Dia de los Muertos...A Celebration of Life

Yianna and Helios Adventure!

Fall is always a fun time for exploring the country of Mexico!  "Dia de los Muertos!

Check out a post from the archives that uses art, history and culture to explore Mexico and all its colorful traditions!
http://smockroom.blogspot.com/2013/11/connecting-dots-with-yianna-and.html

Click to see the lesson plan here.

xoxo, Smock Room

Getting Back Into a Groove...,

I find the process of starting the school year exhausting and confusing.  It is as though my equilibrium of life, surprisingly, changes and throws my into a spin.  The spin eventually slows a bit, but geez Louise what a ride!  

With that said, I am mindfully (and with conscious effort) focusing on updating this blog more frequently.  I'm not sure if the spin is slowing but I feel ready to devote some time towards sharing what I do in my art room.

So what has been going on.....?

Lots.

But let me share my art adventure, in brief, with my 3rd grade students.  In our art adventure with our pen pals, Yianna and Helios, we landed in Mexico, exploring the art and culture of a vibrant country.  For this lesson we focused on the folk art of "amate"--bark paintings, and their purpose of documentation in history.  

Throughout time, their purpose changes and this beautiful tradition changed to a decorative form of art. 

Decorative is great but decorative doesn't always engage students.  

Instead I balanced the cultural aspect of bark paintings with the contemporary Mexican artist and author, Carmen Lomas Garza.  Garza beautifully captures her memories of family traditions through colorful, playful and approachable renderings of her childhood.  For our project, we reflected on a memory that is special and....well....we created it as an "amate".

These young students found meaning in their work but more so pride.  

A wonderful storytelling experience.

Check back for more snapshots and additional resources.

SMocKyou.

Connecting the Dots with Yianna and Helios....3rd grade

 Mexico
a magical adventure of  art, history and just a bit of mystery

My third grade students started their global adventure with an entrance stamp in Mexico!  Equipped with "passports", "travel journals" and curiosity, these great students joined their two friends, Yianna and Helios, on an adventure through ancient lands, rich culture and amazing art.
Our pen-pal friends, Yianna and Helios, magically helped us begin our first continental adventure in North America and the warm and colorful country of Mexico.
Along with its rich history, Mexico provided my students a broader lens towards investigating the world and finding those wonderful little things that make people different....and the same.
We started with a brief email from Yianna and Helios (YiannaAndHelios@gmail.com).  They even sent us a package! 
 Then we started with the "mystery" power point presentation.  
Mexico: Celebration of Dia de los Muertos

Our passports became passage into Mexico but, also, our note taking booklets.  Before starting any hands-on projects, we study, research, investigate, observe, question, compare, contrast and wonder about this wonderful new land we are discovering.  Referencing the power point presentation, we divide our focus into two categories: HISTORY and ART.  Our goal is to see the connections of both categories to appreciate and understand the nuances of different cultures and traditions.  At the beginning of the year, I write all the notes on the board, as we discuss what is important to remember in each slide.  As the year progresses, the students pick up the sequence and begin to use their own knowledge and take their own notes. 
 I LOVE SEQUENCES!  The students become so much more independent and critical thinkers.  AWESOME. truly. awesome.
The timing of this lesson played an important factor for the hands-on project.  As October progressed, the focus was to learn about, understand and appreciate other celebration that hold a deeper meaning within a culture. 
 I used "Dia de los Muertos".  Aside from making calaveras, which we did, we really focused on the purpose for this Mexican holiday and its significance for the people celebrating the day.


We made our own "sugar skulls" out of clay.  We sketched ideas and painted with very small brushes. We even ate some pan dulce.   But most importantly, we thought about someone we love....we care about....we miss. 

Don't forget to click and follow...
xoxo, SMocK you.

Learning to wish....3rd grade

Ceiba de la Esperanza

This summer, we took a quick trip south of the border to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for a little rest and relaxation.  Yet, for a teacher, rest and relaxation always ends up being a new lesson or an educational experience.  At the end of a day full of site seeing, snorkeling and fun in the sun, we walked through a gift shop area where an amazing tree was installed in the middle of the plaza.  From its limbs hung paper leaves, thousands of them with written wishes.  The tree was title the Ceiba de la Esperanza  and represented the sacred tree of the Maya, symbolizing the center of the universe and, presently, referred to as the Tree of Life.

The installed tree towered towards the ceiling with green leaves hanging from its limbs.  

You couldn't help but to stop and read some of the wishes.  Each little leaf told a short story through a "deseo", making me wonder about who the author really was.

This idea reminded me of the time I spent in Japan and visiting the amazing temples throughout the country.  Along with meditation and prayer, all temples had wishing posts and fortune trees. Visitors from near and far expressed their wishes, offering them to the greater powers that be, to come true.

These planks of wood and twisted paper become living installations of art, expressing short stories of strangers united by dreams, hopes and needs.


After a bit of googling, I discovered a Wish Tree project created by Yoko Ono that travels around the world.  

To begin my 3rd graders journey around the world, my two friends Yianna and Helios introduced them to the idea of making a wish through an email message.  This was the springboard for sparking their imagination and making Yianna and Helios 'real'.  











We began to create our own wish tree with simple materials but big ideas.  I was very impressed and proud of my students' thoughtful and reflective wishes.  Some were an expression of something that was happening right now. Others were looking at a bigger picture of the world.  Heartwarming and heart wrenching, each student told their unspoken story.  It's really amazing what can be said in just one sentence.








William Faulkner writes in his book The Wishing Tree:
“(...) next year she would have another birthday, and if she just remembered to get into bed left foot first and to turn the pillow over before she went to sleep, who knows what might happen?” 
― William Faulkner, The Wishing Tree




Materials:
green construction paper
leaf template
pencils
scissors
colored markers (sharpies)
and a tree (real or fake)



I normally do not use templates, but for this quick one day project, I really wanted the students to think about their ideas.  I, also, emphasized that the tree in Mexico provided the visitors with the same leaf template.  So, they traced, they cut, they wrote and they hung their leaves on the branches of our very special school tree, dedicated to a fallen soldier.










































And then it rained......For the remainder of the 3rd grade classes we had to move the wishing inside to a newly installed brown construction paper tree.  Perhaps not as exotic and real but the message was still the same.























So....wish upon a tree and let the world see your short story.

What's your wish?  

Share it with 

Yianna and Helios! 

(promise they will write you back)

 YiannaAndHelios@gmail.com

xoxo, SMocK you.

Online image resources and research:

http://www.pixel77.com/influence-maya-culture-contemporary-graphic-design/

http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/tokyo-2010/

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/traveler-magazine/trip-lit/the-wishing-trees/

http://www.farmofminds.com/ai-nihon-omikuji-japans-fortune-telling/

http://10kblessingsfengshui.typepad.com/10000_blessings_feng_shui/chinese-new-year/

    https://wishingtree.nationwidechildrens.org/

    http://imaginepeacetower.com/yoko-onos-wish-trees