Textured Mittens

First Graders just completed these lovely textured mittens.  We began by reading The Mitten by Jan Brett, which served as a great inspiration for the students.  They then were introduced to the word texture (the way an object feels) and began cutting up strips of various fabric.  On the second day we discussed the word symmetry and used the analogy of a butterfly as an example from nature.  We arranged our fabric strips from the week prior in a way that was symmetrical, thus creating a pair of matching mittens.  The third day students cut up glitter paper (made by brushing glitter glue on regular construction paper) and arranged their pieces to form a border surrounding their mittens...similar to the the borders surrounding Brett's lovely illustrations.  This lesson was inspired by the lesson found on the color, collage, and much more blog (http://colorandcollage.blogspot.com/), one of my favs!

Fundraiser Projects - First Grade

First Grade - Still Life Flowers

Ideally this project would be broken down into two lessons (1 day for oil pastel/drawing from observation and 1 day for watercolor washes), but because of time constraints I had to condense the project into one day.  To do this I had to do a directed drawing lesson where I broke down the drawing into steps (find center of paper, use geometric shapes to draw a simple vase, emphasize originality).  I gave examples of flowers that could be drawn, such as daisies, roses, and tulips (students had the option of drawing other types of flowers as well).  To complete the project, we used two halves of bleeding tissue paper (different colors) and arranged them on the top and bottom of the drawing to give the allusion of the vase sitting on top of a table.

I'm pleased with the results considering how limited in time we were, but if I were to do this project again in its condensed version I'd have created 3 drawings of each step (1. drawing of vase, 2. drawing of flowers in vase, and 3. drawing with final watercolor step).  This would have given the students a better idea of where the project was going.  Finally we would discuss oil pastel resist...which would have been very evident following the bleeding tissue paper.

Matisse Cut-Outs

First Grade students learned about the French artist Henri Matisse.  We focused on his later works, specifically his cut-outs.  Students took note of the geometric shapes found in the background of his collages, and the organic shapes found in the foreground.  Typically I would approach this lesson by having students create a variety of painted paper, cut them out into squares and rectangles, adhere them onto another larger sheet of paper, and use black & white construction paper for the organic shapes.  However, this would require twice the amount of paper and had the possibility of requiring an additional fourth day to complete.  Painting geometric shapes onto one large sheet of paper required less materials and days (3 to be exact, 2 if I used 9 x 12 paper).  This lesson was inspired by the There's a Dragon in my Art Room blog...such great lessons!