First Grade Projects From My Long-Term Sub Gig

 Here are some of the projects from my long-term sub gig that appear in the collage here so that you had a bit more info on them...ENJOY!! For the background about where I've been/what I've been doing lately, scroll to the end of the post...

Here's lookin' at YOU! Check out the projects below for some
first grade ARTSY inspiration!

Grade 1 Art Projects From Fairgrounds Elementary School:

Week 1: Winter Windows (1 day)

A getting-to-know-you project.

We looked at the book, “Snowflake Bentley” by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. Students folded their paper to make four “window panes” and used crayons to draw four six-sided snowflakes (just like real snowflakes). They then added watercolor to their work (watercolor resist) to add a colorful sky (sunset, nighttime, etc.) and enhance the snowflake designs. The wet work was sprinkled with salt to add texture and interest to the work.

A close-up of one of the "Winter Windows"--
this light yellow crayon was easier to see than a white crayon on white paper.

Week 2: Aboriginal Bark Paintings (1 day)

A continuation of a project started prior to my arrival

Students used crayons to create mini circles within a photocopied Aboriginal design. They then added a black tempera paint wash to their work (watercolor resist) to enhance the designs. Finished pieces were mounted onto construction paper backgrounds.

No image of these--sorry!

Week 3, 4 and 5: Feathers For Lunch Collage (2-3 day) From Fine Lines

Inspired by the work of Mrs. Pettus--that's ME! (I've been doing collage work lately) and the collage artist Lois Elhert and her book, “Feathers For Lunch”

Students looked at the book, “Feathers For Lunch” by Lois Elhert and used different shapes and papers to create a collage composition of a cat and a bird. Details could be added using crayon and a real feather was attached to represent the one that got away—just like in the book!

Our inspiration!!

We talked about using shapes to make our cats and birds.
We used real feathers and oil pastels for fun details.

If a student wasn't in class the first week, they could make just the bird on week two.
This student was fascinated by the hole punches he found on the supply cart.

I love this cat's expression!

The finished display I copied from Fine Lines Blog--
it was perfect, so I just had to do it!

Here's the write-up that I displayed near the bulletin board-
it really helps everyone to see all of the details of this project
(as well as the National Common Core Standards in Art)

Week 6: Line Study With Pastels (1 day)

The attributes of line were discussed (length and direction) and then students took turns drawing different types of lines. Students then cut out a shape of their choice (emphasis on something that moves such as an animal or vehicle, etc.) and attached it to a piece of white paper. They used Sharpies to drew eight different types of lines coming from their shape and going off the edge(s) of their paper. Lastly, they used chalk pastels to trace their lines and smudged them to add the illusion of movement to their work.

Beautiful shooting star!

Some students chose to have a limited color palette, but they still turned out beautifully.

A flying airplane.

And this is a football flying back and forth between players--LOVE it!
We also had flying pigs, a giraffe or two, cars, superheros, a UFO, a couple of rockets,
LOTS of footballs, a unicorn, some cats and much more!

Week 7: Kandinsky group mural See post here

Inspired by Kandinsky’s color studies

Students used paint to create a composition of concentric rings based on the color studies by Kandinsky. Individual student work was displayed with other grade levels to create a multi-age group mural for the hallway.

A close-up of the individual 6" squares all glued together
onto the larger roll of paper using Elmer's glue (a dot in each corner).

The finished mural. Beautiful!!

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Backstory for this post:

So, it's been a busy Spring for me since I finished student teacherin' in December--I subbed a bit in preschool, kindergarten, elementary and high school and then landed a wonderful 6 1/2 weeks long-term sub gig at an elementary school nearby teaching art to grades K-5. What a blast I had--the students and staff at Fairgrounds rock and I was sad to go (it's hard to stop doing something you love when your next big thing isn't settled upon yet). Since then, I haven't blogged much because I've been daily subbing and working on my dang art teacher portfolio (more on that in a future post or ten). Check the sidebar (over on the right side of the blog) for other posts in this series (k-5 at Fairgrounds Elementary School). ENJOY!!

Matching Mittens and Printmaking Snowflakes

This week, I had the great opportunity to spend time with the PM Kinders at Clark School. They were so great and really excited to be creating some winter-themed art! 

Matching patterns and lots of different snowflakes using
a variety of found materials.

We began by talking about how cold winter is and how we need to dress warmly. We talked about the different things that we should wear when going outside to play during winter , including hats, boots, warm socks, and mittens! I told them that we were going to create mittens that matched, or that were a pair.

How were we going to do this? Collage. That's where we take bits of paper and make a picture with it. Some famous illustrators who do this are Lois Elhert and Eric Carle. I had a couple of books on hand to show: "Feathers For Lunch" and "A Pair of Socks," all illustrated by Elhert were perfect. I even mentioned the fine artist Henri Matisse and how his collage pictures are famous and sell for millions. WOW!

We went to the tables and crafted our mittens, making sure that both of our mittens matched (both in pattern and color choices). This is a great way for children to learn some math concepts and critical thinking skills. Creating a unique pattern and then matching it is quite an accomplishment!

Then they could move over to the "Snow Table" and experiment with different items I had brought in to stamp and make snow. This was a fun lesson in basic printmaking, and the children enjoyed experimenting with the different "stamps."

Patterned Mittens

Supplies Needed:

• 1 12x18" piece of black paper
• 1  6x9" piece of construction paper, whatever color you chose for mittens
• Paper scraps, various colors (I had multiple colors available in 1/2" strips, 1" strips, and little 2"x3" pieces they could cut shapes from
• Pencil
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Paint tray
• White tempera paint
• Assorted stamps, see below

Directions:

1. Create your stamps. You don't need anything fancy for this part. I had some plain wine corks, some pom poms hot glued to corks, and some sprigs of evergreen tree branches. I also made some fancier stamps with some foam snowflakes I found at Michael's hot glued to corks.

2. Fold the 6x9" piece of construction paper in half (the hamburger fold) and trace the child's hand onto the paper. Go around all of the fingers at once, like a mitten. Cut along the tracing line, through both thicknesses of the paper, to make two mittens that are alike.

3. Use the scraps of paper and the paper lines to create a pattern on your mittens. You can use lines and shapes such as squares, rectangles, circles, and triangles. Make sure that whatever design you do on one mitten is done on the other mitten.

4.  When your mittens are done, glue them to the black background paper.

5. Dip the stamps in the white tempera paint and add snow all over the background. Try out different stamps. The sprigs of evergreen looked great if the students stamped the tips onto the page, but some tried stamping the sprigs sideways, and that looked really neat, too. Pom poms gave a lovely, fuzzy snowflake, and some of the children were purists and used the stamps that had the foam snowflake shapes glued to them. 

They turned out great! I was also thinking of adding hats next time and/or a little string of yarn going from one mitten to the other. That would look so cute! I had a lovely time hanging out with these kiddos!

ENJOY!