Collage Craftivity

What a day! I just have to vent really quick…this morning around 9:15 the kids are doing their morning work and we’re getting all settled for the day, when THEY walked in. Those guys from the district. Here to install my new Promethean board. While the kids are here! I had to take down all my bulletin boards and rearrange my furniture and it was just utter chaos. Ugh. But all’s well that ends well, right?  J

 

Anyway, on to more happy topics! I have a cute craftivity I’d like to share with you today! There’s this collage my college art professor did with us that I always do with my students at the beginning of the year. It’s a person-shaped cut-out that the kids decorate with pictures and other objects that represent who they are. I start off by showing the kids my own example:

 

 Then I give them a few days to bring in items to make their own collages. Sometimes kids pick a theme that represents one aspect of their lives (like mine is all about travel because I love to travel.) Other times they bring in an assortment of items to represent lots of aspects of their lives. I let the kids make their collages in class. With older kids I just provide them with stencils to trace their people. With younger kids, I made copies of people cut-outs on big construction paper so they didn’t have to worry about the tracing step. After the collages are made, I hang them up. My classroom has this hideous back wall, so I just leave the collages up all year because they make the room look way better, plus it gives the kids a sense of ownership of our classroom. They love having their collages on display. It’s also amazing what they think of putting on their collages! My 5^th grade girls gave their collages earrings and hair clips. J

Once all the collages are hung, each student presents his/her collage to the rest of the class. It’s a great way from them to get to know each other better, and they love their time in the spotlight. It’s fun to see what is important to each student! When the year is over, the kids take their collages home as a keepsake of their year in my class! Collages are a fun and simple way for everyone to get to know one another, and an excellent way to personalize a classroom!

PS- Tomorrow is Friday!!!  J