Totem Poles and Tangrams at School 12 in Paterson

Totem Poles

As part of the Dodge Arts Integration grant, students in the 4th grade at School #12 in Paterson were studying Native American culture. With WPU PIR Simone Sandler, students created totem poles that symbolized a celebration, a death or even bringing shame to a family.

Using recycled styrofoam breakfast trays students created designs in their group  on a theme and constructed a three dimensional totem pole using a cardboard cylinder. Slides were shown to the class that showed how the totem poles were carved and placed into the ground. Students used crayons to decorate their totem pole.

Tangrams

Students in the 5th grade at School #12 used Tangrams to connect math and art. Using the tangrams students  saw the connection with  logic, geometry, spatial awareness, problem solving, fraction, area and number sense. They used the book Grandpa Tang to view how animals could be reduced to geometric shapes.

Students challenged themselves with a variety of animals and as a culmination to the lesson students tried to make a square with the seven pieces.