Brainstorming our Big Idea with Cloudart

After the introduction of the big idea of belonging on the first day of school, I needed fourth grade students to brainstorm and make more personal connections to the idea.  Who or what do they belong to?  What is their heritage?  What family traditions do they have?  I needed students to brainstorm these questions on a personal level for their making meaning project.  Asking 4th grade students to brainstorm answers to these questions would fall under the category of engaging, so I decided to use the app CloudArt.  I've seen it used by other art teachers and it looked like the perfect vehicle to get my students to answer otherwise dry questions. I had them think of 7-10 words that describe how they belong. Students typed these words into the app and they got to "play" with color choice, design and making words smaller or bigger.  CloudArt could be used to teach graphic design, color choice, fonts, and so on, but I merely used it today to get them thinking about answers that I need them to know for our next project.  Brainstorming with beautiful results and students who are engaged...I'll take it! To see our whole gallery of CloudArt check out artsonia.
                                                                                                             

Digital Globe

World Atlas

We're off and running already in the first week of school!  I like to get the kids into the process of making art right away so we started off the first day with the big idea of BELONGING.  While we study this idea and ask How does artwork help a community express belonging?, we're going to look at other cultures and how they express this same idea with artwork. Every fall we study an ancient culture with our big idea. This fall I decided ancient Asia would fit well with the big idea.  Using the app World Atlas from National Geographic was an awesome way to show my students exactly where Asia is compared to where they live.  Instead of looking at a flat map or having to store a globe in an already crowed art room, this was a digital globe.  For some classes I showed them on my projector using my Reflector app and others used the iPads as a small to explore this continent. Students really got to visualize the old tale of if they digging a hole to China!

I did pay for this app, but felt it was worth the $$$ because I can use this app across multiple lessons and for all grades.  What other ways do you use a virtual map?

The virtual globe