Byzantine Medallions

For this project we were introduced to the history of the Byzantine Empire. We covered the history of the Empire itself and the people who lived in the Empire. The Empire was surrounded with gold and therefore the people of the Byzantine Empire were known for wearing these medallions. There were different classes in the Empire, the upper and lower class. Depending on the class you were in made a difference in how your medallion looked. The more jewels and design were upper class along with the medallion being gold, and the lower class usually just design not a lot of jewels and sometimes bronze or copper. I was chosen for the lower class so I couldn't use big jewels to represent mine. We first started out by laying out what kind of design we wanted to use on paper and then we got our piece of clay. We were to roll our clay out to the thickness of a pencil. After that we had to cut out what shape we wanted and made sure we engraved our names on the back. We used a wooden tool but a pencil could work as well and we poked a hole in the top to make sure you could put the yarn in and hang the medallion from your neck if you would like. Then with the tool I engraved the design I wanted on my piece, not digging in too hard but enough so you could see the design and then added some not so "fancy" beads so it showed I was of the lower class. Then I painted the clay with a bronze type color of paint to show my class as well.
An extension of this project could be that the students need to write a history paper on the Byzantine Empire or of what class they chose along with the medallion. They could explain what role their "class" played during their time in the Byzantine Empire and explain why they made their medallion the way they did.

Construction Paper Masks

For this lesson we learned about the different variations you can make with construction paper. We each learned about how masks were made in history and we got to make our masks as well. We got to experiment with the different techniques such as cutting and folding and spiraling like you see on my dinosaur. We then had to pick which animal we were going to use and were shown how to cut the mask, fold, and glue it so it stood out and made a 3D appearance. The requirements were that you needed two different variations of construction paper on your mask. Mine were spiral, cutting, and feathering up on the dinosaurs horns. After you made sure you had those different types of construction paper methods you could add whatever you would like to your mask. So as you can see I made my animal unrealistic because today we don't just see dinosaurs roaming around.
An extension to this lesson you could present it while teaching students about different parts of history and have them write a paper on what part of history they were learning about. For example I remember learning about the masquerade ball and what they were used for. I was to do a report on what I learned and make a mask that I would want to wear to the ball as well.

Our Bulletin Board

This was our bulletin board for our printmaking-seasons lesson. It says "What Season is it?" We got to use the white board with magnets to hang all of our pieces. With each student making four different prints for each of the four seasons it was a lot easier to be able to use the magnet board to hang them up.

Printmaking-seasons

Printmaking- seasons was the lesson that my partner and I did as our lesson. We were to incorporate printmaking into whatever we were teaching for that day. We chose to teach the seasons to "first graders". At the beginning of the class we covered what day it is, what month it is, what year it is, and then went through each season to get the students understanding and memorizing those things. We introduced a printmaking artist, his name was Stephen Alcorn. He did a lot of printmaking with wood and different materials but of course in class with first graders we had to make it a little easier. We provided four foam boards, four white sheets of card stock paper, the paint, and the rollers. We had each student brainstorm their ideas of a representation of each season, they then carved into their foam board with their pencil. Once they had all of their ideas done they were to bring their foam boards and paper to the front tables where we had the paint. They rolled the paint onto their foam board and then transferred it to their white paper in which their final products were made.
If I were to do this activity again I would use it for different holidays or birthdays and make cards. You could use the same techniques letting the students design what they are asked to design and then have them press it onto the front of paper folded into a card.