Let There Be Light in Art

Funded Dec 7, 2017

Our class project was called "Let there be light in art", this STEAM project tied into my 4th/5th grade students science curriculum very nicely as they are learning about electricity and circuits. The resources provided; such as the water color paper, water paints, LED lights, copper tape, batteries and sharpies were used to create our winter scene. The last part of our project was to create a paper circuit.

What I absolutely loved about this project was the excitement it generated. My students were thrilled beyond words when I showed them all our supplies, especially the LED lights. As I took each item out of the box I heard "this is so cool", "this is the best, I love art", "thank you, this is so exciting". They could not wait to start their project and see how it would all work.

Over the course of the project we met with some bumps, but we worked together to solve our problems. For once we were all working together as a team. Students helped each other, shared ideas, and complimented each other along the way. When we were stuck, we listened to each other, and worked through the kinks in anticipation to having our circuits work and our projects light up. When all was finally working and we lit up our artwork, the reactions were priceless. One comment I heard was "oh, wow, we learned how to connect a circuit in science". This just thrilled me as I had explained that our project would tie in with science and their current unit.

Our next steps, will be to continue our experimentation with LED lights in art. We want to create a larger circuit with more colors, try different materials to see what works best with the LED lights, and share our experience with more classes.

Thank you again for your generous donation and for bringing light into our art room. Most of all, thank you for making my students smile and look forward to each lesson.”

With gratitude,

Teacher G.