Monday, October 22, 2012

6th Grade Day of the Dead Masks

Finally!  I can share my 6th grader's Day of the Dead masks!  These turned out pretty great!  Some really wanted to go with a Halloween skull over a Mexican Day of the Dead design...but nevertheless, I had some really great craftsmanship on these!  I had the students fill out the rubric before I graded them, and they were pretty honest and dead on with their grades compared to my grades...which shows they understand what they were learning about and they understand when they aren't working to their potential!  Check back onto this previous post to see the rubric I used to grade these assignments...

I think next year, if I do this exact project again, I will try out using tin foil that was suggested to make the mask forms more of a skull shape...I think that's the only thing that could have made these better!


 
 
 







5 comments:

  1. They are excellent! I love the colors and patterns. The one real drawback to my situation is that I am mostly limited to one-lesson projects :( I get so envious when I see fantastic long-term projects like this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't be too jealous...sometimes I get frustrated with these long term projects because it seems to take forever to complete...I tend to want instant gratification sometimes because I'm so excited by what their outcomes can be! I always have to remind myself not to rush them if they don't need to be rushed.

      One of my friends was hired this year to teach K-2 art part time (50%). She also does one day projects because she only sees her kids once in a six day rotation...I can't even imagine! I'm very lucky where I teach to be able to see my kids more than once a cycle. My first year teaching I only had kindergarten once a cycle and 1st-6th twice a cycle...I'm glad they listened and let me have kinders more than once; I felt like I couldn't accomplish much with them once a cycle.

      I can't seem to fathom how some teachers can complete successful one day projects in 40 minutes with classes, so kudos to you!

      Delete
  2. It looks like you used molds and paper mache? I did a mask lesson with my 3rd graders last year...using paper mache strips and plastic molds. I used vaseline for a release agent...but it was a mess. Can you tell me what you used and how it worked? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I pretty much did it how you said! I used the plastic face molds and I had the kids rub some Vaseline all over it...just what they scooped on two fingers. To be honest the Vaseline didn't really release the mask from the mold and I probably didn't have to use it. I had to bend te molds a bit to get them to release. I used a product called Plasterkraft. It's basically a huge roll of cheese cloth that has the plaster/paper mâché stuff on it. I had the kids cut it into strips and dip it in water to apply it. They had to do three layers to make a good stiff mask. The more layers they used, te easier it was to pop the mask off the mold.

      Delete
  3. These masks are awesome.
    Your students did a fantastic job.
    I love the gold colors and lines.

    ReplyDelete