Glue Bottle Poster

Okay, so I found this online, but it was super helpful teaching my students to use glue bottles properly!!

Kindergarten Alligators

This lesson (another I borrowed from my student teaching experience) made use of the shapes students had already learned and made something BIG out of them! That's right, alligators!! The students LOVED these (and the teachers even commented on how cute they are!)

Each section was executed in a similar way. I cut strips of paper (yellow for squares and circles, green for feet) and figured out how many times they would have to be folded in order to create squares. We folded our paper together as a class. I had students cut out each square by cutting on the fold mark. The squares were glued on as is. For circles, I had students draw circles on each square.

Here is a visual for the face and teeth. I drew and photocopied the eyes/teeth paper. When I taught students how to create toes, I related it to letters (V, W) they had been learning (woo!)

My kindergartners did SUCH a good job following directions on how to glue the teeth/feet on! Their end products were even cuter than my example! But isn't that always the case?

Kindergarten: Organic/Free-form Shape

This is a fun lesson!! I do this lesson after the ovals and before the shape family. To prep for this lesson, I drew four random, squiggly shapes on a piece of paper. I cut each shape out (students receive one shape each).

Before starting the lesson, I discussed what a free-form/organic shape is. I talk about all the things that are free-form shapes (people, flowers, dogs, leaves, etc.) I then held up one of my free-form shapes and asked students what it looked like. I rotated it to see if their views changed. I did this for each of my four shapes. Students loved coming up with ideas, and it really helped stress that organic shapes can be anything!

I then handed each student a shape and had them turn it into something with their crayons. Like my previous lessons in the shape series, students cut, glued, and colored on a piece of construction paper to make a completed picture.

Here is one outstanding piece from one of my kinders! My school has empty black frames in the hallway for me to insert artworks into. This is a picture of a wolf howling in the woods! If you look closely, you can see the black lines around the wolf. That is one of the random shapes I drew on paper.

The results can be surprising! I love that this lesson gives students so much creative room!

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?!

Kindergarten Triangles

Kindergartners FINALLY got to use their scissors in class! I pre-cut three different colors of squares and demonstrated to the students how to cut a square into TWO triangles. Not all of them get it, but that's why teachers walk around between instructions, right?!

Each student should end up with 6 triangles; however, some mess up and throw pieces away (without the teacher even seeing! Sneaky!!) The students have the freedom to make whatever they would like with their triangles.

Here is my visual demonstration on the chalkboard! I also demonstrated with scissors and a square. Students can draw a line if they choose to. Some students use gluesticks, which is the reason for the second triangle within a triangle.

I reviewed with the students how to glue (3 corners = 3 small dots of glue). Students are told to use their crayons to finish the picture after gluing down their triangles. These turned out very well!

Wow! Look at the creativity!

So many houses!!

This was a very sunshine-y day!

Some students glue their triangles back into squares.

Kindergartners love rainbows!

Another rainbow!

I'm not sure what this is supposed to be, but I LOVE it!

This student threw away half of his triangles, but his end product still turned out nicely (complete with a rainbow, of course!).