metal masks...

Oh do these ROCK!
The fifth grade love creating these and I love to see the creativity and imagination flow out of the students.

To achieve these wonderful decorative masks, each student begins by folding a piece of paper in half and sketching out half a face. Using our document camera as a light table and the windows to filter the light through the paper, the kids trace their drawing onto the other side of the paper.

Opening up their paper, they tape it to a piece of metal, lay it on a piece of foam (the kind that you would cut and create things out of) and use a colored pencil to trace over their drawing on the paper. Using a colored pencil ensures they don't miss any lines.

Using a dull pencil and a rounded clay tool, the students begin indenting the metal and pushing the metal to create areas that pop out and a variety of textures.

Lastly, using either glass stain or permanent markers color is added carefully, keeping it symmetrical. We used our scissors to carefully cut them out. I stapled the masks to a piece of paper, hung them in the hallway and waited for the "Ooohs and Aahhs" from staff and students.