Tessellation Chameleons

I believe I first saw this project in an Arts & Activities Magazine, and I HAD to try it. I've always loved tessellations - great for pretty much any ability level, cross-curricular with math, looks amazing hanging in the hallway - but on their own they can be sort of, well, boring. The lizard twist makes them look cool and I always have the student stamp of approval when I do this project with my 5th graders. The first year I taught this, I did it on 12x18 paper (I like big projects), but the coloring got to be a little cumbersome, so this year I did it on 9x12, which I think works pretty well. I could *probably* get this done in three 35-minute periods, but I'm going to do it in four to allow for stragglers and those who were absent to catch up. Here's how I teach this lesson:

Day 1: Introduce tessellations and the artist M.C. Escher (gotta love him). Create the tessellation stencil with a square piece of tag board.

Day 2: Trace tessellation stencil across 9x12 paper and begin coloring. I have them outline with marker and color in with crayons or colored pencils (I note that crayons are faster, but colored pencils allow for more detail - but it's up to them). Most students get close to, if not finished with, coloring at this point. For the kids that missed Day 1, we make a quick stencil and they catch up pretty quickly.

Day 3: Finish coloring, trace lizard on tessellation and cut out (I really stress that the scissors have to stay on the pencil line ALL the way around the lizard so the "scrap" isn't cut into a million pieces). Now, last year I had students draw their own lizard stencil and trace it on the tessellation, but between the big paper and that, it took 6-7 classes for this project. So, since drawing a lizard isn't the pivotal part of this lesson, I allow them to use my pre-made stencils. Then they glue the "scrap" part of the tessellation to a piece of construction paper. The tessellation lizard is folded in half and the feet only are glued onto the paper.

Day 4: Catch up for those who were absent or need a little bit more time. Quick alternative project for those who are done.

This is a big crowd pleaser in the hallway... lots of "ooohs" and "aaahhhs". Enjoy.


Art Classroom Tip: Pencil Hell

I can't believe how much thought I can put into writing about such a simple thing, but in an art room, a nice sharpened pencil is something that students need for almost every project, and it can be the cause of a lot of stress.

One thing we have to tackle is for our students to have a pencil in the first place. Many art teachers require that students bring their own pencil to class, which can work fairly well if carried out correctly. But with this comes two problems:

1. Pencils break/become dull.
2. Some kids will inevitably not bring one for whatever reason.

For some teachers, #1 really isn't a problem because there are sharpeners, but for me, I loathe pencil sharpening in the middle of class. I don't know about you, but I have at least 10 students in every class who will use any excuse they can come up with to get out of their seats, and pencil sharpening is a perfect one. Electric sharpeners are obnoxiously loud and can get clogged, and the manual on-the-wall variety are still sort of loud, and get clogged quite often, in my experience.

As for problem #2, most teachers who require students to bring pencils will have pencils to borrow if they are not brought. These extra pencils can be traded for a shoe or a fake flower can be attached on the end to make sure they are returned.

I like to avoid pencil sharpeners (during class) and strict borrowing all together.

My pencil procedure (which I got from my mentor teacher while interning) is to keep pencils for students to use on the tables (a few more than there are students), and then have sharp pencils ready that students can "trade" a dull one for to avoid using the sharpener. My initial thought was to be really persnickety about it and be firm that EVERY time a student took a sharp pencil, they traded the dull one, but that became not worth the effort it took to keep track of. It requires a bit of prep on my part - I have to be sure the pencils are sharp at the beginning of the day - but it never takes up my class time with students and for that, it is totally worth it. Now, for those of you who have tried this and have the dreaded pencil thieves, I seem to have solved this well enough to work for me. The answer is: The Ticonderoga Beginner Pencil. I have grown to love this type of pencil in my art room and it has earned its capital letters.

Why do I love it?
1. Great for small hands. After all, they are a "beginner" pencil.
2. Since no one else seems to use them, they are always identified as art pencils and if they walk out of the art room, I usually find them in my mailbox eventually.
3. Since they are big and "kiddish" looking, the big kids don't want to steal them. How uncool would that be?
4. With the big lead, they get dull slower than regular pencils.

Now, School Specialty has their own brand of cheaper beginner pencils, but unfortunately, they don't fit in my electric sharpener in one building and at the other, they JUST fit but are still difficult to sharpen. This just doesn't work for me since I like to quickly sharpen them at the beginning of each day. For me, the Ticonderoga Beginner is worth the minor extra expense. I purchase the variety without the eraser, and then keep erasers on the tables as well.

While we're on the subject of pencils, let's delve right into colored pencils since it pertains to this project, as well. Obviously, one could never spend the time pre-sharpening colored pencils for students, and this needs to be done during class time. However, nothing clogs an electric or on-the-wall sharpener faster than colored pencils. Hand sharpeners are easy to unclog, but then there are shavings to deal with. So, I keep hand sharpeners on the tables along with a little dish for shavings. Students know that part of their clean up is to empty the shavings out of the dish. Please note that I do NOT keep colored pencils on the tables all the time - I just bring them out when I need them for specific projects. I've heard that the Crayola Color Sticks work great (and the Prismacolor ones are even better), but I don't really have the budget to get a bunch of them right now and I still have a ton of colored pencils to use up before I would consider it.