Mira Reisberg

Baby Rattlesnake -Beautiful Easy Portable Murals.

Baby Rattlesnake is a wonderful book to teach many different kinds of lesson plans using cut paper techniques. One of my favorites is making easy, beautiful, portable, ecology-based murals.
Materials: scissors, glue, pencils, roll of large colored paper or sheets of largefoam core (36x48) brightly colored papers such as astrobrights or construction paper.
Divide the class into four groups - tropical, desert, ocean and plains. Brainstorm with students a list for each of the environments' animals and plants. On a large sheet of paper or foam core or cardboard (one for each environment), lightly draw a horizon line with a pencil. Each student chooses one or two elements from his or her environment and a scale of big, medium or small. Then, they cut out the elements from bright colored paper - drawing them lightly first and then adding detail with contrasting colored paper or crayons/pencils. Play with arranging all of the elements before gluing them down with white glue. This is a no fail activity.

Uncle Nacho's Hat

Have students write a story about a major change in their lives. What was hard about this change. What was good about the change. Write the story on a piece of 8-1/2 X 11 paper, drawing a 1" border around the edge. On another piece of 8-1/2X11" paper, draw the same border and inside do a drawing that illustrates the story. Using black or colored 12"X18" (cheap) construction paper, fold in half to make two 9"X12" sections. Glue each page inside the folder, then glue all the pages together to make a wonderful book about change for the classroom or library. Have a lottery for who makes the front cover design and the back cover design which lists the students' names and the titles of their pieces.  

Elinda Who Danced in the Sky

This book is great for discussions on bird migration, sky lore and astronomy. Have students make a bird mural or write and illustrate a piece on their favorite star or planet.

Leaving for America

This story promotes discussion on the holocaust and racial prejudice for older students. For younger students, as well as older students, you can discuss issues of immigration. Students can find out about their heritage - how their families came to be in America. What are foods and customs of their cultures. If the school can afford it, make "self portraits from my culture" on 11X14 pre-stretched canvases using acrylic paints or even just using crayons and regular paper. These pictures can include flags, foods, animals, plants, sports, and famous people from their cultures. Brainstorm on blackboard first.

Where Fireflies Dance

If it is near Halloween, have students design their own haunted house. How might this look different in different countries? Destiny of Life Map. Lucha writes about coming to the US to find her destiny (as did many others). Have students make a map of their life, starting with their birth (or even before) and all the important things that have happened to them. Have the map branch into three different possible futures their lives may yet lead them to.

Just Like Home

This book is great for empowering children from other countries and giving US children a sense of what it might be like to come to a new country. It is ideal for compare and contrast exercises - like what is different and what is similar from your old class to this class. Where did your family originally come from? What is similar and what is different?

Just Like Me - An anthology of 14
artists' stories and self-portraits.

Make a list of everything you love. Make another list with everything you hate. Brainstorm with questions like: What is your favorite room in the house? fruit? vegetable? animal? appliance? sport? color? etc. What is your least favorite? Make a self portrait with all of your favorite elements. Make another with all your least favorite.
Another great activity is to make a collage with different features cut out from magazines, then write about it; e.g. I have Michael Jordan's mouth because he is very determined. I used big ears - just like mine. This can be a very insightful and fun activity.

Honoring Our Ancestors

Make a portrait of an ancestor or an imaginary ancestor.
How can you honor them with this picture? My page has both blood and spirit relatives who helped make me who I am. Who do you feel kinship with from history? Draw their portrait and write about why you feel connected to them.

All images and text copyright© 2001 Mira Reisberg.
Website Designed by Mira Reisberg. Last updated August 2001.
To contact Mira email her at miraguy@adelphia.net