Super- Realistic Portraits

Okay, so this title is not "super" accurate, as these students are in Grade 2, but for 7 year old's, I think they did pretty well! Students learned about different portraits and styles throughout history; but we paid special attention to portraits that reflected the subject (Frida Khalo) and Hyper- Realists, such as Chuck Close and others. We did this unit as a stand-alone, but it could easily be tailored to fit "Who We Are" in the PYP. I was interested in teaching them about dimensions of the human face, shading using colored pencils and realism more than anything else. So I took each student's photo and then blew them up to A3 size. They cut the photos in half (approximately- they are 7), began measuring the points of the face with rulers then got to work on the final draft after much planning and a smaller test run in their sketchbooks. They could choose to depict themselves, or a partner. This was an 8 week Unit, so scroll to the end to see what I did as a "going further" task/project. Here are a few of the more interesting results!

Most students chose to use colored pencil, but this student used chalk pastel, which I think was quite successful.

I love how he chose to incorporate elements of a different background than the mirror image, but still retain some of the original to make it seem realistic.

What I appreciate about this portrait is that even though it has realistic elements, it still shows the huge personality!

This one is my exemplar- not done by a 7 year old. But if it was!

Grade 5 Photographic Exhibition

Grade 5 has an annual Exhibition, and for the past 2 years, I have created a separate photography Unit and show for the students to present their skills and learning. We make it like a mini- gallery, with panels as walls to display their work. We look at the work of various photographers, depending on the theme of their entire Exhibition, and relate their content to the UOI that they are focusing on. The last one we did was "Who We Are", so we focused on Black and white portraits of local people- homeless, maids, drivers, village folk- whomever they thought had an interesting face or story to tell. They were also required to give a short interview, in order to put a story behind the face- kind of like "Humans of ___"-style. In this case, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The results were stunning. Here are some of my favorite images.

P.O.D: Unity, Emphasis, Contrast

Key Concepts: Connection, Responsibility, Perspective

Related Concepts: Experiences, culture, identity, audience, perspective, connection

Possible Central Ideas: "Lives are changed through encounters with people of different beliefs and cultures"; "There is more than one way to tell a story".

Inspiring Big Ideas in Little People

I wanted to start this new blog with the work of my students in a chronological order so I could showcase some of the work of my littlest first, since they tend to have the most creative ideas (in my humble opinion). Here are a few images of the Kindergartner's  amazing work!

Animals in the style of Eric Carle

Finishing Louise Nevelson-inspired sculptures

Paper sculpting

"My home"

"Places I Will Go"