Complementary Colored Hands: 1st Grade

We spent a lot of time on colors in the first grade! This project focused mainly on complementary colors, a bit of a difficult concept for some younger students to grasp.

I had each student trace their hand by the edge of the paper three times, their hand + arm, twice, and parts of their hand on the edge of the paper 2-3 times. Afterwards, I gave students permission to add a few hands if they wished.

I told students to pick out one color to do patterns with on the insides of their hands. On the outside, they had to use the complement of that color to create the circle pattern. Even my older students were impressed with how these turned out!

Kandinsky Circles: 1st Grade

We spent a lot of time in first grade learning our color families! I used this project to drive it all home. We used oil pastels and/or crayons.

Color Families: Primary, Secondary, Neutral, Warm, Cool, Complementary Colors (Y&V, R&G, O&B).

I combined all of the pieces together for the display to achieve a really big wall of circles. The students loved the display!

Pop Art Fruit Bowls; 1st Grade

In an attempt to take a new spin on still lives, I added a pop art twist! First grade really liked it! We began by looking at Pop Art by Roy Lichtenstein. I photocopied five fruits, and demonstrated how to add dots using markers. On a different day, we created the bowls. The students spent the last day gluing everything together! These looked awesome.

My Example:

Student Display!

1st grade - Knowing Our Colors & Creating Peacocks

While this may not be the best picture, I think you can get the idea. I used peacocks to teach colors to my 1st graders. We had just finished watching a video series on colors (complete with color worksheets!) and I need a project to apply some of these concepts.

Day 1 - After handing out their completed worksheets, I gave students a 12x18 sheet of paper. I had students fold their papers in half like a card. I instructed students to color primary colors on one half and secondary colors on the other - front and back. Some students, like the one pictured above, just colored in blocks. Others opted for more complicated designs and pictures.

Day 2 - I printed out a peacock template on card-stock paper. I told students to color in their peacock body using ONLY cool colors (we reviewed what these are). After coloring, students cut out the peacock and did the other side. When they finished, I had them bring the peacock to me. I cut a slot in the body of each peacock.

Day 3 - I taught my first graders to fan-fold! The 12x18 papers are folded so that they are TALL. At first, I told students to put it through the slot themselves, but many had issues doing that. So I had students bring their peacock and fan-fold paper up to me. I put the fan fold through the slot and stapled it once at the top. Ta-Da!!

They LOVED these peacocks!!

Bare Trees with 1st Grade

I did a project with my 1st graders yesterday on Halloween. It was a really bad idea because they were completely crazy with thoughts of costumes, candy, and fun times. Luckily, they came to art class immediately after their fall party in the classroom. Seriously, my 1st graders were crazy-town yesterday! They finished the project in about five minutes. Not okay.

I searched Pinterest (yes, I finally gave in) for a quick, filler project and found this. I thought drawing trees would be a cute project even if none of them ended up looking like trees are supposed to.

Let me just say, my 1st graders blew me away!! These turned out so well!!

I drew a tree under the ELMO document reader using the letters "Y" and "V." I used crayons only; crayons are my favorite. Here is my example:

Here are the awesome trees made by my talented 1st grade students!

I'm so proud and impressed! I may have used this as a filler lesson, but I think now that I should develop it into a bigger lesson! These look so cool!!

Chicka Chicka, Boom Boom: Letters with 1st Grade

This is a lesson I borrowed from my student teaching experience. On YouTube, I found the Scholastic video "Chicka Chicka, Boom Boom." I had students watch the video and ask them to pay close attention to the way the letters move.

After watching the video, I handed out paper to the students. I demonstrated how to turn a letter into something different, i.e. an H into a horse. I then had students draw the first letter of their name and turn it into something.

I feel like this may have been more successful if we had first done one all together, but I only have 25 minutes with 1st grade at the school I've taught this. Sad! Here are a few great examples!

C into Cat

T into a Table with an umbrella!

O into an Egg in a bird's nest.

1st Grade Dogs: Finished!

My first graders did a step-by-step how to draw a dog with me. We also used tempera paint to create a very simple background. 1st graders then cut out their dogs, glued them, and used oil pastels to finish the picture. The results are "pawsitively" precious! Check it out!

Here is a close up!

And finally, all the dogs on display. Aren't my 1st graders talented?!

First Grade Dogs

Yikes! I came to my second school and realized nearly too late that the classes here had already finished their faces!! This is because I see these classes twice a week and the others only once. I had to come up with something fast!!

Thanks to Deep Space Sparkle, I was able to find a cute project quickly. The first day, the students drew their dogs. I used the ELMO to show my drawing magnified on the projector screen. This worked for most of them; others I may need to sit next to me next time in order to make sure they are able to follow along. The dogs turned out so cute!

The next class day, I had the students finish up their dogs. While they were finishing, I had a group of three at a time come to a station and paint a second paper half blue and green. This is for the sky and the ground. I used tempera paint for this. I thank my summer experience at TLZ as an assistant art teacher, because otherwise I would not have been as effective at showing students how to hold a paint brush (Thank you, Amy!) I did not get through all of the students, so I will have an activity next week and pull those aside that have not finished painting yet.

I can't wait to see and share the final projects!