Pablo Picasso's Old Guitarist

Concepts Covered:

Artist introduction- Pablo Picasso 

Art Discussion- Class Critique/Discussion on

 Picasso's Painting "The Old Guitarist"

New Material Introduced- Oil Pastels

Method/Application of Oil Pastel on Paper

Review- Patterns (A/B; ABC; Size; Color Patterns)

Homes for our Feathered Friends

1st Grade

Drawings of Birds & Painted Bird Houses

For this project the students were to create a directed drawing of a bird, as well as, create a birdhouse out of pre-painted paper (the students painted one color each in a previous class).

We begun by talking about the changes in weather and how it was becoming colder out; we said that when it becomes colder we tend to stay inside more.  We discussed that animals were doing the same thing, that as it gets colder the animals want to be warmer so they stay inside of their homes to avoid being cold.  One type of animal discussed were birds.
The students learned how to draw a bird following the steps from the amazing Joy Sikorski (see the image below).

After making the grown-up bird the students made either a little baby bird following the same directions or 3 tiny eggs waiting to hatch.  

Once our small bird families were made, the students painted 3 pieces of paper using their table color.  For this part of the students learned the difference between a tint and shade.  A tint is where you add white to a base color (in this case their table color) and a shade is where you add black to a base color.  Once their papers dried they were cut into 1 inch strips that the students picked from to create a mulit-colored bird house.  

Color Mixing

1st Grade- Mixed Up Mice

In first grade one of our more popular projects is our color mixing unit.  Last year the students created color chicks and this year we have created Mixed Up Mice.

The main focus for this project is to learn how to use our primary colors (red, yellow, blue) to create the secondary colors (orange, purple, green).

We began by reading the book Mouse Paints by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  This book tells the story of 3 little mice who climb 3 colorful jars of paint (yellow, red, and blue).  As the little mice climb out of the jars of paint and begin to step into different colored puddles of paint they soon realize they can create new colors when they mix 2 colors together.  

As we read the book the students completed the color addition worksheet, seen below.  

The students then participated in a directed drawing where we used different letters, shapes, and lines to draw 6 mice on a narrow piece of paper.

Student examples are shown below.

The students used a technique called marker painting to create their primary and secondary colors.  Strips of primary colors were drawn on each mouse to help the students with color mixing and painting.  
For more information about marker painting please contact me.