Kenneth Libbrecht Inspired Snowflake Prints
This project wasn’t based on an artist, but instead the kids learned about a professor from the California Institute that researches the different ways that snowflakes take form and makes artificial snowflakes. The kids learned that snowflakes have radial symmetry and what radial symmetry is. Each kid said something they noticed about the snowflakes when we talked about what attributes snowflakes have. During her demonstration, Margaret talked about printmaking. She taught the students about brayers, blocks, and what a relief print it. The demonstration was broken into 2 parts.
The first part of the demonstration focused on making the blocks. We took single side stick foam and cut out different shapes and placed them on the cardboard blocks to make ¼ of a snowflake. The second part of the demonstration was how to use the brayers to paint ink onto the block the be able to place the block on a paper to make a print of it. Then they kids would rotate the blocks so the dot they make was always in the middle to make a symmetrical snowflake.
Some of the kids were having trouble focusing, but Margaret was able to get them back on track with taking a moment to take a deep breath and refocusing. The classroom was set up with the block making supplies at the main table and then the trays with 4 different colors of ink at four other separate stations. Two of the main objectives of this lesson was to have students make relief prints and be able to understand and create art using radial symmetry.
Like mentioned before, the demonstration was broken into two parts, one to teach how to make the blocks with time after to make the blocks, then the second to teach how to to the actual prints with time after to do so. Most of the questioning about snowflakes and symmetry were at the beginning of the lesson. All of the students understood what the project was, especially when they got to start, so there wasn’t really a need to change the lesson up for any of the students. The lead teacher did a good job of speaking loud and clear for the students when explaining and make lots of eye contact.
Margaret was able to refocus the children really well. It was efficient and didnt take away that much time from the demonstration to do so. One thing she could improve on would be to question not only in the beginning of class, but throughout and at the end as well. This would help the kids better understand and remember the information given at the start of class. It is more clear to me now that I will have to have the ability to get kids to come back when we get off track in the most efficient manner like Margaret did so well. I have had such an amazing time these last few weeks being able to provide new skills and practices to our students that enjoy art just as much as the teachers. The experience as a whole has made me a much more confident teacher by getting the actual hands on experience in a classroom and being able to work on my classroom management, planning, and communication skills while doing what I love.
