Tar Beach is a wonderful book written and illustrated by story quilt artist Faith Ringgold. In the story, Cassie Louise Lighfoot, a poor girl growing up in the city, dreams she can fly and that she owns everything she flies over. I read this book with my third grade classes, and then we created cityscapes of our own. First, the students created a skyline that they cut out of paper to use as a stencil. We used the stencils as a
mask while using chalk to create glowing lights. The second class time, we used crayola color sticks (one of my favorite art supplies!) to create windows, streets, bridges, moons, etc. in our cities. The last step of our project was to write a short story about where the students would fly to if they could close their eyes and fly anywhere in the world. I love writing about art because it helps me learn so much about my students and what is really important to them!
Here is our writing form:
For this lesson, which happened to coincide with classroom discussions of 9/11, the fourth grade students discussed the word "patriotism." We talked about what it meant to be proud of where you come from, and how we can show respect to our country and its symbols. The most recognizable symbol of our country is our flag. We discussed how the design of the flag has changed since its original creation, but its meaning remains the same. We also looked at paintings and drawings from Pop Artist Jasper Johns of the American Flag. It may look different the way he painted it, but we recognize parts of it, and we remember our country every time we see that symbol. The goal here was to "re-imagine" the symbols in the flag into something patriotic that still represented our stars and stripes, and red, white and blue! We used stencils and permanent markers to create the designs, and used washable markers and water to fill in the spaces. The kids had so many great ideas!
