stars and stripes collages

To launch my new school year and celebrate Constitution Day, i had all my students do red, white, and blue (and yellow!) collages. Kindergarten and first graders did torn paper, second graders got to use scissors. I read the book, "I Pledge Allegiance" by Bill Martin, Jr. to launch the lesson, pointing out the students the torn paper illustrations. I also showed them Jasper Johns' "Three Flags" and Alexander Calder's "Stars and Stripes" so they could see how two famous artists used the flag images and colors in their art work.

I demonstrated tearing the paper for the Kinders and first graders, and taught the second graders how to cut out a "dancing star" by starting with a circle with five dots around the circumference, then cutting rays from the edge of the paper to the dots, like doing a dot-to-dot picture. Some students had trouble *not* making a replica of an American flag, but they were stymied by my directions that they couldn't use a blue rectangle.

Over four hundred fifty students, and every single collage was successful! What a great start to my year!

I have two versions of this lesson available in my TeachersPayTeachers store:

Patriotic Colors Torn Paper Abstract Collage is for lower elementary grades.
Patriotic Colors Cut Paper Abstract Collage is for upper elementary grades.

Enjoy!