Getting Artsy

Our third graders just read Elena's Serenade from our Basal.  It's a story about a little girl from Mexico who wants to be a glassblower even though everyone, including her papa, thinks only men can be glassblowers.  She doesn't let being young and a girl stand in her way, and she follows her dreams!

I saw the perfect opportunity for an art project to go along with our story and began searching for ideas.  I found some great art teachers' blogs and ultimately found our project at Miss Oetken's blog ARTASTIC!  We didn't have any of the Graphix Shrink Sheet or anywhere in our small town to buy it so we went with the plastic punch cups.

After taking our reading test for the week we watched two videos about glassblowing.  First, we watched a PBS Kids video telling and showing us how glassblowing is done.  As if that wasn't amazing enough for my kiddos, we then watched a video about renowned artist Dale Chihuly.  We saw many of his famous pieces such as a tree in New York City's Botanical Gardens and explored his website looking at more examples of his art, like the ceiling of the Bellagio in Las Vegas!  They were truly in awe!

The kids wrote a paragraph about Elena and her glassblowing.  Then they wrote a paragraph about Dale Chihuly's work and made sure to use lots of adjectives and descriptive writing!  Finally they wrote about and drew what they would make if they were glassblowers and could make their own piece of art.  Fast forward to after lunch and each student gets to decorate a clear punch cup with colorful permanent markers.  I popped them into the toaster oven on broil for a few seconds to make our "glass sculptures".  They turned out great and the kids absolutely loved it!  Take a look at a few of our finished projects!

I'm so thankful to Miss Oetken for sharing this wonderful idea!  I think this is a keeper for next year too!  Have any of you ever done this or a similar project in your classes?  Our kids don't get to have an art class at my school so if you have any great ideas for incorporating art into the regular classroom please share!

Now, on a side note, make sure that you head over to Stellar Students and check out her 200 follower giveaway!  She's choosing 2 winners when her giveaway ends on Monday, April 30, at midnight to win items from her TPT store and more.  Click on her button below to go to her giveaway post!

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