Awesome alphabet

Made by students of grade 6

You need:

1. drawing paper A6 size (postcard)
2. markers
3. fine black marker
4. black cardboard
5. glue

Arrange which students makes which letter of the alphabet. The I and J have to be drawn on one sheet, to make a group work of five by five drawings. Each student draws one big letter, with about 1 cm free space around. Colour the letter as you like, using patterns. Colour the background as well. Outline the letter and the details with a fine black marker. Make sure the letter 'pops up' from the background, by choosing different colours and patterns. Paste all letters on a big black cardboard, five by five with 2 cm space between them.

Group work 'Awesome alphabet'

Reflected canal houses

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. white crayons
3. watercolour paint
4. brushes
5. jar with water

Dutch canal houses are famous for their facades: stepped gable, neckgable, bell gable, clockgevel or spoutgable. Draw those five gables on the blackboard and discuss them. Search the internet for photographs of canal houses or let the students search them (search canal house or grachtenhuis).

Draw a line at 12 cm from the bottom of the sheet. Draw some low canal house with a white crayon. Draw windows, treps and doors in them. Paint every house with a different colour of watercolour paint. The crayon will resist the paint and become visible. Paint a simplified reflection of the house under the line. Paint water and air.

Learning letters

Made by a student of 7 years old

You need:

1. drawing sheet 20 by 20 cm
2. crayons
3. liquid watercolour
4. brushes
5. jar with water

Draw a 5 cm grid and copy it on drawing sheets. Give every student a grid sheet. Students use crayons to write big handwriting letters in the squares. Trace the lines of the squares with crayon too using one colour. Paint the squares with liquid watercolour.

In Holland we call those letters 'lusletters', 'letters with loops' if I translate is. The first letters children learn, at the same time as they start learning to read, are called 'blokletters'. Block letters?

How do you call those letters? Blockletters? Writing letters? Who can help me?

Calligram

Our Dutch calligrams; do you recognize the meaning?

You need:

1. drawing sheet A6 size (postcard size)
2. pencil
3. fine black marker

A calligram is a phrase or word in which the typeface, calligraphy or handwriting is arranged in a way that creates a visual image. The image created by the words expresses visually what the word or words say.

Show some calligrams on the smartboard. Discuss them with the students. How was the calligram made? What word(s) do you see? What kind if image is it? Students choose something they want to draw. With a pencil they draw the outlines of it on a sheet. Using a fine marker they write their drawing full with the words that belong to it. Erase the pencil lines when the ink has dried. There are two ways to do it: fill the drawing completely with words, or write the words only on the outlines of the drawing.

Sometimes it is better, and/or nicer, to colour your calligrams. In the example above, the food calligram, you won't probably recognize the food on the plate. With some colour (colour pencils) it is clear! The butterfly is coloured with coloured ink.

Word art

You need:

1. drawing sheet A6 size
2. colour pencils or markers
3. black fine marker

Each student selects a words to illustrate. The design for the word must reflect what the word represents. Someone who doesn't know the meaning of the word, has to understand what it means by looking at the design of it.

Use colour pencils or markers to colour the letters of the word. Use a fine black marker to outline the letters.

Well: although you don't know the meaning of the Dutch words in the examples my students made, you'll know what they mean thanks to the design! If not, they did a bad job?

Made by students of 11-12 years old