Tuesday, November 15, 2011

What a Delicious Project!

Tints and Shades with a Cherry on Top
This project has made it's way around Pinterest and I can see why! Immediately when I saw this I knew I was going to do it with my 4th graders. It's an excellent and fun way to teach about tints and shades.

We did a fairly large ice cream cone using 2 12x18 papers to paint on. This could be done by using only one 12x18 paper with smaller painted sections - but I liked the large finished cones and so did the kids!

We spent the first class period discussing what tints and shades were. I had students divide a 12x18 paper into 4 sections. We painting one section with the pure hue they had chosen. Then I demonstrated how to create 3 different tints in the other sections.

The next class was spent doing the shades. This time we divided the paper into 3 sections - 2 just like the tints and 1 twice that size for the cone. I demonstrated how to create a shade by adding a little black to the color and then another one with a little more black. The last section - the largest one - was for a very dark shade of the color.
As students waited for the paper to dry they were given a piece of tagboard to create a stencil for the ice cream scoops. This was important so that all the scoops would be similar in size. If time remained students used the stencil to trace and cut out scoops of ice cream from the first painted paper.

The last class was spent finishing cutting the scoops of ice cream, creating the cone, putting it all together in order, and adding a cherry and sprinkles. Students used black marker to draw the cone outline and lines before they cut them out. We, (my wonderful student teacher and myself) had students pick sequins that matched the color they had chosen.
Students finished the project by developing a flavor name for their ice cream. They were encouraged to create a unique flavor and were not to discuss it so that students would "borrow" other's ideas. I posted the flavor under the ice cream.
They are all so great!


11 comments:

  1. What grade did you teach this to?

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  2. I focused on Fourth grade students for this project.

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  3. I just love these!!
    http://drawthelineat.blogspot.com/

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    1. Thanks Jen! I just looked at your blog and pinned your color wheel turtles. I'll have to give that a try next year! http://pinterest.com/greeneyegal/

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  4. I love this idea, thanks Theresa!

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    1. Glad you like them! The kids had fun doing them and the concept really seemed to sink in during the project.

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  5. My kiddos just finished a big value project. One class was a day ahead of the rest, so I used this lesson to reinforce their knowledge of value while holding them back with the others. They LOVED it! Thank you! (I linked back to your site from mine to give you credit--www.artipelagoteacher.blogspot.com

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  6. Did you have the kids make the shades/tints directly on the paper or in a palette first? This always tends to throw me a bit (what method would be easiest and less confusing for them).

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    1. I give students two 9x12 papers (one at a time). The first we fold into 4 sections. On a palette (I use paper plates...3 schools...no time to clean) I give student their choice of color and white. First they paint one section the pure color. Then add a little white to the color to make one tint - paint another section with that. Then add more white to make a lighter tint and paint another section. The last section should be white with just a bit of color to paint the last section.
      The other paper is split into 3 sections. I have the student fold the paper in half and then divide one of the halves into 2. Give students their color and some black. For the 2 smaller sections they should add a small bit of black to the color to make a shade....then a bit more black for the other shade...then even more for the darkest shade that will fill the larger section. This will be the cone.
      :)

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  7. Thank you so much, theresa! My kids are going to love making these ice cream cones!

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  8. Love these will definitely use sometime. Thanks for sharing!

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