Abstract after Kandinsky - First Grade Lesson with video and printable directions!

I enjoy teaching about Wassily Kandinsky's art mostly because I like to play Flight of the Valkyries for the first graders and kind of scare them a little. I read that Wagner was a favorite composer of Kandinsky's, so I go with it.
 I also like the kids to pretend like they have synesthesia to an extent.  I want them to learn about lines, line qualities, shapes, and colors.  I don't actually care if they "feel" the music in a classroom setting of 23 first graders, or I'd end up with 23 scribble scrabbled brown and green "masterpieces".  Not my jam. Feel the music at home, kid.
I like to show the Mati and Dada Video about Kandinsky to start off the lesson.  Most of these videos are pretty great because they show just enough information to keep the kids entertained and then end.  Whoever decided 7 minutes was enough art history in cartoon form was a genius. If you watch these on YouTube, definitely bring the link over to ViewPure though.  These videos are cluttered with pop ups!!  Also, if you've watched nearly all of them like I have, there is a formula that they follow that the kids haven't picked up onto yet.  Literally the same thing happens in every episode with a different artist, different media.... anyway.

This year I made my OWN little video demonstration of the entire lesson.  I make goofy voices. It's how I teach.  If you want to see the whole lesson in action:

When I do actually start to teach the lesson, as mentioned above, there are some limitations.  Even so, no two projects look the same, and the kids are still learning what I'm trying to teach.  There is also a direction sheet for this lesson.  Direction sheets are great for students to see what they are supposed to be doing, and what is coming next.  It is not a step-by-step-do-it-this-way-or-the-highway page, it is just additional guidance.  Plus, when you get kids saying "what am I supposed to do now?"  You can say, "Read the directions!"

This lesson ended up being spread out over several weeks for my class because of holidays and field trips.  To review the information I showed the class a video of someone reading the book "The Noisy Paint Box."  It is cute and gives some nice information about Kandinsky's life, work, and inspirations.

Here are some pictures from my friends painting on day one.  I used Rubbermaid - Egg Keeper containers for the tempera.  (I've tried others like stack & snap lids etc.... but the Rubbermaid - Egg Keeper is the best. My favorite tempera is Crayola Premier .

I was a little nervous on our last day when I passed out the black oil pastels for our super black-thick-black-outlines.  I was suddenly seeing little black finger prints all over the place. However, I needn't worry.  I started hearing music as I photographed the finished pieces!  

See the rest in our Artsonia Gallery!

Alma Thomas Radial Design Rainbows with Slideshow and Directions

First grade learned about the color spectrum and the colors of the rainbow by looking at the art of Alma Thomas. I started by sharing this little slideshow about the artist and her art. We discussed her color paintings and specifically what colors she used, and sometimes what colors she used them in. We started our own Alma Thomas inspired rainbow collage with construction paper. To mix it up a little bit, I told them they could start in the middle with one square, like it says on the directions... but it didn't have to be red. For whatever reason this made the place go bonkers. I said if they didn't feel comfortable mixing it up, they should use red, but if they were up to a challenge they could use a different color. It was a sneaky way to differentiate. Then on the board I wrote:

Roy G. Biv   and we talked about what each one of those initials meant.

Then I wrote:
Oyg B. Ivr
Ygb I. Vro
Gbi V. Roy
Biv R. Oyg
Ivr O. Ygb
Vro Y. Gbi

The pressure was on doing that in front of a bunch of 6 & 7 year olds and not making a mistake.  I did in fact make a mistake and a kid caught it.

The students just had to look at the rainbow order that they actually started with to complete the rest of their collage.  I had the strips of paper up front in traditional rainbow order as well to help them.

Here is the link to my artsonia gallery for this project. And here are some great ones!

Rousseau's Jungle in First Grade and two fun videos!

One of my favorite units in first grade art is learning about Henri Rousseau and his tropical jungle pictures.  I always begin by showing a few Rousseau paintings, then watching "Dropping in on Rousseau."

Several kids were very interested in Henri Rousseau's Surprised.  They kept telling me they had seen it on Nick Jr.  I looked up the link, and sure enough, just as they said, two kids go in to the painting and kind of explore.  It's fun!  During my search, I also came across this video, which I decided to share with my classes:

This one was a little more informative.   Plus, it lead me to the entire series of "Your Paintings" which I could probably use in the future!

Our first lesson in our Rousseau Unit is a torn paper jungle collage.  I just love how tearing and gluing paper can turn into something so cool, and how successful each child can be!

Draft Folder Clean-up: Block Architecture

This was an awesome project I did earlier this year to start my architecture unit with 1st grade.  The kiddos built block structures at their table with sets of Architecture Blocks.  Then they drew them.  So cute!  Then, each table got a ton of pre-cut black paper pieces and they had to "build" a new structure on a paper and glue it down. My favorite part was when they were drawing.  They looked awesome.

Successful art projects at a birthday party? Yes! Art Party: Georgia O'Keeffe

I recently had the greatest/most intense birthday party experience ever.

I hosted a first grader's birthday party at my studio, No Corner Suns.  It is a very small classroom up above an old travel agency.  On my website I say our maximum is 12 kids/party.  Well, we've been able to stretch that to 15...and this weekend I stretched it to 17.  Yes.  Seventeen first graders up in my little attic classroom- and it was off the hook.

My party mom was awesome.  If every customer who came to the studio was like her, it would be a dream.  She took the art party theme to the next level with her details!  It looked great and her daughter was so nice and appreciative.

I taught the kids a little bit about Georgia O'Keeffe and showed them a ton of her flower pictures.  They sketched for a little bit, and then we prepped their canvas.  They spent several minutes mixing their palette (they were great with color theory!) and then painted.  They were so cute!

We of course had our share of spilled water, painted hair and sleeves.  My floor has never been as colorful, and I truly worked up a sweat cleaning up before cupcakes!  It was great fun and I hope to get the chance to do it again.

Awesome Owls, lesson 2 and a change in plans (life on a cart!)

For our third day of Awesome Owls, first graders made a small owl out of Model Magic.  I got the idea from Pinterest!  I thought it would be a nice way to review and reinforce our theme.  First grade would have the chance to learn about and make sculpture, and we got to discuss real vs. implied texture.

When I packed up my cart, I included navy blue 9 x 12" construction paper, yellow squares, and black strips.  The idea was that students would use the navy blue as their placemat, then use it as the background for a constructed home for their clay owl.  I pictured a black tree silhouette and a yellow moon.  I even thought about how I would teach making the tree... V's and Y's..V's & Y's! I wasn't prepared for when I asked the first graders where their owl would live.  First student said a tree, a second said a nest, then they started getting creative. "A house, like a real house with a TV!" "underground!" "my bedroom!"  "a house IN the tree!"  So, I scrapped my step-by-step boring construction of a tree and moon, and let the kids draw whatever kind of habitat they wanted with pencil.  We traced with Sharpie and colored with regular crayons Had I been in my classroom I would of used color sticks, or construction paper crayons, however the regular crayons gave it a nice dark night feeling.  First graders understood that their owls are most active at night.

Awesome Owls! First grade makes patterns, cuts, & pastes cute birds.

Being relegated to a cart this semester, I have had to adjust some of my lessons to accommodate.  Most projects that used to be painted are being finished in new (less messy) ways, and sometimes with surprising results!

The objectives for Awesome Owls are for first graders to learn about line, practice making pattern, cutting, and pasting.  We even get into owls being nocturnal and some of their other habits (for the Common Core aficionados) 

Each student starts off with two papers.  We filled them with lines, and filled our new shapes in with pattern.  As a class we draw our owl shape on the back of one paper (two U's), and our wings on the other (one rainbow).

Here is a weird Microsoft Paint picture of what I mean:

Students are charged with cutting and pasting and assembling.  Even though we couldn't paint, everyone's turned out really cute.

Monet's Japanese Bridge in First Grade Art.

I have been working on modifying my K-2 lessons since I no longer have a classroom.  Even though projects tend to be cleaner when I teach them in the classroom, much more thinking/prepping/preparing is involved.

Take my impressionism project based on Claude Monet.  In the past, we would learn some art history, discuss some color theory, and use watercolor to create an impressionist inspired landscape.  We might paint flowers, or add them later.  The focus was on the art history, and also painting techniques.

I knew Claude Monet was on the docket for my 1st grade, but I wasn't sure what the focus of our lesson was going to be.  I've watercolor painted off of a cart before, but it hasn't seemed like a good idea yet this year.  I decided to keep our focus on color theory, and emphasize impressionism, only with crayons!

We watched Linnea in Monet's Garden.  Next, we constructed a Japanese bridge out of masking tape onto tag board.  We discussed our primary and secondary colors.  First graders were charged with scribbling all over their papers with blue, yellow, and green.  Next, they peeled the tape off and revealed their Japanese bridge.  I loved the way this simple masking out process looked.  I loved the way the colors mixed and really gave it an impressionistic vibe.

Then, we started to add flowers.  This looked better in my head.  I demonstrated how to create tissue flowers, how to cut a lilly pad, and even how to make several cut flowers at once.  I let the students choose how they would finish the garden.

It got a little busy, and our gardens ended up losing their impressionistic feelings.  However, the students were real into the process.  I definitely see potential for this project in the future, on and off the cart.

Sunshine! First grade gets us ready for warmer days ahead.

Continuing our study of Warm vs. Cool colors, first grade made these wonderful warm color sunshines.  It has made everyone at school loooong for the sunny days ahead (longest winter ever!!!) and keeps us optimistic that it will be here soon.

First graders began by drawing sunshines for 5 minutes.  They had to fill a paper and draw as many different suns as they possibly could.  Then I ask quesions like, 

"Who drew a circle with little lines?" 

"Who made one with sunglasses?" 

 "Who drew one with triangles?"

I used to ask, "Who drew one in the corner?"  but I don't do that anymore.... (It seriously encourages corner suns, I did my thesis on it!)  This conversations gets children thinking about other unique ways they could make a sunshine.

Together we looked at several examples of sculptures and paintings of sunshines.  We discuss all the elements the artist used and how each one looks different.  Finally we construct our own.

We do it together in steps;

make a circle, choose a new color for sunshine rays, choose another color for sunshine rays, use your scraps to make a face, add decorations with more construction paper, add decorations with slick paper, add decorations with metallic or glitter paper.  These took about 2 hours.  

Easy first grade color wheel coloring page: Why aren't color wheels all the same?

I teach first graders how to mix primary colors during an oil pastel project.  I have always had the students practice mixing on a scrap paper as I demo in the front of the room.  I suddenly realized that the class should be mixing on a color wheel!  In Illinois, it's not technically an assessment till fourth grade, so I never even considered it!  However; the flow of the wheel would definitely help some students understand it.  Plus, it starts to make a basic foundation and connection to many projects in the future.

Of course, 30 minutes before my class I get this grand idea.  I google "Color Wheel Coloring Page ."

  I sift through a million results and cannot find a nice basic six color - color wheel with yellow on top.  Every color wheel I have ever had hanging on my wall has yellow on top.  The concept can be confusing enough to some kids, changing the order could really mess them up!

So, I made my own.  The Color Wheel Coloring Page for primary and secondary colors only, with yellow on top, is now available for download.  Enjoy!

Feelings in Art Worksheet.

Feelings In Art Worksheet

I made a worksheet using popular masterpieces to help younger students talk about their aesthetic responses to artwork.  

Attached is my Feelings in Art worksheet.  Have students look at the subject matter, body language, and colors to help gauge how a work of art makes them feel.  There are no right or wrong answers, and it is interesting how students interpret different things.  I hope it starts a lively discussion for your class.

I apologize for not including my resources and for the fact that the worksheet itself isn't the most aesthetically pleasing!  Hopefully you will find it useful in your artroom.