One of the best parts about lesson planning and blogging is the ability to get all sorts of new ideas quickly on the Internet. This was a fun lesson I saw first on The Busy Librarian. We read the book The Dot and the students received papers with their first initial drawn in pencil. The students then used crayons to draw dots and circles on their initial. Using watercolor paints, they painted dots and circles and made marks in the … Read more…
I am so proud of how well my first graders drew these beautiful birds and I’m excited to share them with you. We started by reading the beautiful book The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon. This book is a wonderful connection to science as Audubon was a fascinating man who studied the migration of birds and painted them. Your budding scientists will love this story. The students looked at reference photos of birds from books. … Read more…
I have seen variations of this project many times but have never tried it with my students. I am pleased with how our assemblages turned out! This was a great opportunity to clean out the junk in the classroom and teach about using found objects. My Primaries (or first grade) learned a little about American sculptor Louise Nevelson. There is a short clip on YouTube that explains about her artwork. I put a call out to families to donate … Read more…
My first graders created these unique and expressive pictures by stamping with pieces of cardboard. Here’s how you can print with cardboard. First, cut pieces of cardboard into strips small enough for young kids to easily hold. Pour a bit of black paint on to newspaper. Dip the edge of the strip into the paint and stamp on your paper. The black lines of the faces were all made by stamping with cardboard. After the paint has dried, color the … Read more…
Did you Celebrate Oops!? My kindergarten and first graders started this open-ended project by reading the book Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg. We were inspired by the page in the book that said, “A smudge and a smear can make magic appear.” Each student received a piece of paper with a smear of paint on it. They were challenged to turn that piece of paper into a “beautiful oops” and create a wonderful work of art incorporating the smear. What … Read more…
Hello friends! Have you used Gelli Printing Plates before? I was introduced to this a couple of years ago because I received a couple samples to try out for my blog. They are a super fun way to do monoprinting with kids. You can read all about the process and see videos of techniques at their blog, Gelli Arts. There’s also a way to make your own gelatin plates, but I’ve never tried it because it seems like a lot … Read more…
Henri Matisse is one of my favorite artists. I love his bold colors and beautiful shapes. While teaching about patterns, painting, collage and shapes, I recently introduced his artwork to my kindergarteners and 1st graders. First, we learned about his artwork through this Henri Matisse presentation. We also read the book called Oooh! Matisse, which is a fun, colorful book (but not very informative about his artwork.) The book is good for discussing and thinking about the shapes in his … Read more…
