Alexander Calder Mobiles 4th grade

 4th graders watched a power point presentation my intern teacher put together for them.  They learned about Calder, mobiles and geometric and organic shapes. 

 First, students painted 6 to 8 shapes on tag board.  This was a challenge for them because we asked them to do abstract shapes and it was hard for them to let go of wanting their shapes to look like something.

 As the shapes dried, the 4th grade painters added patterns on top of the shape after seeing a slide of many pattern ideas.
We are very excited about the beautiful shapes and patterns the kids created.

Next step: Gluing shapes onto shiny paper so the back of shapes will reflect as they spin.
After cutting out shapes and punching holes into each one we were ready to build our hanging sculptures.


 We used some donated plastic sticks and wire to create our mobiles. This was a great experience for our 4th graders. They discovered that building 3 dimensional art pieces can be difficult and patience is required. As they worked to balance the mobile, they compared it to science experiments dealing with balance. When finished, they were very pleased with the results.