Thursday, November 23, 2017

First Grade Turkeys: Happy Thanksgiving

I had so much fun creating this directed drawing for the first graders. I knew they would have a blast and that their turkeys would ultimately be much cuter than mine! Delving into color blending.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The stripes!!!
                 


                 

I love how this turkey simultaneously looks like a baby wearing a technicolor dreamcoat and a turkey. This student did a lot of blending on their wings. Bravo!

                        


I love seeing the various interpretations of turkeys. Patchwork, rainbow, large feathered or small; they're all wonderful.

Thursday, November 09, 2017

Kandinsky Circles In a Circle-First Grade: Line

Lesson on Line
Show students pictures of
The Swan by Henri Matisse
Shell No. 1 by Georgia O'keefe
Discuss the types of lines they have
Teach the children the "Larry the Line" poem by Cassie Stevens

Show students a picture of Wassily Kandinsky's Circles in a Circle; 1923
Image result for wassily kandinsky
Talk about the different types of lines found in this piece. Lines that makes circles. Overlapping lines. Thick lines, think lines.
Have the students glue down the large black construction paper circle that has been pre-made. Give the students a ruler and a black crayola marker. Have them create lines within the circle.

Give the students varying sizes of circle templates. Have them trace the circles onto pieces of painted paper. Talk with them about composition. How to lay out their circles in a way that is pleasing to the eye. How many colors will they choose? Will the circles touch?

Week #2
Continue adding circles if needed.
Provide the students with their pre-cut triangles of tissue paper. Teach them how to lay the tissue paper down on their drawings and wet it so the color bleeds onto their artwork. Tell them to be very careful when painting on the water so that they don't move the tissue paper.

I think this lesson came together pretty well. The children certainly loved it. Tracing, cutting, holding a ruler firmly while tracing a line and paint brush etiquette were all skills touched on in this lesson. I think that if I did this lesson again I would have the children use sharpies instead of black Crayola markers so that they wouldn't bleed in the final step.
           

Sunday, November 05, 2017

First Grade Cave Drawings

LESSON: PALEOLITHIC CAVE PAINTINGS

Objective:  Learn about the cave painters of Lascaux and Altamira. Learn about how ancient cave people created art, what tools they used and how they made paint. Students will draw animals on the "Cave wall" in the style of the ancient cave painters using pieces of flagstone.

CORE KNOWLEDGE GRADE 1: COLOR, LINE, ART FROM LONG AGO

Week 1
Tell the stories of children discovering Altamira cave in Spain and Lascaux cave in France. Watch the video of Lascaux

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29S8nbHHnuo

Discuss WHY, by WHOM and HOW the caves were painted.

Part 2
Practice drawing animals in the style of the cave artists on paper (possibly on walls?)

Final project: draw an animal on a piece of flagstone with dried out sharpies (to be recycled) and then fill in the animal shapes with chalk.

These were so fun to do with the first graders. They loved the process of drawing animals on rocks.