Pinatas... The Last Week
It has been a while since I have added anything. I have been busy trying to make money and pack up my house so I can move back home. There is nothing like moving back home with your parents at the age of 25, after six years of being on your own (feelings of DEFEAT).
Anyway, my fifth and final week of summer school went too fast, and was a sad farewell. On the Thursday before the last week, I did something I never would if I was teaching during the regular ed. school year... I asked the students what they wanted to do for the last week of class. The majority yelled out (no hands raised) PINATAS! I told them that it would be really difficult to finish the pinatas in four days and that they would probably have to take them home to paint. The students didn't care, after working with the paper mache for the monster project they we eager to work with it again. So I left that Thursday wondering how I was going to make the pinata project work out.
PREP:
That Monday...I had bags of blown up balloons, buckets of paper mache, a pile of garbage collected from all over the building and cafeteria, and bags full of newspaper strips. I worked hard preparing for this lesson, but it worked out smoothly and helped to not waste too much of the students time.
LESSON:
To start, we talked about the shape of the balloons. The students said they looked oval and almost like a tear drop. This was important for them to see because they had to work with this shape in order to make whatever kind of object they wished for their pinata. We then made a list of creatures or objects that had this shape in them... (alien head, ice cream cone, fish, octopus, and a large human belly). This list helped the students when coming up with ideas for their pinatas. I used this opportunity to experiment how difficult it would be for the students to take an idea and make it 3-D using a balloon and some garbage. Everyone of my students did a phenomenal job. I asked the students to draw their idea in their sketchbook first, and then get my approval before starting. As they brought their drawings up to me, most of the students could tell me what objects they were going to use and how they were going to use them in order to make the shape they wished. They all learned a lot from the monster project, and used what they learned on this lesson without me having to remind them... It was so exciting to watch (k- 2nd graders... WOW).
As the week went by, the pinatas started to take shape. The random colored balloons, garbage (bottles, cans, cardboard, bottle tops, crumpled paper, and egg cartons), and tape was starting to get covered with newspaper. When Thursdays class came, I was upset I wouldn't be able to see the finished product painted. Enjoy the pictures, I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of the students making the pinatas using the random objects.
The FISH
Notice the fins and bulgy eyes made from egg cartons.
One of my favorite pinatas, this student was a first grader who worked so hard to make this amazing fish pinata. This is the reason I wish I had more time to work with these students! Awesome job!!!!!
These two ladies made ice cream cones. They worked hard to think of ways they could create the cone piece. After some problem solving, they used construction paper to form a cone shape. Great thinking on their part!
Anyway, my fifth and final week of summer school went too fast, and was a sad farewell. On the Thursday before the last week, I did something I never would if I was teaching during the regular ed. school year... I asked the students what they wanted to do for the last week of class. The majority yelled out (no hands raised) PINATAS! I told them that it would be really difficult to finish the pinatas in four days and that they would probably have to take them home to paint. The students didn't care, after working with the paper mache for the monster project they we eager to work with it again. So I left that Thursday wondering how I was going to make the pinata project work out.
PREP:
That Monday...I had bags of blown up balloons, buckets of paper mache, a pile of garbage collected from all over the building and cafeteria, and bags full of newspaper strips. I worked hard preparing for this lesson, but it worked out smoothly and helped to not waste too much of the students time.
LESSON:
To start, we talked about the shape of the balloons. The students said they looked oval and almost like a tear drop. This was important for them to see because they had to work with this shape in order to make whatever kind of object they wished for their pinata. We then made a list of creatures or objects that had this shape in them... (alien head, ice cream cone, fish, octopus, and a large human belly). This list helped the students when coming up with ideas for their pinatas. I used this opportunity to experiment how difficult it would be for the students to take an idea and make it 3-D using a balloon and some garbage. Everyone of my students did a phenomenal job. I asked the students to draw their idea in their sketchbook first, and then get my approval before starting. As they brought their drawings up to me, most of the students could tell me what objects they were going to use and how they were going to use them in order to make the shape they wished. They all learned a lot from the monster project, and used what they learned on this lesson without me having to remind them... It was so exciting to watch (k- 2nd graders... WOW).
As the week went by, the pinatas started to take shape. The random colored balloons, garbage (bottles, cans, cardboard, bottle tops, crumpled paper, and egg cartons), and tape was starting to get covered with newspaper. When Thursdays class came, I was upset I wouldn't be able to see the finished product painted. Enjoy the pictures, I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of the students making the pinatas using the random objects.
The FISH
Notice the fins and bulgy eyes made from egg cartons.
One of my favorite pinatas, this student was a first grader who worked so hard to make this amazing fish pinata. This is the reason I wish I had more time to work with these students! Awesome job!!!!!
These two ladies made ice cream cones. They worked hard to think of ways they could create the cone piece. After some problem solving, they used construction paper to form a cone shape. Great thinking on their part!
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