Illustrating the Story of America: Student Bookmaking Project
My students need blank books and black ink pens to create their own unique illustrated Story of America . Each book has 28 blank pages for students to author with text include symbols, drawings, collage images.
There is nothing more satisfying for a teacher when realizing the creative spark of student learning is taking place. Seeing my 6th and 7th graders activated in the creative and design process in a history project is truly inspiring. Student infusing the arts and the study of American history creates boundless possibilities.
Arts are essential to my all students because they lead them to be collaborative producers engaged with a challenge, they can reach students that are otherwise at times not recognized for their talents.
Recently, my 6th grade student, who has been in the states for only two years, is developing her English each day was able to showcase her hand painted book at the Morgan Library. She showcased her story of the Bengali New Year along with the best from all of New York City.
With a student body of over 1,300 students coming from diverse neighborhoods of Brooklyn our school faces challenges in programing and giving students equal access to quality arts opportunities. In my class, I seek to integrate history and the arts to help adjust this imbalance.
My Project
Students will be introduced to our yearlong book project by each receiving a blank book of which their challenge will be to author and design their own illustrated version of American History.
Putting draft, pencil, image sketches together along with examining models and practicing the revision process the final product will be outlined and finalized with ink pens.
Together as a class we will create a shared table of contents that coincide with our upcoming units we explore through our year's curriculum. The challenge of Illustrating units like experiences of early American colonists and the construction of our Constitution truly push my students to think deeply about their learning. During each unit we will workshop our book design throughout the year learning different aspects of bookmaking, like word design, pop-outs or cartooning.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Gibson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
