This is another project by the lovely Cassie Stephens. It is similar to our line sculptures so my kinders were already pretty good at this.

We started off the project by talking about how lines create shapes. I love it when I ask that question and I get a chorus of "They have to hold their hands!" We reviewed what a sculpture was and what the difference between 2D and 3D was.

Before the lesson began, I made boxes out of black strips of paper. That way students didn't have to use up a bunch of art time trying to make one themselves. I reminded the students of how we turned our paper lines into shapes by gluing their hands together. Then if we pinched our paper circle "OUCH!" it created different shapes depending on how many times we pinched it. I also showed them how to make more complex shapes like stars and hearts. Students set to work and I was once again blown away by how well they did.

The other day, I had a kindergarten teacher come in and tell me that she had a funny story for me. She had begun to teach shapes in her class and when she asked the class what they could tell her about the shape they were looking at, a student raised their hand and said "It holds its hand!" She thought this was kind of a weird thing to say but carried on to the next shape. She once again asked what the students could tell her about the shape and a student once again said "It holds its hand!" She finally realized that this was something that they had been learning about in art class. I love hearing about how my students are applying the knowledge they learn in art class to other aspects of their life!

Sculptures! Kindergarteners were so excited to make these (after they learned what a sculpture was). So I'm starting a big unit on lines based on one that Cassie Stephens does with her students. Cassie is probably the most well-known art teacher in America and for good reason. She is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G at what she does.

So we started our first class talking about what sculptures were and we came to a definitive conclusion that sculptures are NOT flat. They are 3D which means that they can be seen all the way around! We looked at a PowerPoint of different sculptures/statues and talked about what they could be made of. Then we transitioned into making our own sculpture made from strips of paper (lines). When asked how we could make the strips of paper stand up on our paper, we came to the agreement that glue would work. But how could we use the glue to make that happen? By giving our lines feet! Stinky feet, I might add! I showed the students how to fold feet on their strips of paper and then apply a small dot of glue to the bottom of their feet. This usually resulted in a squeal from our lines because they had ticklish feet or the glue was cold. I emphasized that we had to count to ten when gluing the lines to our paper. Counting to ten was good practice for the kids but we had to make sure that we always took a moment to shake our booties when we got to the number nine. I asked the students to add four lines to their sculpture and then they went to work. I couldn't help but laugh to look around the room and see a class of kindergarteners counting to ten under their breath and shaking their bottoms every time they got to nine.

For the next class, we saw how many different kinds of lines we could name. The students came up with zig-zag, curvy, wavy, straight, loop-de-loop, and the lines that are on the road (dotted/dashed). Then we talked about how lines could be used to create shapes, as long as the line held its own hand. I demonstrated to the students that when a line curved all the way around and connected with itself (held its hand) it could create circles, triangles, squares, and so many other shapes. Then I showed them how to make some of these shapes using the paper strips. To make zig-zags we had to fold the paper. Then fold again. And again. And again. And AGAIN! To make shapes, we had to glue our strips hands together which made a circle. If they wanted to make other shapes, we had to give our circle a pinch. OUCH! This created a water-drop shape. If pinched a second time it made an eye, football, or ellipses. If pinched three times, they then had a triangle. And if pinched four times, they got a square. Of course we had to say "OUCH!" for each pinch. After gluing each of these shapes onto my sculpture (and making sure to count to ten!) the students set to work making their own crazy lines and shapes. I asked them to make five lines/shapes for this class period.

I am so happy with how well these turned out! Next class we get to paint lines!