develop an understanding of
heraldic rules and traditions.
Students refer to their family heritage interview, finding
imagery to adapt using heraldic symbolism and sketch
some ideas. Students then
use construction paper and a
water-based medium to create
bas-relief crest book covers.
Beginning with the larger
section of the shield, students
build their “charges” (imagery
on the crest) using only cut
paper for details—a challeng-
ing experience in cutting small
shapes and layering. To create
the look of metals, students paint
gold or silver acrylic onto paper, and
use this paper for their cut forms. Stu-
dents seal their crests using multiple
layers of water-based medium. Each
crest is mounted using low-moisture
craft paste onto matte board, creat-
ing the cover for their family heritage
a previously developed color
scheme for the watercolor
painting.
Black-and-White
Self-Portraits
I take photos of students
in natural light so they are
clearly represented with
Using Adobe Photoshop, I
discard the color informa-
tion, accentuate values using
photos to 10 x 15" ( 25 x 38 cm).
ferent ways of recreating the visual
information in their photographs. Mauren, crest, grade five.
Moving from family identity
to personal identity, students
next focus on a self-portrait.
defined gradations in value.
various filters, and print enlarged
Gray paper is trimmed to the same
dimensions. Students draw 2 x 3" ( 5 x
7. 5 cm) grid sections on both the blank
gray paper and their large photographs.
I demonstrate to students the dif-books.
cific focus on countries from each
Seeing light and dark value areas as
Students sew page signatures using student’s family heritage. They design shapes, deliberately not naming fea-
construction paper and dental floss,
their own stamps using their family
tures to avoid left-brain simplifying,
and use book tape, paste, and endpa-
artifact image and stamp imagery
covering up other areas of the photo-
pers to bind the book together. Stu-
from their heritage country.
graph—all these prompts are useful
dents fill the pages with writing from Students bring their ideas to life in for students to see imagery in new
other classes throughout the year.
full-size watercolor paintings using
pencil for the rough draft, fine-line
Artifact Paintings and Stamps
Next, students are introduced to the
global history of stamps, with a spe-
black permanent ink
pens for outlines, and
