Second Grade Barn Dance

Materials Needed

• watercolor paper
• 1/2 sheet watercolor paper- scarecrow
• oil pastels
• watercolors
• brushes
• black permanent markers
• kosher salt
• self-adhesive foam buttons
• pencils/erasers
• straw/raffia- 1" pieces
Barn Dance- Bill Martin, Jr

Getting to Know series- Moses, Rockwell Norman Rockwell prints
Grandma Moses prints


I began the project by reading the book Barn Dance by Bill Martin, Jr to my second graders. As I was reading, I asked the students to focus on the following things: the scarecrow, the objects they saw on the farm. When I finished reading, we brainstormed a list of things that could be found on a farm. We also talked about what the scarecrow looked like- what was he wearing, what is his job, etc.

I gave the students a 1/2 piece of watercolor paper and asked them to draw a scarecrow. I demonstrated how they could use basic shapes (squares, rectangles, circles, triangles, etc) to draw the body, clothes, patches of their scarecrow. They traced their scarecrow with black marker and then painted him/her using watercolor markers.


When it was time to work on the background paper, we had a discussion about foreground and background. We looked at different landscape prints and pointed out the size of objects that were in the foreground and in the background. We also took note of how the horizon line is rarely is straight line.

I had them draw their background in pencil, adding any details that they wanted to have on their farm- reminding them to keep in mind size. They traced everything with a black marker.

They used oil pastels to color their barn, animals, trees, and at the end added white stars in the sky. They did not color their ground or sky with pastels.

Once the oil pastels were finished, we got out the watercolors again. They used the watercolors to paint their ground (most used green, however, a few used brown) and the sky. We were looking for a night sky, so most used black (we rarely get to use black watercolor, so this was pretty exciting!). I showed them how to dilute the color so that it was not pitch black.

When the background is dry, the students cut out their scarecrows and stuck them on using self-adhesive foam "O" to give it a 3-dimensional feel. I had pieces of raffia ready and they added these onto their scarecrow for a little more detail. Pin It

First Grade Warhol Hands

Materials Needed

• black construction paper- 24x10

• colored construction paper- 6x9

• tempera paint

• colored glue

Hands Can- Cheryl Hudson

Andy Warhol prints
Getting to Know series- Andy Warhol
 
We started this project by reading the book Hands Can and discussing all the things that our hands can do. Then I gave each student a piece of white drawing paper and had them trace their hand 3 times. I showed them how to trace without touching their fingers (we didn't want super skinny fingers) and how to close the hand at the bottom.
 
Then they cut out their hands. I demonstrated how to cut the paper by turning the paper, not the scissors. This really helped when it came to not cutting off fingers. When they had finished cutting all 3 of their hands, they were ready to start putting it all together.
 
Each student got a piece of black paper (24x9). We did a quick review of primary and secondary colors (you can read Mouse Paint at this point, if you want). We had just finished another project using primary and secondary colors, so we were able to review pretty quickly. The students get 3 pieces of colored paper in the colors that they chose.
 
They glued these onto their black paper:
1) using glue dots (just a dot, not a lot)
2) leaving a black frame around each piece
 
When the colored paper was glued, they were then able to glue their hands onto each piece. I reminded them that the hands would not fit completely on the paper; the fingers would run over onto the black paper. Again, they were to use glue dots, so that their paper would stay neat.
 

During the next class, we began making handprints, using the opposite colors that we had already used. I had trays of paint (all 6 colors) spread out on a counter. Each tray had a brayer on it. The students had to first look at their project and figure out which hand they were going to use to paint, by placing their hand onto their paper and figuring out which one fit. Then they walked over to the counter and rolled paint onto this hand, making sure to get all of the fingertips.
 
They walked back to their table (we had a discussion prior to this about appropriate behaviors- no running, no touching anyone or anything, how to wash our hands when we were finished, etc) and placed their hand one of the white hands, to create a print.
 
They washed their hands and repeated this 2 more times until all 3 colors had been used.
 
The last step of the project was to trace their painted handprints using colored glue (I make my one using acrylic paint and white school glue). They returned back to the original colors that they had used (the construction paper), so that the glue had a good contrast to the color of the hand. Pin It

First Grade Line Monsters

Materials Needed

• Watercolor paper
• Crayons
• Watercolor markers
• Spray bottles
• Thick black markers
• Scissors
• Black paper
• Construction paper crayons
• Line poster

I did this one around Halloween time. We read the book There's A Monster in My Closet by Mercer Mayer. We looked at all of the monsters in the book. We focused on eyes, teeth, fingers, etc. Then I had each student draw their very own monster. We talked about how it needed to be larger than their hand (we didn't want any mini-monsters). They could draw as many arms, legs, eyes, etc as they wanted. It was their own creation. They traced their monster with a black marker.

We reviewed 2 concepts next: warm/cool colors and lines. They had to choose whether they wanted their monster to be warm or cool and then they filled their monster with a variety of lines: zig zag, wavy, spiral, dotted, etc using the colors that they had chosen (with crayons).

I demonstrated how to paint their monster using a wet-on-wet wash, continuing with the same colors that they were already using.

They cut their monsters out (we reviewed how to hold our scissors) and glued them onto a piece of black construction paper with glue dots ("just a dot, not a lot").

We finished the project by tracing around the monsters with construction paper crayons (they show up really well on the black paper) in the opposite color scheme than they had previously used. Pin It

First Grade Ceramic Frogs

Materials Needed

• cardboard for tables
• clay
• tools
• newspaper
• glaze

My first graders made ceramic frogs for the first time this year. We began the unit by reading the book The Icky, Sticky Frog by Dawn Bentley. The book has great illustrations of the frog and the students loved the long, sticky tongue that they could actually touch.

After we finished reading the book, we did a quick review of clay and it's properties- dries out if we play with it too much, crumbles, etc. Then I passed out a piece of clay to each of them. I demonstrated how to roll it into a ball, while I counted to 5 (this helps them know when to stop). We then made out pinch pot by sticking our thumb into the clay and then using our fingers (crab claws) to pinch around the pot to create the walls. When they had a pot, I showed them how to set the pot on its side to create a big, open mouth for their frog.

I then passed out another piece of clay and had them divide it into 4 pieces. They rolled these into tubes about the size of their finger and I showed them how to attach these to the body of their frog to create their legs.

The last part of construction was rolling a small piece of clay into a smaller tube and attaching it inside the mouth for the tongue and then rolling 2 small spheres for the eyes. These were attached on the top of the mouth.

After the frogs were fired in the kiln, I placed glaze on the tables and the students were able to glaze their frogs. Pin It