Just The Right Words, Altered Page

                                 Grasshopper sang in the field for Winter!
                                                         by Michelle, grade 4

This piece makes me wonder if "Winter" is a season or a person. Another thought, when I look at this I can see the entire paper as a fluffy field of white snow and the colors are representations of happiness. 

Altering a text filled page for me is almost like a meditation. You absolutely have to slow down in order to find just the right words to compose just the right sentence. Now your mind conjures up an image, colors, lines and shapes to go with that sentence.

She flung it.
Notice how this student uses the element of line to push her idea.  The curved lines are not only in the round spiral but in the fabric as well; also notice the expression on the girl's face.

Jack wished for a supper this night.
This student wanted it to look like "...those planes that carry a sign behind them".
(I think this student shows an amazing sense of space and color) 

left to right-
Giants disappear.
This student glued a sheet over his original page and cut holes out in order to see the text...interesting...it's almost as if the text disappeared as well as the giant.

Jack wished he grew up. 
I love how we get the feeling that they boy is thinking about growing up and those thoughts are represented with green and orange dots. This student also cut most of the page away to create a shape and then glued it on a white background. 

The band wished for a good supper. 

left to right-
When Jack came down the chimney he heard big words from giants.
(notice the ear on the bottom left and how "big words" are represented with large colored dots)

The disappeared chimney. Hey Dad, the chimney disappeared.

Altered Page

...and we have finally finished! Check out the post below to learn more about this lesson.  

Altered Page, Artists as Designers

The 5th and 6th grade girls are working on designing an altered page with a "spooky" mood to it.  Shown above are the steps we are taking.  First,  they were to select words to make a sentence that spoke to them about creating this spooky mood.  This was actually a really fun part because they become so enthralled into finding this perfect sentence which never existed before.  Then,  I gave them a selection of images to choose from which they were to glue onto their board/page.  Then they used the oil pastels to block out the negative space.  They could use the oil pastel however they chose.  The next step was to design a frame or border (we used the scissors with a special edge for this).  The last step is to construct a small envelope and attach it to their piece. I'm encouraging them to invent a new way to make an envelope.  We are not completely finished yet but I wanted to share the work thus far.  I like this lesson a lot because I believe every part has challenged them to a new level.