3rd grade studies light & refections in the Taj Mahal

I was fortunate enough to borrow a print of the Taj Mahal from WBC Library for this lesson. The students spent the first week discussing how reflections work and drawing the buildings to proportion in fairly great detail. The second week we completed the buildings and drew the reflected building and added extra details. The final week we used crayons and chalk to create the soft colors like the print and learned how to make the reflection a bit darker than the original.

I was concerned about using varnish fixatives in the building and found that hair spray does set chalk well enough to use it and not be so worried about how toxic it might be. We even liked the scent.!