Dia de los Muertos: Third Grade Relief Prints

Third - Fifth grade learned about Day of the Dead with the help of our social worker and our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

After Ms. Suarez discussed the actual holiday and answered the students' questions, I went through a brief PowerPoint presentation of pictures I pulled of calaveras, tin ornaments, & sugar skulls.  We discussed the art, the techniques, and picked out elements and principles.

We also watched a few YouTube Videos:
Dia de los Muertos:  A brief overview
and a very touching little short,
Dia de los Muertos

I wanted each grade level at my intermediate school to do a different lesson, but I wanted to keep it curriculum and grade level appropriate.  I was inspired by the etching La Calavera Catrina and taught relief printmaking with foam sheets to third grade.

With only 10 students in one of my 3rd grades, printing day was fun!  They each made a series of five prints.  They chose their favorite the following week and made a decorative patterned border.

Chicago Cityscape: Parts of Composition worksheet

I have several resources on a project I call Chicago Cityscapes: 

The original lesson plan

A Chicago architecture slideshow

and now a worksheet I developed about this project.  Some years you may have a class that just needs the project to be modified, and that is okay.  No one wants to teach a project over and over and over again the same way anyway! And that is how this worksheet was born.