This year my school has taken on the initiative of Project Based Learning. This exciting way to learn basically uses the same skills I teach in my classroom in conjunction with common core curriculum so that students create projects to showcase their learning in their home rooms. It is really cool to see them making stuff and presenting it! 5th graders learned all about germs and microbacteria in their PBL unit and I thought it would make a cool tie in for an art project.

On the first day, I showed students a PowerPoint about Op Art that pretty much blew their minds. They had to much fun trying to decipher the visual puzzles and figuring out why each artwork is an illusion. Students then sketched from step-by-step guides different op art designs.

The next day we met, 5th graders drew their favorite sketch onto final draft paper and used sharpie to trace the lines. They then mixed tempera paint to create analogous colors that they used to paint their spaces.

The last day was spent drawing a germ, bacteria, virus, or fungus they had learned about in class and giving it a face or personality. They used water colors to paint their germ with the middle color from their analogous color scheme and glued it to the op art background.

I think these turned out really great and love that there was a connection to homeroom classroom learning!