This project was inspired by This gem over at Mrs. Knight’s Smartest Artists. Students began by reaseraching interesting and meaningful places using Google Earth on iPads.

They were fascinated to walk down the street in a big city, see where they used to live in another country, or visit world famous land marks. When they ultimately decided on a place, they sketched an aerial view of it. After transferring their sketch to a piece of art paper, students used tempera cakes to add color. They could choose any 2, 3, or 4 colors + black and white. But WHY Ms. K?!? Because I’m the queen of art, thats why. Also, sometimes you have to make tough choices in life and/or I don’t want them all to have a “green grass” background. 

 

For the few 5th graders who weren’t suffering from #yoloitis #senioritis #toocoolforschool this was a really successful project. Many of my students come from different parts of the country or world and are expected to adapt and acclimate to American/English/Georgia culture with absolutely no regard for their own personal background. The opportunity to not only look at and explore but reflect  on “home” was a very special experience for many of the kiddos. And even the ones who depicted their own neighborhood or the mall down the street had a great time exploring the lay of the land of their community. 5th graders wrote an opinion piece as their artist statement describing or explaining why the place they chose is so awesome.