I'm back!!! did you miss me?!?!?! I hope that there haven't been any disasters while I've been gone?!?! I had my last tutorial of the year at Uni today - and my last assignment went in on the weekend. yayay - I'm finally done for the year. (and I'm just a little relieved about that I must say!!) lots to catch up on - lots to tell - but let's get back to the art lesson I talked about in my last post - on Op Art! here's my attempt at some Op Art -(I made this this evening to go through the steps!)..... the actual lesson went really really well. the kids were very focused, and loved all the examples I showed them of Bridget Riley's work. (in my researching - I found out that our own National Gallery here in Canberra holds 14 of Bridget's works. I'll have to pop in over the holidays to have a wee look me thinks!) I took along a tape measure in class and explained that my little A4 copies were tiny in comparison to most of the works in real life. They ooo-ed and aaaah-ed about that - especially when the little versions played with their eyes and heads on the small scale!! anyhoo - here's how I led them through the practical side of the intro to Op Art lesson. (the 2 lessons - for 2 separate classes - were for 1 hour each including a talk about Bridget's work and the movement of Op Art / the classes were both combined Year 5/6) I roughly modelled the following on the white board - step 1. take your A5 card - write your name on one side - on the other rule a rough 1cm border in lead pencil all the way around the edge of the card. (this helped so that they wouldn't draw on the tables when the textas/markers were used later)..... step 2. with the lead pencil - draw concentric circles out from the middle to the border lines. (I explained that they did not have to start exactly in the middle - they could start to one side - and they didn't have to be perfect)..... step 3. with a ruler and a lead pencil - draw a vertical line through the centre circle..... step 4. add more vertical lines across the whole image - varying the thickness. ie make some closer together and some wider apart..... step 5. grab a black felt tip pen and start colouring in - carefully. start in the middle....then work your way up and down - then outwards. (white out/liquid paper works well to fix up any mistakes). biggest tip - take your time!! (from here on in the actual lesson - I let the students run with it - and I circulated to help out here and there - lots and lots of circulating!!!)..... and here's my final pic before I used an eraser to gently rub out the pencil marks..... if you squint your eyes and look at the pic - you should be able to see movement - ie - waves!! (Bridget Riley is far more clever than I - you don't need to squint at her pics!!! - she's very clever - her lines are meticulous - go back to this post to see again). some more pics tonight of mine..... and finally - here's some of the student's work from when I was on prac..... this was a super fun lesson - I had fun - and the kids loved it. sad I couldn't expand on the lesson and get them to reflect more on what they had achieved and then look at making more Op Art - exploring it all a little more. sadly there was no time to fit such a lesson in while I was on prac. (just wait till I get my own classroom!!!!) the entire prac was absolutely brilliant. my mentor teacher already talked to the principal about me!!! they want me back when I have my degree! (even if it's just relief work to start with) nice. one more year........one more year......one more year....... so - after having such a long break from house business and crafting - I'm raring to get back into it!!! the in-laws arrive on Thursday for a wee 5 day visit - but other than that I'll be busy as a mad woman around this place! (are mad women busy????? maybe should have stuck with 'bumble bee' !!) hope I still have some followers?!?! for those that are still visiting - thank you. I promise to be a little betterer with posting - at least until Christmas!! (insert huge cheeky smiley face right here!) hugz from here. cheryl xox.