George Washington unit & Sculpting Mt Rushmore

Just in time for Presidents day, George Washington was the focus of this week's literature link in Miss K's Language arts curriculum.
The readings in the work book included a simple biography and the legend of Washington and the cherry tree. Miss K really enjoyed several days of timeline comprehension activities that tested her comprehension.

To extend our lessons the Piwi's explored some of art that Washington inspired.
The first piece was Mt Rushmore. We visited the Mt Rushmore National memorial website and took a virtual tour. We also downloaded the student guide. Miss K wasnt too sure it could be considered a piece of art so we checked out the definition.

Macmillian dictionary defines a 'Work of art' (noun) as:

1. something such as a painting or sculpture that is of very high quality
2. something that is made or done in a skilful or attractive way

Although the sculpting techniques were on a very large (and explosive) scale we all agreed that it met the definition of a Work of Art.

The Piwi's made their own Mt Rushmore Paper Sculptures from paper bags. This is Miss K's art work.  I will post Mini Piwi's separately as she did a few different activities.

 Miss K colored in pictures of the Presidents carved into Mt Rushmore. She glued them in the correct order on to a large paper bag.

She scrunched and folded, and held parts in place with staples. Here is the finished product!

Along with the readings in the Student workbook, here are the books we used for this unit...