5th Grade Northern or Southern Lights

5th grade creates a winter landscape featuring the northern lights (aurora borealis), or the southern lights (aurora australis) that appear when tiny particles stream out from the sun and hit the Earth's atmosphere. We watched a video explaining the science behind the phenomenon. Next, artists dipped a sterilized toothbrush into white paint and splatter a star filled galaxy. After that background dried then mountains are shaped off of the horizon line using white chalk. Students also draw the mirror image of the mountains that are reflecting in an icy lake. Using a piece of copy paper we tear a bumpy line and then color short strokes of color using chalk pastels along the edge and swipe them away from themselves to create the illusion of auroras. These steps are repeated again and some artists added in the mirror image of the auroras reflecting into the icy waters. Lastly, some decided to paint pine trees using black acrylic paints. Lastly, we swipe white chalk along the reflections to make it appear more realistic. Enjoy our spectacular display of the Northern (or Southern) Lights!