Aliens!

Aliens and Alien Architecture

First Grade

These alien buildings were made with a lot of play, imagination and experimentation.   The process is the best part!  It is where all the thinking and meaning making happens.  Keep reading to check out the process students went through to create their alien architecture artworks. 

We began this project with a guided day dreaming activity.  Students were asked to close their eyes as I guided them through an extraterrestrial journey.  Students were asked to imagine the planet they landed on, what it looked like, sounded like, and smelled like.  Was it warm or cold?  Were there plants or buildings?  What kind?  They then imagined seeing an alien appear before them.  What did that alien look like and sound like?  Was it smooth or scaly?  Furry or spiky?  When students opened their eyes they drew a picture of the alien they imagined.

After students imagined their aliens,  we looked closely at an artwork by Paul Klee and discussed what we saw, thought and wondered.

 

Using inspiration from Paul Klee, blocks and the help of a partner, students designed buildings for their aliens.  We had everything from secret hideouts to restaurants and buildings that are also spaceships.

"We made our school for our aliens and that's the teacher who teaches about other aliens, this is the one about viruses and this is the one who teaches about math and other learning."

"We are building a castle.  I'm building the bottom and Lexi is building the top and then we are going to put them together and see what they look like."

"We are making it big on the bottom because his alien is big and small on the top because my alien is small." (Alien hideout)

"After we jump on the gravity button the gravity turns off and it takes you up."

"The aliens are best buddies and they like to work together.  The orange part is the play area and down here is a little food place."

(Alien house) "The red things are the drinks and the blue things are the food.  There are tables it's like a restaurant.  There are protectors and the house is for free."

Students then drew a building for their alien inspired by their play with blocks.  

 We then experimented with many painting tools and found objects to paint what the atmosphere of our alien planets.

When the paintings were complete and dry, students cut out their buildings and attached them to their planets.  (more pics coming soon!)

Logan discovered how to make his 3D!

Reese had a beautiful oops!  She accidentally cut something that she hadn't planned on cutting.  This mistake gave her a new idea to give her building wings!



Finally, we shared our work and elaborated on our alien idea with comics and sculpture.