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.

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.

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

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.
           

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.