Kindergarten's symmetry project- up to my eyeballs in pom poms ;)

 

For the symmetry project each grade level used a material that was developmentally appropriate for them. My favorite part of using pom poms for the kindergarteners was that it gave them intense practice gluing with a glue bottle and gluing a material that is not paper. That's tricky! And very good for them!!

 

When they thought they were "done" (or bored with the project maybe ;)) we pretended to put our "detective glasses" on to hunt down any white spots that were not covered. If they found a white spot they had to fill it in with a pom pom. This took a lot of perseverance! I wanted to hug them to pieces when I would see one of them quietly leaning over their piece, putting their little hands to their eyes like glasses, searching for white spots. Love!!!

 

First Grade symmetry projects.....made with little plastic gems.

I found all of these little plastic gems from a website in California. I kept telling the kids to pick up the pieces that fell on the floor because it would be hard for me to order more from California in a timely manner. They were so cute by the end of the project while they were cleaning they were talking about doing a good job so I didn't have to call California ;) ;).

How incredible is that design!????

So, so, so great!

Third grade symmetry project continued....

I actually found ONE picture of a completed piece ;)- so here ya go!

Madison's symmetry project ;)

Madison is in third grade and is incredibly motivated and talented. When she chose her design she wanted each section to be one color. That might not sound like a big deal but she had to sort out these teeny, tiny green and clear pebbles from a slew of other colors mixed together-this girl is not lazy!! This took her a lot of time so she didn't get to finish during class time.

Last week I sent materials home with her so she could complete her piece. True to her wonderful nature she was done in less than a few days ;)- and this is the beautiful picture that her mom sent to me.

You rock Madison!!!! I am always super proud of you!!

Third grade Symmetry pieces- they used tiny rocks on cast cement hexagons as their material

You can see they reference their design notes while working.

I cast a bunch of plastic hexagon plates I found in the Target dollar section with cement to make the forms.

So interesting to see the way each kid approached the design.

I'm mortified to realize as I'm writing this that I didn't take photos of the completed pieces- SO depressing! I love having record of what they made :(. This photo is a completed piece that is sitting on a white plate to dry..

Gorgeous!!!

 

Very successful project!!

 

Beginning our Symmetry Project

I have been working on this lesson since the summertime and I was really excited to dive into it! I researched each grade level's Sunshine State Standards and FCAT standards for 3rd grade and higher. That's a lot of standards per grade level to integrate so I was super nervous about bringing it to fruition. The underlying tie was symmetry- which can be pretty straightforward but we also measured angles, did tons of measuring in general, converted decimals, measured perimeter, identified types of angles....the list goes on and on. My hope was actually using the math concepts to construct an art work would resonate with the kids. We'll see! ;) The pieces turn out incredibly beautiful. Each grade had a different material to work with. You can even see my kinders in the 2nd and 3rd picture using radial symmetry to create their design!!

Some of the completed Comic Strips