1st Grade Roosters

 I started class with a step by step of how to draw a rooster. Once students had a good drawing they outlined everything with oil pastels. They used liquid watercolors to add the bright colors. I saw the same idea on another blog but cannot remember which one.  Do you ever do that?  I look at 10-20 blogs for ideas and then can't remember where the one is that stuck in my head.

Our backgrounds were made from black construction paper and tempera paints. Students could use up to 3 colors for this and were asked to create a pattern.  

Students cut out their roosters and glued them down to be framed by their patterned border.

Jim Dine Inspired, 1st Grade

I don't remember where I have seen this but I think many art teachers use this idea for Jim Dine and February.  I love how different each piece is and kids love the resist of watercolors and oil pastels.  

Pumpkins with Shadows, 1st Grade

1st graders were given step by step instructions on drawing their pumpkins with shadows. We talked about the horizon line for our background and used tempera paint for color.

1st Grade Fall Trees

We spent two separate art classes to create our fall paintings.  The first week we talked about what a background is and than painted ours.  Where do kids get that whole idea that you paint the sky up high and the grass down low and leave a big white space in between?  How many times I said no white spaces I don't know.  

The second week we painted our trunks and used straws to blow the paint for the branches.  The leaves were made with q-tips.  Two paint spills and I stayed clean!

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Our school does a giant pbl(problem based learning) in the Spring.  This year our school is decorated as an airport and each grade is studying a different continent.  1st graders have Australia.  This is our first project.  Students drew the bridge from a photograph, outlined everything with a permanent marker and painted with watercolors.  

After School Drawing Class

Just did an after school drawing class for Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade and this is some of the work.  We met for an hour for three sessions.  We did all of our drawing from real items.  When they came into the room we would start with a large still life drawing.  We would than have a lesson on shading, shadow or line weight and than spend time on mini-drawings with different items each week.  I think their favorites were the beanie babies and plastic dinosaurs.   

 

Aren't these cute?  Followed some ideas from a few blogs and right now I can't remember who-sorry, will let you know.  These were done by my 1st graders.  I usually am positive but I feel like it should be Friday already.  Had a visit to the ER with my son on Sunday and things have just been overwhelming.  He is fine after a visit to a specialist today, thank God!  I guess this has just thrown me off.  Looking for a better tomorrow.

Paul Klee with 1st Grade

I introduced my 1st graders to Paul Klee after doing Piet Mondrian because we are focusing on shape and color.  I love Paul Klee's work!  This is the piece we looked at and than created our own.

I love how different each one is and yet they all followed the instructions.  We started with a circle template that they traced around.  Using a ruler they divided the circle into different shapes.  Features of the face were added and oil pastels were used to color in the shapes.  Black markers to trace over the lines and a watercolor background.  

Piet Mondrian

All students in the elementary school are studying Piet Mondrian.  For the lower grades we looked at Mondrian's later work.  We talked about what we saw in his artwork- line, shape and color.  The following pics are from our first projects for grades k-2.

These pieces are from kindergarten.  Students were given square and rectangle sponges to use in the primary colors and black paint to create line with a paint brush.

This project was done by my 1st graders.  This project is from Teach Kids Art.

These are from my 2nd graders.  The glue wasn't dry yet, hence the spots.  Students used black construction paper with "foamy" sheets that I cut into different sizes.  They were instructed to make abstract art and to leave spaces between the pieces.  

I will have Mondrian trees from the 3rd and 4th graders soon.