Grandma Moses Shape Lesson: First Grade

Shape
Observing shapes in an object can help us draw accurately. Look at a few objects, going from simple to more complex. What shapes do we see?

Bases on lesson by http://www.artteachersmile.com/winter-village-elementary-art-inspired-grandma-moses/

Grandma Moses
Week 1
Watch this video on Grandma Moses
Life of Grandma Moses




Give the children a piece of gray construction paper. Show them how to paint a snowy bank along the bottom. While this is drying on table...
Discuss the different shapes used in the paintings.
Have the children choose three squares or rectangles for their buildings. They can choose to use the rectangles horizontally or vertically. Have them pick three matching triangle roofs.
They will then glue the pieces onto their papers making sure that the buildings are in the snowy bank and not floating in the air.

Give each of the children a strip of black paper. They will snip this paper to create windows and doors.

Week 2
Finish with windows and doors if neededGive the children a construction paper crayon to create walkways, fences or other small details to their paintings. Have them paint their roofs white with "snow". Demonstrate to them how to load up a paintbrush with watered down white paint and tap it to create falling snow.

Joan Miro Kindergarten Lesson

Miro Slideshow
https://www.slideshare.net/ropergo/miro-and-his-painting?next_slideshow=2

Joan Miro was born April 20, 1893 in Barcelona, Spain. Like Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Salvador Dali, Miro is one of the great pioneers of twentieth-century art. Miro began drawing at a young age, and his choice of subjects -tufts of grass, insects, birds- revealed an early affinity for the organic. Though based on his observations of nature, his works were abstractions, and bridged the gap between realistic and abstract imagery.
 Woman in the Night

Present lesson on Joan Miro and show images located on thumb drive. Discuss abstract art and how lines and shapes represent things in real life. Most of his lines are curved. He shows the sun with stars.

Week 1
Using a thick sharpie have students draw a large figure that fills their paper. Then have them use the Miro idea sheet to add extra elements to their drawing.  You can choose to let them use an extra fine point sharpie to give a variation of line weights. (Possibly use gray or brown construction paper)

Week 2
Have students paint their works of art using tempera paints with #3 brushes for control. Limited color palette of white, turquoise and red. (I tried yellow on the brown paper and it did not look nice). 
Have students go back over lines that might have been painted over.

I think this is something our kindergarteners can pull off, can't wait to see the results. Will update.