First grade is learning all about lines! Lines are everywhere! They love the Scratch Garden YouTube video about lines and we read the story "Lines that Wiggle" by Candace Whitman. I brought in some leaves and we looked at the lines we could see in them. I have 3 different tracers for them and they outline the leaf with permanent marker and then divide their leaf into sections. Students learn how to create a wax resist painting with crayons and watercolors. They fill their paper with lines and patterns as well as some shapes. I was going to have them make the leaf warm colors and the background cool colors, but decided to let them experiment with the colors. We looked at the differences created by color choices of both crayon and watercolor (ie. yellow crayon/yellow paint vs. yellow crayon/violet paint).
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First grade reviewed line, shape and color in their spring flower project. They traced and cut circles out of primary colors and then added all kinds of lines to finish their flowers. Some added a few extras that you might see in a garden.
First grade reviewed primary colors, and learned all about weaving and texture. They cut their own paper using craft scissors. They loved using these! When they were done, they added lines and patterns.
First grade dove into this projects with creative enthusiasm! They learned a few ways they can turn a flat piece of paper into a form. From there they used their imaginations to make all sorts of things to build a "playground" or park.
They had everything from skateboards, trash cans with lids and miniature pieces of trash, to monkey bars and pools. Students also made pinch pots with texture using air dry clay and then painted them as a part of our form unit. Didn't grab any photos of them. Things get a little crazy at the end of year. First grade had a great time with their clay. They formed the air dry clay into a sphere and then stepped on it to make their texture. Next, they formed clay beads that they would be able to add to the necklace. Students painted their medallions and beads and then strung all together. They were very excited to wear their medallions home.
Horizontal and vertical lines making rectangles and squares, and primary colors are the perfect combination for Mondrian inspired art in first grade.
First grade learned about the small city of Paracho, Mexico during Hispanic Heritage Month. Paracho is well known for the guitars produced in the city. Paracho artisans have been building guitars for several generations. We mixed the bright colors of Mexican art with making our own guitars. Students used white oil pastels for lines and then painted either warm or cool colors on their paper. They used texture scrapers to add more lines and interest to their paper. They traced their guitar on their paper, cut it out and then traded for the opposite color scheme with their classmates. They added a sound hole and strings, and then decorated with shapes and glitter. We had a lot of guitar playn' going on during class!
I am thrilled with how far my little ones have come this year! I stood there both proud an amazed when we were looking at famous artwork and they made observations using the language of the arts. I always start with "What can you tell me about this piece of art?" I was hearing responses like, "That painting is mostly made out of the primary colors." The next student responded, "I know what the primary colors are. They are red, yellow and blue. The artists used lots of different kinds of lines. I can see texture in the painting...it looks like that container would feel rough if I touched it." Oh, so proud!
This weaving project was designed to review the elements of line and color while introducing texture. Students enthusiastically went to work using the primary colors to draw all sorts of lines. When aren't they enthusiastic?!! They love using the playcolor tempera paint sticks. I modeled using a paper crimper to add texture to their paper and they could not contain their excitement. It was the hit of the hour! They watched me show them how to weave and then were off to try for themselves. "Over, under, over, under, over" could be heard throughout the room! Remembering to change the pattern with each row was a challenge, but most were highly successful. First graders learned about the element of art value. They looked at the art of Paul Klee and discussed what they saw and his use of shapes and value. Our first project was inspired by Klee's "Senecio". Students drew a large shape which filled their paper. Next they added straight vertical and horizontal lines that appeared to go behind their shape. They thought this was the coolest thing when they saw this in their art! Next we added a variety of connected lines inside their shape. Students chose 2 colors and used value in both the background and inside the shape. After this lesson students learned that lines and the use of value can make something look 3-diminsional. They loved how their "tubes" looked like they were popping off the paper!
First grade students learned about the element of art space in artwork. They learned that artists make objects appear close by making them large and make them small to look far away or to show the space between them. Students were able to use the vocabulary to describe where objects appear: foreground, middle ground and background. They were excited to "measure" desks that were close to them and then compare how small the desks in the back of the room looked when they "measured" them! We worked together to draw snowmen 3 different sizes and then add a horizon line in our landscape.
First grade is learning about the color wheel. They had so much fun drawing their wacky birds! They used primary colors of watercolor crayons to color their birds. They mixed their secondary colors by layering primary colors, and then painting with water.
This is a great project for my first graders. Anything to do with paint creates a lot of excitement! Students made observations about Mondrian's artwork. They discovered that he used straight lines that made squares and rectangles. They also noticed that he used red, yellow and blue in his paintings. We continue to review the elements of line and shape as we move into color. They also learned some big vocabulary...vertical and horizontal. Most of my first grade classrooms are bilingual, so I am careful not to overwhelm them with lots of new vocabulary all at once. They used strips of black paper for their lines and tempera paint for their shapes.
First graders are so enthusiastic about everything they get to do in art! We "built" robots using geometric shapes and then used lines to "make them work". They created springs, gears, bolts, wires, controls and all sorts of creative spare parts with lines! We discussed how we were adding details to make them interesting, just like we add details to our writing to make it interesting. Students brainstormed what their robot would do for them and wrote the sentence using a sentence stem. Just a few of the examples: "My robot will clean my room. My robot will play with me. My robot will make toys for me. My robot will bake me cakes." They also had a great time naming their robots!
First grade students learned all about the element of art line. They practiced painting zig zags, wavy, bumpy and dashed lines among others. You would not believe the excitement when the paint came out! This is the first year of art for our first grade students. Our district does not have art in Kindergarten. Students learned how to hold a brush, gently dip in the paint and softly paint lines across their paper. After practicing, students painted their lines in a hot air balloon. We discussed the color wheel and painted between the lines in color wheel order. I thought they were excited about the black paint for the lines...you would not believe how big their eyes got when I brought in bright tempera cake palettes!
Oh, the places we'll go! First graders had a day to experiment with squishing, twisting, rolling, cutting and coloring model magic. I also read “The Little White Owl” by Tracey Corderoy to the students. Our next class I taught the students to make their own owl with model magic. Needless to say, they loved using this medium! Sadly, with all the end of the year craziness, I did not photograph any of the little gems. Students divided their model magic into sections, mixed color in with markers and then created fabulous owls inspired by the illustrations in the book.
This was another multifaceted project that ended up with an astoundingly high success rate. I was beginning to doubt the lesson somewhere in the middle, but we forged ahead. I am beaming with pride at the growth I saw in my first graders! They looked at still life paintings by famous artists and with a huge variety of flower drawings for inspiration, the students practiced drawing different kinds of flowers. I modeled step by step drawing for several flowers so they would get the idea of really focusing on line and shape. And did I say draw big? Big, big, big...no tiny flowers here. Little ones tend to draw little:) During the practice, students worked on making vases. They covered a paper square with bleeding tissue and water. No pencil allowed on our project. We learned to turn mistakes into something good. Students drew their flowers with marker, added a table cloth using texture plates and crayons, and learned to carefully color their flowers with marker. Students folded their vase paper in half and drew a whatever type of line they wanted from top to bottom. They cut along the line, opened their paper and had beautiful symmetrical vases. They also ran their vase through a paper crimper. Students added stems and leaves from their flowers to their vases and the results were gorgeous!
When paint is involved, we dial up the excitement level. I wish I could say this happens in the art room, but I am on a cart and in the the rooms of classroom teachers. It's tough to hold the excitement to a low roar while attempting to keep some semblance of order and cleanliness in another teacher's room. I set up 3 stations for copper, silver, and gold metallic paint while the students patiently waited on the carpet. They went to town painting their papers and using the texture scrapers. We had controlled chaos while each child carefully carried each painted sheet outside the room to the drying rack. The next week students studied the textures in their art and added marker lines and shapes within the texture. Let the weaving begin! We had so much fun crumpling our paper to make even more texture and then wove our masterpieces! Only photographed one for some reason, but they looked fabulous lining the walls.
First grade students practiced creating value scales and then got to work on their mini optical illusions. They had a blast practicing value with their colored pencils! They were amazed that when they held up their work it appeared 3-dimensional!
Students love to look at and discuss art! For this project first graders pointed out all sorts of interesting things in winter landscapes using the language of the arts. They learned that to create the illusion of space in your artwork, objects will appear to be getting smaller and smaller. They learned about foreground, middle ground and background. They also learned how overlapping creates the illusion of space. Students traced their circles into snowmen, added horizon lines and then used a combination of oil pastel and construction paper crayons to add fabulous details. Nothing says winter in Illinois more than snow, wind and snowmen!!
First graders learned about positive/negative space and they dove into this project with their typical enthusiasm! Students experimented with drawing all over their paper with washable marker colors and then painted them with water. Students traced their hand, cut it out and glued it to their marker background. Using metallic markers for sparkle, they added expressive lines and shapes to the black paper. The results were stunning!
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Mrs. Kendell
I was a graphic designer for many years, and then decided to make the leap into art education. I taught elementary art for 8 years. Archives
May 2018
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