Handprint Fish

I've done this project with my first graders for a few years now, but I'm particularly pleased with this year's results. I changed things up a bit in an effort to enforce the learning aspect, though getting more consistently great-looking final pieces was a happy side effect!

On the first day of art class, after the 'welcome to art' blah-blah, we painted our backgrounds. Yes, I painted with first graders on the first day of art class. This group of first graders did not have kindergarten art, meaning this was our first time together EVER. Call me silly or call me brave, but please don't call me 'cause I hate talking on the phone.

Using blue square paper as the canvas, kiddos used multiple values of blue, as well as white, to blend their colors directly on their paper. Ooo-ing and ahhh-ing ensued! Not having to wash the brushes in between colors made this part quick and easy and was a good introduction for my amateur painters.

On the second day of class, we discussed background, middle ground, and foreground. Since the backgrounds had been completed previously, the students proceeded to adding a middle ground--seaweed, sand, and bubbles--while I called kids a few at a time to make an orange handprint on a separate sheet of blue paper.

Once the handprints were dry, I proceeded to add orange fish lips and a white spot for the eye. Then I cut out each fish. All 100+ of them. Thank goodness for a good pair of scissors and Netflix!

Since these kiddos never had kindergarten art, proper glue bottle usage was pretty foreign to most of them, so we spent a decent chunk of time covering that before using "dots, not lots" to glue the fish, creating the foreground.

A little black paint on a Q-tip made a sweet little fishie pupil, and the kiddos were all set! Square 1 Art, here we come!

Time go get back to my Netflix. This time, I'll be gluing all of those sweet underwater scenes onto the Square 1 Art paper. Le sigh.

Get out your popcorn, it's time for a preview

I'll warn you right now: this post contains a Downton Abbey spoiler. That makes sense on an art ed blog, right? Okay then.

We have close to three cycles under our belts, but only my youngest students have completed their initial projects. (I see my classes just once every 6 days, for 45 minutes apiece.) I'm hoping to get a few of those project posts completed in the coming days, but if you're like me, you love a good preview (or a preview that's way too fast and leaves you hanging and questioning WHY MATTHEW HAD TO DIE!?). So here are some candids from the first few days of art class, showing what the little artists are working on for their Square 1 Art projects!

 

Animal T-shirts

When I moved into my position six years ago, one of the first grade teachers approached me about painting T-shirts as an end-of-the-year activity. As a naive first-year teacher trying to please, I said yes. Oh, Rach.

Enough drama--it's not so bad. In fact, sometimes it's a lot of fun! The kids love it and use the T-shirts as a life-size yearbook, signing the backs of one another's shirts and wearing them as school winds down.

This year's Field Day theme was 'animals,' so I grabbed that opportunity and ran with it, turning T-shirt time into a full-fledged lesson on pattern...

White tigers!

Giraffes!

And Dalmatians, oh my!

I couldn't be there on Field Day (I was at the other building, womp womp) but word on the street is that the first graders showed up everyone else with their rockin' tees!

Cave Drawing OR 2 Happy Animals!

Soon I'll be sharing a little bit about my first graders' foray into cave drawing. While we were doing the Lascaux-inspired drawings, a little boy asked if he could draw two animals instead of one. I said yes. I now regret that choice:

Happy Friday! :-)

Japanese Carp Kites for Children's Day

Happy Children's Day! Or rather, happy four days after Children's Day. If you ask me, EVERY day feels like Children's Day, but that's probably just the result of being surrounded by 300 of them most every day, including the weekends, when they somehow find me at yard sales, the grocery store, out to dinner, and without fail, any time I'm makeup-free and crossing my fingers that I won't see anyone I know.

Regardless, I love the little boogers, and May 5th is their day--at least in Japan, where Children's Day is celebrated with the flying of colorful carp kites!

According to legend, the carp fish had the ability to transform into a dragon when it had swum against the current, climbing up dangerous waterfalls. The carp serves as a reminder of bravery and strength and serves as a symbol for the children of Japan.

My first graders make a version of these 'kites' each year. This year, it was my student teacher's job to get these kids' kites a-flyin' in celebration of this special day. There are many ways to make these, but here's what we did.

Kiddos started with a 12" square sheet of fadeless colored paper of their choice. Using a homemade ruler, a 4" strip was traced, followed by 2" strips:

Then, starting at the bottom and working upwards, one line at a time was covered with glue, which kiddos painted on with a paintbrush:

Working quickly to keep the glue wet, tissue paper scales were added; some kiddos chose a pattern of colors, while others went a random route:

Some were meticulous. Some, not so much.

Oh, sweet 6-year-olds. You and your ways.

Once all the scales were on, eyes were drawn. The eyes are my favorite part! I find that they tend to reflect the personalities of the artist who made 'em.

On the second day, kids finished up by adding "lips" (12" strips of paper) glued behind the eyes, as well as crepe paper tails:

To FINish (HA!), fish bodies were rolled and stapled closed, and string was added to the top for hanging. Their beautiful teacher may have helped with this part.

My toe thumbs are lookin' goooood in those shots. Humina humina.

So Happy Children's Day! Actually, Tuesday was National Teacher Appreciation Day, so out of the way, kids--happy belated TEACHERS' day! I hope you feel appreciated every day, teacher friends! :-)

Cherry Blossoms with 1st grade

Wherever you might be reading this today, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and sound. Hopefully the innocence and artwork of our students is enough to make this day a little brighter despite all the bad going on in the world this week.

My sweet, sweet first graders have been learning about Japan, studying the beauty of cherry blossoms. Of course, there are bunches of ways to do blossom-inspired projects...

Art with Ms. Gram

alphamom

Creative Jewish Mom

I like the following version for a few reasons. The kids LOVE it, the results are beautiful more often than not, and it's a quickie, taking just one 45-minute period from introduction to project completion.

My student teacher, Miss Caruso, taught this this year, and it was a lot of fun for me to observe! First, she talked to the kids about the blossoms as a gift from Japan and showed a few masters' works--Hiroshige, Hokusai, van Gogh.

Next up, the kids blew watered-down black tempera paint all around their papers. Miss Caruso found that using straws was tricky for some kids, so some of our classes freestyled:

On the morning we did this with one group, the school had hosted a "Donuts with Dad" event, so everyone had sweet, sugary breath. Gross! Haha!

For the blossoms, Q-tips and pink paint were all it took to turn these black spider veins into beautiful branches!

For early finishers, a short video showed them a sped-up version of the same project:

 

 source

These are always a huge hit in the annual art show. More on that soon!