Mythological Creatures

Fourth graders learned about the mythologies of different cultures and how these stories were often used by ancient peoples to explain the world around them. I thought it would be fun to focus on some of the fantastical creatures from these mythologies. We read from Dragons, Dragons and Other Creatures That Never Were (Eric Carle) and students created their own version of a mythological creature in the style of Carle.

Fourth graders used their research to write poems about their creature. They  also created a constellation of their creature using glow in the dark ink and were excited to present their work to the class!

Listen to Jelonnie's presentation on the Centaur.

Listen to Whitney's poem about the Yeti.

Chameleon Collages

Sorry for the delay in posting. Winter break always seems to go by so fast! Here's a start on all that I need to catch up with!

After reading "A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni, kindergartners created their own chameleon  using collage and mixed media. They learned how to use shapes and outlines to help sketch out each part of their drawing and also had to decide what special colors to use for their chameleon. I was excited to see some students match their chameleon's color to what was in their background - which showed what they had learned about chameleons in the story!

 

 

Explorer Magazines

Inspired by National Geographic, third graders created their own explorer magazine and learned about the roles of an illustrator, graphic designer, biologist and author during the process. Students started as "explorers" who had just discovered several new species of animals. For each new discovery, they selected several images from the animal bag to combine in an illustration. Students wrote articles about some of their discoveries, including the new animal's name, environment, diet, etc. Their final task was to design an engaging cover for their magazine that would make someone in a bookstore want to stop and read it. This lesson was definitely a hit. Students had a blast coming up with their new animal combinations and putting everything together for their finished magazines.

My animal is a Squalfrog. It eats nuts and flies. It lives in the jungle. They live in trees. It's very slimy. It can climb trees. By Zachary  

His name is a chamel. My Chamel lives in a desert-ish environment. My animal eats ice cream cake. My Chamel lives in an underground tunnel in the desert. My Chamel is very feathery. It can fly a mile without stopping.

 

 

I discovered a rare species called a Wharet. A Wharet lives in the Amazon Rainforest and the ocean but it can only be in each environment for a short amount of time. It eats fish and fruit. It can fly, dive very deep, and swim very fast. If you feel it, it feels scaly at one part and feathery at another. Maybe one day you can explore the world too.

The Pinegor lives in the Desert and eats alot of sand. The diet, though, is dead plants. It's very spikey and runs very fast.

The Cowl, discovered by Iain, lives in North America and likes to eat plants and loves to swim.

Deep Sea Creatures

Second graders learned about deep sea creatures with bioluminescent lights as they created a watercolor painting of their own 'newly discovered' creature. Students created diagrams to sketch out a design and label important features of their new creature. In their watercolor paintings, students learned about warm and cool colors and created contrast by selecting which to use for their foreground and background. They also used highlighters for their creature's bioluminescent light. At the end of the lesson, students became deep sea explorer. I turned off the lights as explorers took turns using  a black light to search for the bioluminescent lights - they were amazed to see the highlighters glowing  under the black light. I think maybe ocean sounds to enhance the effect next year.