check out the finished piece!

After the paint dries, the kids will add the flag markers and other important landmarks as they continue their month long study of Spain.

completed project

Great photos of the auction project (thanks, Martha!) and the kids with their birds. The auction was really spectacular and I'm happy to announce that the bird display went for a large sum : ) AND the high bidder donated the display back to the school so the kids can enjoy their creations! So cool!!

Birds!

Some pictures from the Auction project for my son's school. I made 21 papier mache birds and the kids (and teachers) painted each one to represent a bird that they found in their field guide. The birds took on wonderful personalities as each child painted and gave life to their chosen bird.

painted tigers

Here are a few samples of the painted tiger masks from the 2nd grade class. They did such great work and I hope learned from the process (detailed on the following post) of creating with paper.

Tiger Masks

Working with 19 Second Grade students we created Tiger Masks in three sessions starting with a cardboard cutout in the shape of the tiger face.

During the first session the kids folded and built up a paper form on the cardboard and covered it with masking tape.

The second session was the wet paper mache work with strips of newspaper and the glue mixture. 2-3 coats of paper were necessary.

After the paper mache was dry I removed the backing (cardboard form and the paper) and was left with the hardened mask. I spray painted the masks white.

The last time we met the kids were given black and orange paint to give their masks life!

Finished mask pictures to come...

Not created by the children, but for use in a play for the them during a cultural study of India. Photos of the finished elephant mask. It is very light weight to make handling the mask effortless.