First Graders at San Ramon Elementary School worked with Mentor Artist Julia James to experience the myriad ways we can use paper to help us create and express ourselves.
Children practiced cutting, folding,color, bending, overlapping, and glueing.
After learning the fundamentals of paper techniques, students created pop-ups from flat sheets of paper.
When making masks, students learned that one cut can make a flat piece of paper three- dimensional.
In creating landscapes by tearing bits of paper, students were able to explore multi-colored papers from Asia that are made from plants. Tearing paper to create a landscape is more challenging when papers are made of longer plant fibers.
Students noticed that “The paper is soft and has a nice feel to it.”
“The paper feels so different.”
“There are many different textures in the papers.”
“I love the sound the papers make.
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“I like overlapping and seeing the colors change.”
Finally, students learned to imagine a dragon. By drawing in pencil, adding sharpie, and finally learning to overlap colored papers to create texture on our dragons, students created truly unique and spectacular dragons to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Projects always culminated with reflecting and sharing, and classroom extensions often included the addition of writing to help students articulate their decisions and vision.