Shel Silverstein & Printmaking
Poetry and Imagery
The fourth grade recently completed a project combining poetry, bookmaking, and printmaking.
That’s a lot!
We read “Clean Jean” as a class, and brainstormed on imagery from the poem. Questions included; What would Gene’s bubble suit look like? What’s a music tub?
We picked one line from the poem, and illustrated it.
The Process
Students learned relief printing, scratching into a plate to create an image. Next, we sketched their ideas, and then transferred them to Styrofoam plates. Following this, we use the brayers (rollers) to spread the ink on the plate. After that, we place the paper on the plate, and rub the paper with the barren. Printmaking can be a little tricky, but the beauty of this medium is it’s all about making multiples. I am thankful we had these materials to give the students a learning opportunity with art materials less common in the classroom.
We folded accordion books, fitting to our prints, and printed our illustrations. Students could print their friends’ images in their book, creating collaborative print-books.
Challenges and Triumphs
What was frustrating was how enthusiastic some students got. There is no reason to use as much ink as some of us did, as fun as squeezing it out of the tube is. I have never taught printmaking to a group of twenty-five, and have been reflecting on how to have better methods of clean up. Many things that are “clean” for students are not the same as “clean” for myself.
Finally, the last part of the project was creating a front and back cover, and adding extra elements in our books. Students measured with rulers, making these elements from construction paper.
In conclusion, this was my favorite, but most stressful project of elementary practicum. I am glad I did it, and appreciated how happy students seemed to be, even if it was a little chaotic.
Categories Fall 2019, Student Teacher Blog