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.