Cooperative Squares

Last Spring I saw a great post on Pamela Holderman's site (here) about a cooperative project using circles. In her lesson the kids collaged and painted circles, cut their paintings into fourths and exchanged pieces to create a whole picture that they then layered with acetate and drew details on. Thanks, Pamela, for the motivation!!

I decided to change the circles to squares, omit the acetate, having the kids draw details right on their final piece, and make the main objective of the lesson REPETITION. So, this week we'll be doing the first steps:
     1. Students fold a 12" X 12" paper in fourths. (They know in advance that they will be sharing their painting with others.) I pre-cut some squares using a musical score for the kids to glue in the center (so they have a frame of reference for painting their squares in the next steps) and on each of the four corners (to reinforce the concept of repetition).

     2. Starting in the center, students paint and collage squares working from the center outward (being sure to repeat colors at least once):

     3. Week 2 we will cut each piece in fourths, using the fold lines on the back of the painting to follow, and exchange pieces so that each child has 1/4 of his/her own work and 3 pieces from classmates. Using sandwich picks and Glue All, kids will glue their 4 pieces onto another 12" X 12" piece of construction paper, using the sides to match.

If there is time, they will be able to add a few more details to their glued pieces.
I'll post the results as they become available.  Have a great week!