1st Grade

Dried Up Markers + a Cup of Water = A New & Fun Way to Paint!

Painted Model Magic Bugs

Flamingos with Oil Pastels

Collages Inspired by Leo Lionni's Book "Let's Make Rabbits"

Symmetrical Butterflies

Cookie Monster & Elmo Drawings

I Like Art Because...

Van Gogh-Inspired Flower Paintings

Pig Drawings

The first graders followed a directed drawing of pigs and created their own background.

Snowman Portraits

The first graders created a portrait of a snowman, colored it with oil pastels, and added a snowy background with a Q-tip and white paint. Just as they were finishing their picture, we saw lots of snow flurries outside! These snowmen sure brought on the snow!

Elf Yourself!

In the spirit of Christmas, the first graders turned themselves into elves using just a photograph and construction paper!

Giraffe Drawings

The first graders discovered some fun facts about giraffe's before making their own drawing of one. We also read the story "Giraffes Can't Dance," a story about a giraffe named Gerald who is discouraged that he can't dance until a cricket teaches him that those who are different just need a different song!

Doodle Designs

We discussed what a "doodle" was and how we could create them using lines. The students used different types of lines to ceate a design on construction paper. After outlining their design with black marker, they filled in each shape they made with crayons, pressing hard to get bold colors!

Kandinsky Paintings

We looked at paintings by Kandinsky and learned about abstract art. The students had fun naming shapes or objects they found in his work and they loved his painting of the circles. The students created their own Kandinsky-inspired painting by painting several circles in different colors, just like Kandinksy!

Paper Weavings

I talked to the students about weaving and we identified the repeating over/under pattern. I cut paper strips ahead of time and showed the students how to fold/cut their own loom. They chose which color strips went well against the loom they picked and wove their papers through. They glued the ends down so they wouldn't slip out and then glued mosaic squares to their weaving for decoration. I punched two holes in the top and hung them up in the hallway with yarn. They love coming down the hall and walking underneath the weavings on their way to art!

City Silhouettes

We looked at Ann Jonas’ book, "ROUND TRIP" to see images of city buildings in silhouettes. The students loved the optical illusions in the pictures, too. They created their own city of buildings and splatter painted a background full of shining stars!

Watercolor Scarecrows

Here is a nice watercolor project for the Fall that introduces the wax resist technique to the students. I had several scarecrow dolls out for the students to observe. We looked at the patterns on their clothes and the shapes that made up their bodies. They sketched a scarecrow, including the face, arms, shirt, and other details, and then colored their entire scarecrow with crayons. They used watercolor paints to wash over the whole paper and painted a nice background with warm colors. Great work 1st Grade!

Dotted Tree Paintings

The first graders sketched a tree in pencil and outlined the trunk and branches with a brown oil pastel. They had fun using a circular sponge stamper to add many leaves on their tree. Even though leaves aren't circular, the students gained an understanding that we can use basic shapes to represent specific elements in a picture.

God Gives Us The Gift Of Creation

At the beginning of each school year, the students' first art project is a piece relating to the school's theme. This year our theme is "God Gives Us Many Gifts." The first graders created self portraits from paper and depicted the gift of creation in their pictures by using symbols of nature.

These projects will be hung around the school as a border and will remain all year to remind us of the many gifts we are blessed with.

ARTWORK BELOW THIS POINT IS FROM THE 2010-11 SCHOOL YEAR.

Father's Day Door Hangers

It's not even June yet but we are already thinking about Father's Day! The students created a portrait of themselves with their dad and glued it onto a door hanger. They used stencils and decorative materials to design the rest!

Scrapbook Paper Rabbits

In Library, the students heard the story "Lets Make Rabbits" by Leo Lionni. The story is a classic fable and sends the message that each bunny is unique in its own right.

In Art class the next week, the students used a template of a bunny's body parts to trace onto scrapbook paper and then constructed their own beautifully unique rabbits!

Popsicle Stick Flowers

The first graders made flowers from popsicle sticks and foam for their annual "Spring Sing" concert!

Pointillism Fish

The first grade learned about Pointillism and created their own paintings using this style. Instead of using a paintbrush, the students dabbed Q-tips into paint to create many dots of color!

Doodle Designs

Symmetrical Butterflies

I reviewed the concept of "symmetry" with the first graders and they created their own symmetrical butterflies. They drew their butterfly on white paper and added designs with markers. Then, they cut their picture out and glued it to construction paper. They used tissue paper squares to crumple up and glue around their picture for a border. Nice work!

Ed Emberley Thumbprints

The students were introduced to author/illustrator Ed Emberley and his style of art. He used his fingerprints and thumbprints to ceate a variety of unique images! Check out first grade's efforts to create a picture in his style!

Van Gogh-Inspired Sunflowers

We read the book "Van Gogh and the Sunflowers" by Laurence Anholt and learned about Van Gogh's extraordinary paintings of sunflowers. I set up a vase of artificial sunflowers at each table and had the students work on a large sheet of 18"x24" paper. They used a circle temple to trace around to form the center of their flowers and drew the rest of the picture themselves. When their pencil drawing was finished, they used tempera paint to add color.

Kandinsky Circle Paintings

We looked at paintings by Kandinsky and learned about abstract art. The students loved his painting of the circles and they created their own with tempera cakes. They split their paper into six sections and painted several circles in different colors, just like Kandinksy!

Paper Weavings

Mosaic Mirror

At a birthday party, the girls of the first grade class collaborated to create a beautiful mosaic mirror. They used mosaic pieces, buttons, beads, chess pieces, sea glass, and many other objects!

SPLAT the Cat Paintings!

We read the story "Splat the Cat" and the students created their own drawing of Splat. They sketched their cat in pencil, painted with tempera paint, and used construction paper and pipecleaners to add the face and whiskers.

Christmas Wreaths

The first graders made Christmas wreaths to hang as a decoration or ornament for their tree. I pulled out the ribbon, charms, snowflakes, stars, and any other Christmas decorations I could find in the art closet. They designed their wreath and I hot glued all the mater

Elmo & Cookie Monster Drawings

Although my students quickly informed me that my favorite Sesame Street character, Cookie Monster, is now known as "Veggie Monster," I decided to keep our furry friend and his bad eating habits around for an art period. This lesson is a fun way to help students understand pictures can be made with a combination of simple shapes. I walked them through a drawing of Elmo and Cookie Monster on the board as they worked on their 12"x18" paper. We started with two circles for the eyes near the top of the page. Then we created a horizontal oval for the head, vertical oval for the body, triangles for the arms, and rectangles for the legs. I had the students use a crayon and go over their drawing with zig zag lines to create the look of fur.

Giraffes

We read the book "Giraffes Can't Dance" and the first graders drew their own giraffes with warm colors and designed the background with cool colors. They had a template to trace around for the head and then followed a directed drawing to assist them with drawing the rest of the animal.

City Silhouettes with Splatter Painted Backgrounds

We talked about what a silhouette was and the students created their own city of buildings! They cut black strips of paper for their buildings and yellow paper for their brightly lit windows. Before gluing their buildings, they splatter painted their background to light up their city!

Pumpkin Weavings

After weaving yellow strips of paper through their orange pumpkin "loom," the first graders used different cutting techniques to create layers of green grass. It is difficult to see in this photo, but they drew a moon in their background with a white or yellow oil pastel. No sky was complete without some specks of gold glitter!

Watercolor Resist Scarecrows

Here is a nice watercolor project to do in the Fall that introduces the watercolor resist technique to the students. I had several scarecrow dolls out for the students to observe. We looked at the patterns on their clothes and the shapes that made up their bodies. I cut a hat and a circle for the face out of cardstock to get them started on their 18" x 24" drawing. They added a face, arms, shirt, and other details, and then colored their entire scarecrow. They used watercolor paints to wash over the whole paper and painted a nice background with warm colors.

Called to Serve God Through Nature

First Graders used glue and tissue paper squares to decorate their background. They picked out hand templates with their skin tone and glued them to their background, then chose a symbol that represented nature.