1st Grade

The following art work was done by Carpenter First Graders students from September to January. I have the First Graders for a 1 hour session of Art and a 38 minute session for Humanities. The Humanities Program allows me to teach the Science and Social Studies curricula through Art. I truly enjoy the Art integration.

Self Portraits

The first week of school the First Graders made self portraits as a pre-test. I will be teaching them later this year how to do a self portrait.

Constitution Day

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.

Austrailian Cave Handprints

First Graders were introduced to Australian Aboriginal Art through cave handprints. Students learned how to create negative and positive space, symmetry, shapes and form. Students applied design elements in creating their handprints using the “dot” method of painting as well as blow painting.

Owl Kites

Student study weather in First Grade. The Japanese owl kites were made to determine if it was a windy day. We will see if they fly this Spring.

Fall Landscapes

The images below where inspired by our observations of the weather and the seasons. Students created Fall landscapes that included grass as the foreground, pumpkins as the middle ground and the starry night and owl as the background.

The Very Hungary Caterpillar

In each class a student read to their classmates The Very Hungary Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Students learned about the days of the week as well as how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. I will post their caterpillars soon.

Leaf Drawing

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. 

VanGogh'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 VanGogh. Students seemed to enjoy the the process.

 Owl Moon

I read the book Owl Moon by Jane Yolen to the 1st Grade students. We discussed how different animals live in different habitats. Below you will find their owl collages. Students were to make patterns on their owls.

Leo the Late Bloomer

Reading books to my 1st Graders helps me make connections to their world. Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus was a very good book to share with my students. This book talks about how it takes longer for some to learn or accomplish things. The 1st Graders seemed to appreciate this story. Below you will see the "Lions" they made.

Birds 

I read the book Birds by Kevin Henkes. We looked at different birds and noted that birds can come in different colors. Below you will find a sample of their "Bird Color Wheels".

Swimmy

Swimmy by Leo Lioni inspired this art project. This book deals with how being different can be a good thing. Students created their own Swimmy.

Science: Goldfish

One of the Science Lessons that I was able to help with is how to draw a goldfish. I decided to have the students learn about the Japanese art form Gyotaku- fish prints. Students were able to paint a plastic replica of native Michigan fish and make prints of them. The purpose of the lesson was to have students become more familiar with the parts: fins, tail, eye and mouth before they drew their fish.

Below is a fish drawing that a student made as a study. More scientific illustrations of snails, fish and grasshoppers to come.

African Masks

For Black History Month the 1st Graders made masks like those made by the Bwa people of Africa. These masks use the traditional colors of red, white and black. The students added weaving on the sides to add texture.