Circles and Matryoshkas

This week the fourth graders finished their shrink art circles that show radial symmetry.  They turned them into a pin or a hanging decoration for a window.  They were so excited about how much smaller the pieces became.  I love how much detail you can see in the finished versions.

 The third graders have been creating matryoshkas or nesting dolls.  They are in the middle of a unit about art that tells a story.  For this assignment they are working as a team in groups of four.  Each group has drawn four characters from a fairy or folk tale.  Then they are turning those characters into a set of nesting dolls.  On each doll they are illustrating one part of the fairy tale.  Below are just the beginnings of this project.  There has been a lot of sketching involved and brainstorming of ideas, so it is taking us several weeks to finish.  They are enjoying having a chance to do some collaborative learning in groups.

Above is a student sketch of ideas for characters from the story The Little Red Hen.