Montalvo Arts Center / Teaching Artists in the Schools Residency / 2nd grade, 10 session project, Rosemary Elementary School, Campbell, CA, Fall 2016.

Session 1: Stenciling the colony.

Most insects live solitary lives, but some are social, such as ants, honeybees, termites, and wasps. The idea with this exercise is to create a collaborative work, just as ants do. Each student participate in the making of the colony. Using drawing, cutting and stenciling, the students create their own model of an ant, remembering all the parts (head, thorax and abdomen, 3 pairs of legs attached to the thorax, and one pair of antennae attached to the head). When the stencil is ready the students make their first ant and after that they can make as many as they want in the remaining time. Until the end of the first session ants will be duplicated. They will be displayed on the floor to dry and used during the next session when the students are going to create their habitat.

The material

Drawing the ant

Cutting the ant

Cutting the antennae!

The shape is ready!

Stenciling the first ant

Et voila!

Ready to make another one!

Stenciling more ants!

Busy students

The colony is growing in the floor!

Session 2: Creating the habitat for the colony.

The teacher introduces the session. What are we going to need to represent the colony?

How to cut the ants: not too close from the edge.

Here’s one background installed on the wall of the classroom

Teacher presenting the session.

One group takes care of the tunnels and the chambers

One group takes care of the eggs, larvae and the elements outside the colony habitat, like rocks, grass, leaves, other insects.

One group cut the ants.

Then the students organize the elements on the backgrounds.

Tunnels and chambers.