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This activity is loosely tied to 1st grade's current focus on communities. Students are learning that in order for a community to function, its members must work together. Everyone must do their part, and people must be willing to share the responsibilities! And that is what I asked our kids to do with this project- they had to function as a team, kind of like a mini-community, in order to accomplish a task. They had to share their ideas, listen to others, and make compromises in order to meet their goal of creating a collaborative piece of art. Each team had a bucket containing the same supplies- pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, newspaper, aluminum foil, and clear tape. They could make ANYTHING they could dream up- but, everyone in the team had to be on board with the idea and everyone had to participate equally. For the first half of our class time, I had them work without any assistance or guidance from me. I wanted students to experience the inevitable problems, and to have to find solutions independently- I think this is one of the most important skills students can learn from making art. After about 20 minutes of work, I had students leave their in-progress creations and gather back as a group to discuss the process so far. I asked them to share what problems their teams had encountered and what they had done to get back on track. One team shared that they had run out of tape, but they figured out how to wire pieces together with the pipe cleaners instead. Another team had a disagreement on what to make- one member wanted a princess while another member wanted animals for a zoo- I'll share their creative solution later! With some guidance, students have been able to verbalize how working on this group project was kind of like being part of a community- that you had to help each other and make sure everyone had what they needed. That was my goal for the lesson! After the discussions, teams had a few more minutes to finish their projects. We ended the lesson with an opportunity for each team to share what they made! Here are some of their very interesting creations-- A sled with two people wearing coats and scarves. A mama snake with her egg in a nest. I love this one!! It's a lightbulb- see the swirly yellow to show that it's glowing? And the silver ball at the bottom is the chain that you pull to turn the light on and off! This is a monster- see the eyes made from tape dispensers? The black pipe cleaners are laser beams shooting from the eyes! This is the beginnings of a city scene- can you see the red stoplight? And the car in the parking lot? This was the solution to the princess-or-zoo question... In this scene, Rapunzel is being chased up her tower by a gorilla! But the prince is on his way to rescue her!! What a good compromise! This is a solar eclipse! The shape on the right is the sun- see how the popsicle sticks make rays of sunlight? And the orange pipe cleaners are the sun glowing around the shadow. And the creation on the left is a pair of eclipse glasses!! I LOVED watching our kids work through this project- we'll definitely be doing this again!
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