Fishy Fishy! Kindgergarten Collages

Zhi Yi Lu, K-B07

Kindergarten just finished a collage unit! Collage, as Kindergartners learned, is art made with paper and glue. Students began the unit by exploring the ways they could change paper with their hands (ripping, folding, tearing, etc.) and with scissors (cutting zig zags, curves, etc.). Students also explored the ways we can arrange shapes so that they touch (or overlap) in order to make big parts from smaller parts. We read the book "Perfect Square" (by Michael Hall) together at the beginning of class for two weeks (great book that introduces students to various ways they can change paper), then students spent those weeks working on collages of anything they chose. Students learned proper gluing technique (dot, dot, dot, don't glue a lot, around the edge) and how to manipulate the materials during these explorations.
After finishing their exploration collages, I read the book "Fish Eyes" (by Lois Elhert) to students.

At the end of the book, the question is posed "If you could truly have a wish, would you wish to be a fish?". Students then considered what they might look like if they were to turn into fishies! Students began collages of their fish by cutting/ripping big parts (head, body, tail, fins) out of colored paper, then arranging the pieces together. The following week, students considered small parts (eyes, mouth, stripes on the body, etc.) their fish might have, then cut/tore and glued these onto the collages from the previous week. The next week, students looked at collages by Eric Carle and created their own hand-painted paper that they used the following week when they created their fish's habitat (under the sea, in a fishbowl, under some seaweed, etc.) on cool colored (blue, green, purple, etc.) paper. The final week, students cut out their fish collages and added them to the habitats they had created.

Whitney in K-B03 creating the habitat for her fish

Elijah from K-B03 cutting out his fish

Enjoy "swimming" through our fish collages!

Anairis, K-B07

Wentao, K-B07

Jayden, K-B07

Christopher, K-B07

Kelsey, K-B03

Jahmir, K-B03

Kimora, K-B03

Josselyn, K-B07

2nd Grade Collage Explorations

Students in the 2nd grade started a collage unit last week. We began the unit by looking at the illustrations of Eric Carle. We discussed the kind of art we thought it might be (which medium) and how he might have made them. After careful observation, students discovered that the illustrations he creates are collages (art made with paper and glue).

Students were then shown a rectangular piece of black paper and asked how they might change the paper with their hands. They brainstormed all the ways we can change the paper (rip, tear, fold, crease, bend, etc.) and then learned how to properly glue the pieces of paper (they changed) down to a colored piece of background paper; we make sure we always "dot dot dot, don't glue a lot" around the edges so our pieces of paper stick down. Students then discovered that they can overlap and layer pieces of paper of the same color to create whole shapes. The rest of the class they explored changing paper with their hands and creating collages from those pieces. The following week, we discussed how to change paper with scissors. Students learned they could create a variety of edges (rough, smooth, bumpy, curvy, zig zag, etc.) with the scissors. They then added to their collages from the previous week using scissors and their hands to change the paper.

Jean, 2-216

Jonah, 2-216

Miguel, 2-216

Raul, 2-216

Stacey, 2-216

Steve, 2-216

Yannae, 2-216

Yeimy, 2-216