Northern Lights Silhouettes

  

5th grade is learning about the Aurora Borealis. Students watched several videos about the amazing phenomenon the Northern Lights.

Students were able to connect a painting lesson to Science and learn how Auroras form.

Students used acrylic paint and soft chalk pastels to create beautiful Northern Light Silhouettes. This lesson took about 4 class periods.

 Day 1 of this lesson, classes painted bright gradient backgrounds using colors that can be found in the Aurora. Students learned how to paint from light to dark and how to blend colors in a gradient. 

The next class, students practiced creating  wispy northern lights using soft chalk pastel. Students practiced on black construction paper until they felt comfortable working on their paintings. They had a lot of fun learning to show movement and rhythm with color. 

Last, using templates, students created beautiful animal silhouettes. Every child was excited about this lesson and every child was successful.  

All together, the paintings created a beautiful winter display. Students were excited to see their work in the hall and could not wait to take their paintings home.

Beautiful!

Happy Holidays Folks!