Drawing Pigeons with Mo Willems

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

After reading Eric Carle's book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the first grade students had a great time creating caterpillars out of recycled egg cartons. The students learned that you do not need to buy expensive materials in order to make art. In fact, some of the best art materials may be lying in your recycling bin or trash can!

The Universe Is my Home

A Trip to the Jungle

After viewing the jungle paintings by self taught artist Henri Rousseau, the first grade students were inspired to create their own jungle scenes with oil pastels and watercolor paint.

Jim Dine Confetti Hearts

Jim Dine
"Confetti Heart"
Lithograph Print
1985

After viewing artist Jim Dine's "Confetti Heart," the first grade students were inspired to create their own hearts from scraps of paper from our recycled paper bin.

Bad Hair Day Drawings

Due to snow days, one of my first grade classes was ahead of the other groups on their projects. We decided to try our hand at this lesson http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/SubPlans/subelem.htm provided by Princeton's Incredible Art Department website

Shape and Variety with Wayne Thiebaud

After viewing the work of artist Wayne Thiebaud, the first grade students were inspired to create oil pastel drawings of their own sweet treats! The focus of this lesson was shape and variety.

Watercolor Resist Snowflakes

The first grade students viewed microscopic images of snowflakes, and they noticed that every snowflake has six sides and its own unique shape. The students designed their own snowflakes, traced them with white crayon, and applied watercolor.

Winter Cardinals

The first grade students learned how to draw a bird composed of simple shapes. We all agreed that the colorful cardinals bring a lot of joy on bleak winter days.

Stomp on it!

The first graders created textured pendants by stomping on a peice of clay. Students learned about the processes of firing and glazing the clay peices. They also learned a lesson in patience after making several attempts at stringing the bead/pendant and tying the string. In the end all students were sucessful!

I found this lesson on another art teacher's site http://www.useyourcolouredpencils.com

Dancing Giraffes

The First Grade Students read the Book Giraffes Can't Dance by Guy Parker Rees, and they learned that giraffes really CAN dance! The students were inspired to create the multimedia artworks below in response to the story.

Ladies of Liberty!

In honor of Veterans day the first grade students learned about the significance and history of the Statue of Liberty. The students used their creativity in creating these collages of the Statue of Liberty.