Monochromatic is one of the easiest color schemes to teach. Take a color and add black and you got a shade of the color. Take a color and add white and you got a tint. It's that easy.
I've been wanting to start an Upcycling unit for a little while and when someone left a pile of discarded 3.5 foot strips of chipboard at my classroom door, I decided that painting the strips and making a chain from them would be an easy way to create something sculptural from something that would otherwise be garbage... all while teaching how to mix paint to create a variety of values.
My elementary school and multiple complex needs students painted green on one side of each strip and blue on the other side of each strip. We lined up the strips from dark to light and rather than keep just the green or just the blue on the outside, we alternated blue on the outside and green on the outside, which makes the chain look one color from one point of view and another from a few steps to the side.
I glued the links using hot glue with enough overlap to make the loop slightly bigger than a foot in diameter. It took twelve links to stretch from floor to ceiling.
And then today, on Earth Day Eve, I hung the chain from the ceiling in the hallway outside my room using the colors of the blue seas and green lands that cover mother Earth. It was a great way to discuss the use of value in color and the way we can value the planet that sustains us. It was a great way to talk about reusing materials that would otherwise be thrown away. It was also a great way to build a classroom community discussing how we are each a link the class and world chains and can do our part to solve problems. Happy E-ART-H Day everyone!
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