I love combining the students' lessons with art. They were studying Ancient Egypt in Social Studies and that period of history is an art teacher's dream. Each student began the paper sarcophagi by researching different hierolglyphic symbols in their art journal. Words like scarab, Eye of Rah, etc. They penciled in these symbols in their journals. They then used Penn Museum's Archaelogical website to look up what their name would be in heiroglyphics. They were to write these symbols down the middle of the sarcophagus. Each student designed their own. We went over different sarcophagus designs and sketched them before doing the good copy. After painting, we stuffed them and stapled them. I had 8 x 10 black and white side profile pics taken of each child. After they were done, they were to decorate their photo as if they were living in Ancient Egypt with Sharpies. They loved doing it but since they are middle schoolers, after all, I couldn't convince many of them to let me hang their finished photos in the hall. LOL. 

The 6th grade is exploring Ancient Civilizations and cuneiform writing came up as a topic. The students used air dry clay to create tablets that will hopefully stand up on display. They used their Ipads to look up the alphabet and used a small wooden tool to write their names on the tablets. They rolled out the clay and designed ways to make them stand up without toppling over. 

This was a 2 week project. It was easier to show the students the steps with a YouTube video. Google Van Gogh DIY on YouTube: Vincent Van Gogh Art Project for Kids | Pop up Chair | Art lesson for Kids - YouTube They could see the basics of the project on the screen better with this. After watching the first few minutes, I then instructed them to design a chair like Van Gogh and to decorate the room as they wanted. They only had to add one thing of Van Gogh's in the rooms. They were really creative: a Starry Night rug, a vase of sunflowers, a window with Starry Night. They turned out amazing. More photos to follow. These are the beginnings.