Get Smart with Art! (8)

"Nature cannot be copied; it can only be expressed." --Piet Mondrian 

Fusing the Third R (aRithmetic) with the 4 C’s-Grade Two
As “Teacher of Art on a Cart” for 23 years, I cannot tell you how many times I entered a classroom during the winter months greeted by students excited over their four and eight pointed cut paper snowflakes displayed in the windows.  That’s right.  I said snowflakes with four and eight points.  Science has revealed that snowflakes are usually hexagonal in shape.  Below are some great images of snowflakes taken by Wilson Bentley found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake  
   
The Everyday Math Series (2004) for our second grade students suggests making snowflakes as an extension of geometry lessons.  Making snowflakes also incorporates artistic concepts of shape and radial symmetry.  Generally the hardest part of the lesson is folding the paper into sixths.  Here is a link to a reproducible page with folding directions for your students (and their classroom teachers): http://ms-t-inc.com/pdf-file/snowflak.pdf  After cutting out their snowflakes, you may ask your students to think of ways to alter their snowflakes.  Below is one student’s response to this creative problem. 

Second grade students also review bilateral symmetry in math. To build upon this concept, Toms River art teachers Dave Baumeister and Nancy Cummings suggested a positive/ negative stencil project.   Fold a 4 1/2" x 6” piece of paper in half.  Draw a leaf shape with the center on the fold.  Cut out the leaf beginning and ending on the fold.  Save both pieces of paper (positive and negative of the leaf cutting).  Choose a color of 12” x 18” paper and fold in half.  On one half, use the cut-out leaf as a stencil.  Use short strokes of a crayon, oil/chalk pastel, or paint brush from the center of the leaf over the edge onto the paper.  Do this around the entire leaf.  Move the leaf around one half of the paper, overlapping and using a variety of colors.  On the second half of the paper, place the 4 1/2" x 6” negative space paper.  Using similar materials, make strokes over the edge of the cut-out space toward the opening in the center.  Repeat several times, moving around one half of the paper.

Here is another visual sample of lesson that incorporates bilateral symmetry with line, complementary colors and positive/negative space.  Students choose one piece of 9” x 12” and a second piece of 12” x 18” colored paper that are complementary colors.  Fold the large piece in half to get a line down the middle.  Use a pencil to draw 5 lines that start on one long edge of the smaller piece of paper curve towards the opposite edge and back to the first edge.  The lines can be wavy, jagged, angled, etc.  Use scissors to cut on all five lines.  Place all pieces together like a puzzle on one side of the large paper with the cut edges touching the fold.  Glue the largest outside piece down first.  Alternate gluing the 6 cut pieces on each side of the fold to create a colorful, mirror image.

In these postings, Toms River art teachers are sharing lessons that build upon knowledge gained from math class.  You too can talk to teachers in your school to find out what your students are learning in other subjects. Use this to deepen your students’ understanding of art concepts and help them to see connections between art and all other subjects.  

-Kim Huyler Defibaugh

REFERENCES:

University of Chicago School Mathematic Project.  (2004).  Everyday Mathematics, Grades 2, 4 and 5. (2nd ed. update)  McGraw – Hill Education.