Thank you to my art teacher friend Noelle for the inspiration for this project!

I am all about some collaboration this year! I think projects with collaborative group work really help to build character development and teach real-world communication skills. Anyway, for this project we started off using Google Earth on ipads to research buildings in our community or places that are interesting.

Students were allowed to choose their own groups and they got together to decide which buildings to create and who would do what. They were pretty much welcome to use anything they wanted in the art room (within reason) to make their communities but they had to have a road to connect everything and at least some elements that were 3D. They used foam, pipe cleaners, wire, phone books, maps, cardboard, scraps, paint, markers, poster board, tape, and any other odds and ends they wanted.

^ Check out that White House! ^

 

^ A Soccer Field ^

^ The Statue of Liberty ^

 

^ This student loves outer space and built NASA with a rocket launching! ^

 

^ The Magic School bus ^

 

^ This student made a house for each member of her group 😀 ^

 

^ Pipe Cleaner Tree ^

 

^ The foil building in the top right is a Starbucks ^

 

This project spanned several weeks. The last day was used for a walk-around critique. Students were responsible for completing a critique sheet about their own work as well as their classmate’s.

The “Glow” is something the group did well and the “Grow” is something they can improve for next time. I love when kids write stuff, it is hilarious! (And good practice for testing and life in general)