Moroccan Khamsas

Second graders are finishing up their Moroccan Khamsas. Students learned about Morocco and we talked about their largest religion, Islam. The Khamsa, or Hand of Fatima is a symbol of protection in their religion. Students then learned how to use a ruler to create an even border by matching it with the edge of the paper and drawing on the other side of the ruler. They traced their thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers of one hand and then worked with a partner to trace their thumb of their other hand to create a full Khamsa shape. 

Next, students learned about the Element of Art: Color by focusing on warm and cool colors. We played a game to measure understanding. I called out a color and if they thought it was a cool color they would wrap their arms around themselves like they were shivering. If they thought it was a warm color they would fan themselves. It worked really well! They chose warm or cool colors for the hand and border and the opposite color group for around the hand. 

When they were done painting they used any extra time to practice some patterns in their sketchbooks. The next class period they used those patterns to finish up the project. They were asked to draw an eye on the hand and fill the hand, the space around the hand, and the border with patterns.