Get Smart with Art! (9)

"Education costs money, but then so does ignorance." --Sir Claus Moser

Fusing the Third R (aRithmetic) with the 4 C’s-Grade 3

Money
Volume I of the Grade 3 Everyday Mathematics (2001) series reviews the amounts associated with paper money and coins.  Shannon Asch of Washington Street Elementary School provided her students with an opportunity to build upon knowledge of money introduced in math classes.  Students created a design for a new dollar bill on 6” x 3” paper.  They placed their design up against a classroom window and traced it onto the back of the paper.  This reversed their design to prepare it for transfer to the “plate.”  Using either scratch foam or Styrofoam meat trays cut the same size, they placed their backwards design on top and traced HARD with a pencil.  After removing the paper, students deepened the etched lines.  Ink was squeezed onto a bench hook or paper plate, a brayer was rolled into the ink and then onto the Styrofoam covering all and being careful not to get ink into the etched lines.  A piece of 6" x 3” colored paper was placed onto the inked plate and a clean brayer was rolled over it several times to transfer the ink to the paper.  Students were encouraged to print several bills.  Below is an image to inspire your students-a trillion dollar bill.

http://curezone.com/upload/Blogs/Zoebess/trillion_dollars.jpg

Another resource for projects on money is the Fundred Dollar Bill project: http://www.fundred.org/  Teachers across the nation had their students design dollar bills.  The site has a template you can download:  http://www.fundred.org/downloads/Fundred_Template.pdf

On the template are symbols used on American money that may inspire your students to personalize their Fundreds or money printed in art class.   Toms River Schools donated $155,700 Fundreds created by students from 16 schools. 

Patterns
Another concept studied by third grade math students is patterns.  After studying number patterns in math class, you can provide art students opportunities to explore and understand pattern by creating pattern.  Here are two projects that engage students in creating patterns.  In the photo below you can see how art students cut rectangular pieces of paper into shapes for buildings.  Then they cut shapes from artape and arranged them in rows to create patterns of windows and doors. 

 

In the photo below, students created colored paper weavings, dipped corks, forks and paper clips into black paint and stamped them onto the weaving to create patterns. 

 

Students can also be introduced to the history of Ghanaian Kente cloth and create weavings in the colors that represent Africa:
  • Red-Life and blood
  • Blue-Innocence
  • Green-Mother Africa, Mother Earth
  • Black-People, Unity
  • Gold-Strength and Fortune
Students choose paper in one of these colors and prepare it for weaving by folding and cutting the warp.  Next they take strips of these colors (weft) and weave them over and under alternating each row.  Finally, they choose objects to dip into black paint and stamp across the weaving creating patterns.   

In these days when budget cuts have resulted in less instructional time for your art students, look to classroom teachers for basic instruction of concepts and then expand student knowledge with hand-on creative experiences. 

-Kim Huyler Defibaugh

REFERENCES:

University of Chicago School Mathematic Project.  (2001).  Everyday Mathematics, Grades 1 and 3 (2nd ed.)  McGraw – Hill Education.