First grade animal weavings

Keith Haring Prints

First graders just finished their printmaking unit. We looked at the artist Keith Haring for inspiration. Students used cardboard pieces to create the row of black printed figures. On day two they used flexible foam pieces to create the row of primary colored figures. We talked about movement and line on the third day when they added the action lines before matting the work. 

Tree of giving thanks

In those days right before Thanksgiving when students were all excited for their vacation I decided to have them help me decorate a bulletin board that I had just taken down. I had them draw their hands first and then put their name on the thumb. They had to come up with four things they were thankful for to put into each of their fingers. They were allowed to color and decorate their hands any way they wanted to. I made the tree and branches from scrap construction paper and then had students choose where they wanted their hands placed. They were all very excited to see how it came out the next week they came to class and it looks great in my room!

Animal observation drawings with pastel

First graders are learning about animals growing from babies to adults in their classrooms right now. I just acquired an assortment of plastic animal figurines and thought they would be helpful for my observational drawing unit. Each first grader was allowed to blindly pull a figurine from my assortment.  We discussed the many parts that animals have and using the space to fill up the paper. Once we finished drawing, students were given pastels to add color to their work. We did this in one 45 minute class period.

First grade pastel pumpkins

After practicing blind contour drawings last week, students put their observational skills to use. I brought some pumpkins into class for them to draw and then apply pastel.

Classroom mural

I found this project idea on a blog somewhere. I'm going to tag the blogger as soon as I can find them. I had an assistant help me draw out the one of the designs and then I cut each one into 80 pieces. There were enough pieces for four classes. This was a great project to get work up on the walls for my schools open house.