Class World Cup Trophy Project!

With all the World Cup excitement this past school year, my class really wanted to make a World Cup Trophy. Students worked together to come up with ideas and build their own over the course of a few weeks. Students took turns in groups of 3-4 to work on the different stages of the project. Here are some photos of the process:

- Patrick

 

The Ultimate Invasive Species STEAM project

For our Grade 4 class STEAM project, the students learned about invasive species and then designed, built and named their own ultimate invasive species. 

Pour notre projet STEAM 4ème, les élèves ont découvert les espèces envahissantes et puis ont conçu, construit + nommé leur propre espèce envahissante ultime.

- Patrick

Leaf identification poster project in French

Grade 4 French Immersion students had fun making posters about local trees and habitats this week. Les élèves d'immersion moyenne se sont bien amusés cette semaine en apprenant des arbres et habitats locaux. 

French Leaf Identification Worksheets

I've made some french versions of my leaf identification handouts and worksheets. They are now available here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/French-Leaf-Identification-Worksheets-Fiches-didentification-des-feuilles-7123234

These are great for fall tree walks and for french language, science and art activities. I have enjoyed using them as part of an interdisciplinary approach to the Ontario Science curriculum. Students collect and identify leaves. Then they complete a scientific illustration about their leaf. After that we learn about the communities and habitats of the trees and the species that live around our school.

- Patrick

Leaf Identification Worksheets

I have just added a new resource to my TeachersPayTeachers site that I am excited about. My class had a great time using these this fall. These are worksheets that teach how to identify deciduous and coniferous trees based on the characteristics of leaves. These are cross-curricular worksheets that combines science, environment, art, language and outdoor activity. This resource works well with any age level. It works with the science curriculum, outdoor exploration, student inquiry project, visual arts and language.

- Patrick

Tree identification Unit

 I've just finished a new teaching resource that is available on my teacherspayteachers page here:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Tree-Identification-Unit-6641761

This resource is a cross-curricular unit plan for Grade 4 Communities and Habitats, from the Ontario curriculum. It combines science, environment, art, language and outdoor activity. This resource can be used for a variety other learning purposes. It can work well with Grades 4, 5 and 6 for science curriculum, outdoor exploration, student inquiry project, visual arts and language. 

I created this unit based on lessons, activities and ideas that I worked out in the classroom. It is an engaging unit that kids will enjoy and is also fun to teach!

- Patrick 

Scientific Illustration Project + Leaf Identification Unit

This is a fun way to combine art and science. I developed this project this year for the Grade 4 Ontario Science curriculum: Communities and Habitats. This could work for students all all grades. 

After working through some fundamental science vocabulary about communities, habitats, and ecosystems, we studied local trees: coniferous and deciduous and how to identify trees based on the characteristics of their leaves. 

We spent a lot of time outside observing and documenting trees and collecting leaves. We then learned about scientific illustration and how to label, classify, identify, how to use a magnification bubble, and how to ask questions about what is being studied.

The final project:

Students create a poster about their chosen leaf. They draw a scientific illustration with relevant labels, questions and a magnification bubble. We got to laminate our leaves and add them to the poster. The students loved it and learned a lot!

Large group Terry Fox Poster activity

 This in a September/October project that's great to do with elementary students as a large group activity. 

Step 1: Tape a large piece of paper to the white board (in the place where the projector will project)

Step 2: Project the Terry Fox image that you want onto the paper

Step 3: Trace a light pencil outline of the image 

Step 4: Ask a student to go over the light pencil outline with a black marker

Step 5: Show the class an inspiring Terry Fox video and ask them to write down a quote that they feel inspired by (or to write their own sentence about what Terry means to them)

Step 6: Using different bright coloured- markers, have students come up one at a time to add their quote or sentence to the poster

Ancient Basswood (at Broadview and Danforth)

This is a pen & ink project that I just finished- an old basswood that I must have passed hundreds of times and always found inspiring. This particular tree can be found at Broadview and Danforth avenue in Toronto. My neighbourhood and my city are usually where I get my ideas and inspiration, specifically the natural spaces, urban parks, trails and trees of the Don River watershed. 

Here's the illustration in it's early stages:

And here's the final:

- Patrick

Mandolorian Helmet (Randolorian)

This was a fun and challenging project! I've never worked so creatively with cardboard before and I discovered that it can do so much more than I expected. Being stuck at home during social distancing, I've had some time to try projects out of my comfort zone... this is one of them.

I followed this tutorial: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/ and kind of made it my own. I like to call it a Randolorain helmet...

- Patrick

Happy Earth Day!

Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Being stuck inside, we were missing our local forest. So we built it using recycled cardboard and paper mache.

Here are some photos of our neighbourhood forest building project:

Painted Rocks

Painted rocks is an easy and fun project that can be done with any age group- and just vary the expectations as the artists get more experienced.

Start by collecting rocks and cleaning them. Next, get the art supplies you will need:

Acrylic paint, brushes, water cups, reusable sheet.

Choose an idea for the project to develop expectations/criteria. We started with a simple idea: colours - and since we've been learning about Egypt lately-  ancient Egypt! We chose red and blue as our main colours and added gold for the Eye of Horus rock.

- Patrick

Ancient Egypt Projects - part 3

For the third edition of our social-distancing-based Ancient Egypt Projects, we decided to try to make a little sculpture of a falcon. Ours is inspired by some Ancient Egyptian artefacts, gold and turquoise falcon sculptures.

We started with pipe cleaners, masking tape and card stock base.

Then, we made a rough form of a falcon.

Next, we taped it in place and started to add masking tape to make it look more and more like a falcon. This type of sculpture involves adding on material to a frame. 

Keep adding tape until you are satisfied with how it looks. 

Now it is ready for paper mache. Just tear up some scrap paper, get some glue and water, and apply layers of the torn up paper dipped in the glue mixture with a paint brush. Cover the entire sculpture. 

Now it is ready to paint!

Here is our finished falcon. And we had so much fun, we made another one to try out different colours:

- Patrick