January 2015
In January, we used the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to inspire a dream project. We read the book Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold and talked about how we do not judge a book by it's cover, or people by their color. Students then drew themselves in the future and what they want to be when they grow up. Our dreams drive us! Dream BIG!
december 2014
1st graders are getting a fun introduction to collage with these paper gingerbread houses. We read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett then started to decorate. Students were a little disappointed that we were not using real cookies and candies, but they were able to glue and sprinkle some cinnamon and ginger to their houses to make it a more sensory experience.
october 2014
October and November are full of OWLS for 1st graders. They began mixing red and yellow to make orange and then painting a pumpkin. Then we learned lots about owls. We watched videos of them flying and hunting. We learned about great horned, great grey, snowy, barn, and barred owls, and listened to their calls. I love how each owl seems to have a personality of it's own.
october 2014
1st grade is all about lines! We have so much fun practicing lines with fingers in the air and awesome sound effects! If you would like to smile, ask a 1st grader what a diagonal line sounds like. :):):)
March 2014
We were inspired by author and artist Faith Ringgold throughout the month of February. We read the story Tar Beach which is about a little girl growing up in Harlem in the 1930's. We were inspired by her dreams as a young girl, so me thought about our own dream for our future. The result is a beautiful Dream Quilt!
December 2013
These beautiful owls will be coming home very soon! I just love how this project is so interesting and engaging for the students!
The final project for 2013 will be a collage gingerbread house! We will use shapes to make a house, then use lots of colorful paper "candy" to decorate our house. Maybe, just maybe, we can dust these with some glitter to top them off!
The final project for 2013 will be a collage gingerbread house! We will use shapes to make a house, then use lots of colorful paper "candy" to decorate our house. Maybe, just maybe, we can dust these with some glitter to top them off!
October 15, 2013
First graders completed their line unit by drawing lines and cutting them out to make rays of sunshine! This is a new project for me, and I really like the way they turned out! It is always great to practice those cutting skills!
Next, first graders are combining red and yellow to make orange and painting pumpkins. We will be working on these pumpkin pictures for a while as there is LOTS to do with pumpkins and the fall season!
Next, first graders are combining red and yellow to make orange and painting pumpkins. We will be working on these pumpkin pictures for a while as there is LOTS to do with pumpkins and the fall season!
September 10th
1st graders are using their knowledge of lines to make a line quilt. First, as a group, we folded our paper into eights. This just happened to the exact same number of types of lines we know . . . amazing! Then we filled each spot with the line, making sure we went over it with crayon once, twice and thrice.
This example is a good one, however it has 2 straights. What line is it missing?? Wavy, Bouncy, Zig-zag, Smily or Frowny Curve, Diagonal, or Curly??
This example is a good one, however it has 2 straights. What line is it missing?? Wavy, Bouncy, Zig-zag, Smily or Frowny Curve, Diagonal, or Curly??
Time Travel to March 25th
We have been working on this Eric Carle project for a while!! Eric Carle is a wonderful author and artist that has published over 75 books, many of which our students know well! We looked at Eric's artwork and learned that he made his art using the collage technique. We began just as he did, by making beautiful paper!! Then we made more beautiful paper. Then we made more beautiful paper. Then we were ready to start collaging. Students decided on an idea. I fave them the starting idea of either a spring picture or an underwater picture. They began cutting an glueing and collaging their masterpieces. These should be coming home just in time for tulips.
January 7
We have been working on Jazzy Jungle Cats for a while it seems! Students are working on cutting thier cats and jungle parts out carefully, so they can arrange and glue. Students will arrange their pieces thinking of the words "in front" and "behind". Students will show depth in their artwork by having parts in front and behind their cat! We hope to finish them in the next week and move on to a new project!
November 26
These owl pumpkin pictures turned out better than I had imagined!! The owls are just plain cute, but then I found the moonlight pumpkin patch lesson on another blog (Deep Space Sparkle--aren't artists so much fun!). And after starting that project it hit me....duh, put them together. It worked great! I hope these made a great decoration or gift at your Thanksgiving celebration!
Our next first grade project we are going to do a Jazzy Jungle Cat project and use some spacial vocabulary like "in front" and "behind".
Our next first grade project we are going to do a Jazzy Jungle Cat project and use some spacial vocabulary like "in front" and "behind".
October 15th
First graders are starting to make owls! We started by learning a few fun facts about owls. Did you know that an owl can't move it's eyes, only it's head can move. Also, most owls are nocternal, but not all of them. Owls are predators and eat as many as 6 mice a night. Students began their owl by tracing 2 ovals and a circle and made the body, head and wings out of those. They are currently "feathering" their owl with ripped paper. Some students choose to make barn owls, great horned owls and snowy owls. These should turn out pretty cute. Look for these to be displayed soon!!!.
October 1st
1st graders have finished their line quilt and are ready to move on to something new!!! Last week they went for leaf walks in each class and did rubbings from the textures on the leaves. Fall is such a wonderful time to explore nature. The next project we are starting is OWLS! We start by tracing ovals and cutting them out. Most of our time will be spent next week, feathering our owls! These turn out pretty cute, so look for them on display in a few weeks!