First Grade: September- October

My First Graders have Art for a or a 1 hour session for more traditional Art and a 38 minute session for a Humanities Art class that integrates their Social Studies and Science with Art. This year the Common Core expectations of Math and Literature will also be integrated into their Art class.

Self Portrait

To begin the year students did a self portrait. Recalling what they learned last year students created a self portrait to the best of their ability. I will be using their portrait to assess their growth at the end of the year. 

My Community

Since neighborhood and community are a big part of First Grade curriculum student made a printing block of their community. They had to do sketches first than add color. Red buildings are for Fire Stations and blue building are for Police stations. Students learned that it is hard to make a perfect print and that the print flips on their paper so the image is mirrored.

Wolf Kahn Inspired Fall Trees

Next we talked about how Fall changes the colors in the leaves. We discussed for example that a Maple tree leaf would change colors in this sequence: green to yellow to orange to red and eventually to brown. The work below was inspired by the Canadian artist Wolf Kahn. Students used a crayon drawing as a resist with a water color wash. They did very nice patterns.

Constitution Day

On September 17th the First Graders were introduced to the Constitution. We discussed how this document is important to Americans. We talked about different symbols that might symbolize America or the United States. Students came up with the American Eagle, the White House and the Statue of Liberty. We decided to do a portrait of the Statue of Liberty. We used turquoise paper and construction paper crayons.

Red Fox

Students listened to the book Hello Green Fox by Eric Carl inspired our red foxes. The book talked about opposite colors on the color wheel.

van Gogh's Sunflowers

I read the book Katie and the Sunflower by James Mayhew to the 1st Graders. We talked about who to draw a sunflower in an impressionistic way like van Gogh. Students seemed to enjoy the the process.

One class made them more 3D for a larger collage.

Leaf Scientific Illustrations

One of my favorite lessons to teach First Graders is how to draw a maple leaf for their Science Journals.  We discuss how a leaf changes color from green to yellow to orange to red to brown. 

Kindergarden: September- October

Kindergardeners come to the Art room for a 1 hour session for more traditional Art and a 38 minute session for a Humanities Art class that integrates their Social Studies and Science with Art. This year the Common Core expectations of Math and Literature will also be integrated into their Art class.

Recently I sent home a folder with crayons to each Kindergardener at Carpenter. This packet is to encourage students with their parents or guardians to practice colorings and cutting at home which will help with students fine motor skills and muscle memory. Another great resource is http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/learn-to-draw.


Monster Rules

To begin the year in Art we learn about behavior, expectations and safety in the Art room. We learned about the rules in the Art Room through the Monster Rules project which had a list of rules attached to it so students would not forget. Our Rules included be nice to your friends, use inside voice, be safe and make good choices. Carpenter follows the PBIS- Positive Behavior Intervention and Support.

http://www.preschoolplaybook.com/2009/09/monster-rules.html

Mouse Paint

We discussed the color wheel. I read the book Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh. We made color wheels with yellow, orange, red, purple, blue and green mice.

Favorite Color

Students were asked to pick their favorite color and look at the crayon label. This was done to encourage them to connect the letters of the word of their favorite color. Below you will find crayons with self portraits in the middle. There was a lot of O-R-A-N-G-E.

The Dot

To encourage students to try their best in the Art room and to be thoughtful while looking at others artwork students watched the movie The Dot by Peter Reynolds based on the book of the same name. Students used a white crayon to create a resist. When students painted their dots with red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple the white showed through. I love watching my students surprised expressions as the white peeks through. Below is their work.

Lines That Wiggle

To work on our shapes and lines I read the book Lines That Wiggle written by Candance Whitman and illustrated by Steve Wilson. Students worked on wavy lines, circles, triangles and crisscross lines.

Animal I Want To Be

I read the story Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse by Leo Lionni. In the story the Alexander get to make a wish and change into any animal. I asked the students to draw what animal they would like to be.

Drawing People

Kindergardeners watched the movie Classical Baby: The Art Show by Amy Schatz. This movie included paintings by paintings by Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, Joan Miro, Fernand Leger, Edgar Degas, Marc Chagall, Jackson Pollock, Piet Modrian and Vincent van Gogh. In the film kids were visiting a museum. So students drew a boy and a girl with a pet.

Fredrick

Students listened to the story Fredrick by Leo Lionni. Students created their own Fredrick.

Cutting Assessment

Students did a cutting assessment to create the collages below. They remind me of the work of Joan Miro. Students also did another assessment on shapes, color, color mixing and drawing. I will compare their work in the beginning of the year with the end of the year.

 

Crayon Color Wheel

I have been teaching the students how to read the colors on the crayons so that they will be able to use the right colors. I also showed them short films on YouTube on the colors that teach them how to spell the colors through songs. Thank you Mrs. Schwartzenberger!

 

Castles

Students listened to the book Conrad Castle by Ben Shecter. In the book Conrad build a castle in the sky while his friends try to distract him from finishing. Conrad castle does fall down but he rebuilds it in the end. This is a great story to remind student to stay focused and to believe that they can do it. To create the castle students had to use shapes like circles, triangle, rectangles and squares. Students made many O and zeros. Their work is below.

And I wanted to share that the castle project also aligned with the Kindergarden Building lessons. But maybe more importantly the confidence I see in the students when they finish.

Great Things for the New School Year

Each year I try to find a theme to start the year off with and this year I though a lot about architecture. The reason behind this is because I really wanted to give my students a firm foundation about art. I wanted students to realize that in order for a building to be strong and last it needed to be built properly.

I do believe that Art is about process and discovery. I also believe that it is necessary to help guide and teach students to understand the elements and principles of art so they can apply them.

I think this year will be very eventful in the Art room.