Scratch Art Bug Drawings - 7th Grade

For this project I really wanted something for the students who have a hard time drawing to have success at. We spent many days practicing how to draw different types of bugs. Each day I would start the lesson out with a specific type of bug, we practiced a spider, a beetle, a fly, etc. Then the students would also spend class time practicing 1 or 2 bugs of their choice from either a photograph or from a step-by-step drawing sheet. Finally, we transferred our drawings onto the scratch art page and added in the details, value, and a background.  

Rubric: Students should be able to complete these things by the end of the project

- I can pre-plan my project in my sketchbook (MI standard: ART.VA.II.HS.7)

- I can design and draw a composition using a bug as the focal point (MI standard: ART.VA.II.7.1)

- I can use value to create a 3-d look to my bug (MI standard: ART.VA.I.7.3)

- I can use the scratch art medium appropriately at an emerging level (MI standard: ART.VA.II.7.6)

- I can pay attention to the final details of the assignment and reflect on what else needs to be completed (MI standard ART.VA.II.7.5)

7th Grade Lego Self-Portrait

This is such a fun project that I enjoy doing with my students. Not only is this a fun project but this is a great way to begin looking at the basic shapes of the body. I begin by discussing the different shapes of the body and then showing the drawing figure that I have. Then we begin discussing and walking through how to draw this person. Unfortunately, this year I had to have a sub teach the lesson but it seems that my students did an awesome job anyways.

                          Nanano U                              Mariana C                           Soshi A

                           Sara H                                     Sophie N                           Marissa W

Purpose of the project:
 - To teach students that shapes can be used in the creation of a person or object.
 - As a reflective tool for students to observe their personality qualities and how                                       they are perceived.

Students were graded on the following criteria:
 - The student has used basic shapes to draw a lego like person
 - They have included personal attribute on their person (like glasses, favorite sweater, etc) and have       colored the person.

Op Art Names - 7th Grade

Every year I like to start the students with a Name project. This works best with the 6th grade graders and the new students but also helps my scattered brain remember all the names I misplaced over the summer. Yes, I often misplace names in my brain but I do have a retrieval issue that has plagued me all my life. I doesn't mean that I don't love my students I truly do I just have an issue that sometimes doesn't allow me to pull the names of students quickly and easily. My family notices this mostly in form of please pass the red stuff on the table meaning the ketchup.

For this assignment I followed the same directions that I used for the Op Art Names, however, I changed it up some and had the students draw their initials instead of their hands. Students drew their names using our graffiti letter technique. We discussed keeping the letters separated and not have them overlap to keep the illusion of depth. We also discuss how to draw long curved lines for the long parts of the letter.  Then using markers and a ruler they drew straight lines until they hit the outline of their letter, at that point they bent the line to make it look like it was traveling over their shape. For ease we started by drawing a bunch of lines in one color, at various distances on our paper, then switch to another color. By trying to alternate each color constantly across the page it takes too much time and tends to get frustrating but by jumping around with the colors the projects seemed to go faster and was more successful.

Nikolay S. 

 Amber S.

Students were graded on the following criteria:
  - Did the lines gently bend over their letter did the letter pop out.
  - CRAFTSMANSHIP (was it done neatly)