Children's Book Illustrator Ralph Masiello's Favorite Projects For Schools
Travelling to schools across the nation, I am constantly amazed at the creativity and diversity of children's projects, as well as the excellence in execution of these wonderful projects
Here are some of my favorites which I hope will inspire you and be a catalyst for your own great school projects:
1. The Community Alphabet Book:
This project has been very successful at the schools I have worked with. Have the children write and illustrate an alphabet book about their town. Every page must have something to do with your town or community that is unique to it. For example, I visited a town where the first oil well was drilled (Titusville, PA, The Drake Well) and the children did in-depth research and wrote and illustrated about it. And please, no "M is for McD's"! A great idea is to have local experts come in and share their knowledge about our town. People such as a local historian, a geologist, or even local merchants who have something to share about the town or their unique position in the town. One school I visited had third graders write the book and had high school art students illustrate it. It was a great collaboration and the school published it and sold these as a town memento book at local town functions (And even made a little profit).
2. Author / Illustrator Math:
Have the children pick titles of book done by a specific author or illustrator and make voting ballots for the books. Each child will vote on different aspects of the books, such as favorite character, favorite illustrations, favorite stoery, etc. Tally the results by class, grade and entire school and make graphs and charts, etc. for each to determine similarities and differences. Which got the most votes? Least? Averages?
3. Wanted posters of endangered or extinct creatures:
Have the children create posters of different creatures, including a little bit about where it might be found and why it is endangered or extinct and create a reward for finding it.
4. Literacy quilt:
Have the children write to their favorite author or illustrator. Send a square of linen and ask them to write or draw something n it and return it to the school (enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope)! Also, describe on school letterhead how it will be used. Send out as many as possible, for not all will be returned, and when you receive enough have a quilting bee and create a permanent display in your school. Also, if possible, send the author or illustrator a photo of the finished product.
5. Ceiling tiles:
I have visited a number of schools whose media specialist/librarian had the school custodian remove acoustic ceiling tiles. With their students, they chose covers of books to put into an opaque projector and trace onto those tiles. Then, with various media, they colored or painted them in. The custodian then replaced them in the ceiling. It was INCREDIBLE! The ceilings looked like quilts of book covers! I have also seen school art teachers do this in their rooms, but instead of book covers, they used famous works of art that the students recreated! Amazingly beautiful!
Ickybugman in Residence at Garwood Middle School:
In the winter of 2000, I visited Garwood Middle School in Fairview near Erie, Pa. In 3 days I worked in conjunction with the Adopt-an-Artist program and over 500 middle school students, their art teacher, and many parent volunteers creating a permanent piece of artwork for the hallway of their school.
Each grade level from 5th to 8th worked on different aspects of the project. Some students studied plant life, some studied insects, and some studied microorganisms. I had the students draw pictures of the items they were studying and then had them trace their drawings onto pieces of masonite board. The parent volunteers and I then used the scroll saws in the wood shop at the school to cut each individual piece out. The next day, I had the students begin to paint or color in their cut outs. Again, after school, the parent volunteers helped in the wood shop to finish the cut outs that were left to do and some helped paint the frame of what was to be a "Shadow Box" illustration of the students work. On the the 3rd day, the students finished their painting and coloring and after school, the art teacher and I began to put the whole thing together as a permanent work of art that was 9 feet long, 5 feet high and over 10 inches deep. The result was incredible!
The students did a GREAT job! I was amazed! Every student had a piece of their work placed somewhere on this creation!
