1st Grade Paintings of "My Favorite Thing to Do In My Neighborhood"

Hannah, 1-107
My favorite thing to do in my neighborhood is walking

1st Graders have been working on a painting unit the past several weeks. Students began by exploring brushstrokes (e.g., thick, thin, curvy, straight, zig zag, etc.) and color mixing (e.g., primary, secondary, adding white and black, etc.) for three weeks. 

The following explorations were made by students in 1-107:

After learning through exploration, I read the book "Jacob Lawrence In the City" by Susan Goldman Rubin with students and we discussed the art of Jacob Lawrence. I chose this artist because of his bright, graphic, lively paintings of New York City (particularly Harlem, where he lived) and to connect to the 1st grade Social Studies curriculum in February, when students were learning about famous African Americans as a part of Black History Month. This also connected to their study of community (i.e., community workers, places in the community, types of communities, etc.) that they were also learning about in their classrooms. Students looked at the painting "Brownstones" in particular, and identified the narrative of the painting (things people do in their neighborhood) as well as colors, shapes, and lines they saw.

Brownstones

1958

Collection of Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries

© Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence. Courtesy of the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation.

After this, students considered their favorite thing to do in their neighborhood and listed "playing ball in the park", "riding my scooter on the sidewalk", "walking", and "getting ice cream from the ice cream truck" among their favorites. Students created a sketch and wrote a sentence describing this favorite activity to help them plan their paintings, then began under-paintings in wash (paint mixed with water) the following week. Next, students spent three weeks adding color to their paintings, concentrating on using a variety of brushstrokes and mixing various colors. The results are fantastic! Please enjoy first graders' "Me in My Neighborhood" paintings:

Jeremiah, 1-107
My favorite thing to do in my neighborhood is skateboarding

Makayla, 1-107
My favorite thing to do in my neighborhood is to play in my backyard

Jayden, 1-107
My favorite thing to do in my neighborhood is to get a treat from the ice cream truck!

Emily, 1-107
My favorite thing to do in my neighborhood is to go to the park and play with my friend Jestine

Brandon, 1-107
My favorite thing to do in my neighborhood is to go for a walk on the sidewalk

Sherlynn, 1-107
My favorite thing to do in my neighborhood is to play ball in the park

1st Grade Monsters!

1st Graders have been working on a collage unit. Collage is art that is made with paper and glue. Students began the unit with two weeks of exploration. They learned they could change paper in a variety of ways with their hands (ripping, tearing, folding, etc.), as well as with scissors by cutting various shapes and edges (small, big, curvy, zig zag, etc.). They learned, through the consideration of placement (layering, overlapping, etc.), that they could glue these pieces down to a background piece of paper to create a picture.

After making their collage explorations, students read the book "I'm Looking for a Monster" by Timothy Young. They also looked at illustrations of monsters by Tim Burton, William Steig and Maurice Sendak to gain inspiration.

Illustration from "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak

Illustration by Tim Burton from his exhibit at MoMA

Illustration from "Shrek" by William Stieg

This led to students imagining what their own monster would look like if they were to come across one. Students made a list together of personalities monsters might have (scary, silly, spooky, etc.), then sketched their idea.

Students began creating their monsters the next week by cutting large parts (body, legs, arms, head, etc.) out of colored construction paper. The following class, students used worksheets to help them identify large parts they had made, as well as ones they still needed to make. They repeated this process for making small parts (hair, nose, mouth, ears, tail, etc.). After big and small parts had been made with plain colored construction paper, students were introduced to texture (the way something feels or looks like it might feel) and added details (teeth, scales, spikes, etc.) to their monsters with the textured paper.

1-105

1-105

1-105

After their monster was finished, students cut their monster out and glued it to a black piece of paper. Students then considered their monster's habitat (or where the monster lives) and added this habitat with oil pastels. The final week, students shared their monsters and discussed the process by which they had made them. They then created information cards about their monster (with the monster's name, habitat, and favorite thing to do). Please enjoy First Grade's MONSTERS!

Creator: Angela, Class 1-105
Monster: "Callie"
Habitat: The Forest
Favorite Thing To Do: Dress Up

Creator: Joshua, Class 1-105

Creator: Lizmary, Class 1-105
Monster: "Cofe"
Habitat: Moon
Favorite Thing To Do: Be Funny

Creator: Yamilka, Class 1-105
Monster: "Jessy"
Habitat: A Garden
Favorite Thing To Do: Dress Up

Creator: Jaydiluz Class 1-105
Monster: "Chloe"
Habitat: The Moon
Favorite Thing To Do: Dress Up

Creator: Yu Wei Class 1-105
Monster: "Robot"
Habitat: North Pole
Favorite Thing To Do: Fight

Creator: Jamyang, Class 1-105
Monster: "Ice"
Habitat: The Street
Favorite Thing To Do: Fight

Creator: Calandra, Class 1-105
Monster: "Joktbpciksamnz"
Habitat: North Pole
Favorite Thing To Do: Play 

Creator: Illiany, Class 1-105
Monster: "Gabriella"
Habitat: North Pole
Favorite Thing To Do: Play Dress Up

1st Grade Painted Portraits of Us + Our Family

First graders have been working on a painting unit (see previous exploration post) and just finished creating portraits of themselves with their family! We began this project by reading the book "The Family Book" by Todd Parr. We then discussed the members of our family and the ways in which each family is different and special.

We then discussed portraiture and looked at self-portraits by three different artists.

"Self-Portrait", Vincent Van Gogh, 1889
image found at www.vangoghgallery.com

"Self-Portrait with Bonito", Frida Kahlo, 1941
image found at wikipaintings.org

"Self-Portrait", Jacob Lawrence, 1977
Image found at worldclasskids.tripod.com

We learned that a portrait generally depicts a person's head, facial expression and neck (and sometimes upper-half of the body) in detail. Students spent a class painting line portraits of themselves (from observation using a mirror) and their family members (from imagination) in wash (paint mixed with water).

The following week, students read the book "The Colors of Us" by Tana Hoban and we discussed how each of our skin colors is different. Students spent the class mixing the primary colors with black and white (on palettes) to make the skin colors for themselves and their families. Students then added these colors to their paintings from the previous week.

Over the next few weeks, students worked hard to mix many different colors and use a variety of brushstrokes when applying paint to their portraits.

1-108 working

Students completed paintings by adding a background (either their home, a place that is important to them and their family, or a solid color) and details (glasses, eyelashes, jewelry, etc.) to their portraits.

Please enjoy 1st Grade's Family Portrait Paintings!

Alasia, 1-108

Kiara, 1-106

Mavric, 1-108

Michelle, 1-108

Sabrina, 1-108

Edwin, 1-106

Ashley, 1-108

Ashley, 1-106

Edwin, 1-108

1st Grade Paint Explorations

Students in first grade have been busy at work exploring the wonderful medium of paint!
We began this 3-class project by spending time looking at the painting, "The Mellow Pad" by Stuart Davis.

Image from Brooklynmuseum.org

We identified and created a list of a variety of lines we saw in the painting (ie, curvy, zig zag, spiral, dotted, etc.). Students then learned how to use black paint and brush to create these lines on a large piece of white paper. At the end of class, they received white paint and learned how to properly mix two different colors together.

The following lesson, we read the book "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh and discussed how the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) can be mixed and combined with brushstrokes to create the secondary colors (orange, green, and purple).

Students then learned how to use proper painting techniques (using brushstrokes instead of "scrubbing" the paint onto the paper, cleaning our brush in between colors, drying our brush on the sponge after cleaning their brush, etc.) to fill in some of the shapes they made the previous week. They focused on making new colors by mixing two or more colors together.

Class 1-108

Sabrina, 1-108

Finally, students spent the final week learning that there are many colors that can be made, other than just the primary colors. We learned to use turquoise, magenta and white to create all sorts of colors by using brushstrokes to mix the colors on the paper inside shapes that were still empty. Students also learned to paint on top of dry colors; although the colors did not mix together, colors do appear different when painted on top of other colors.

1-125

Meroly, 1-125

In the following weeks, we will be using our newly-acquired color-mixing skills to create painted portraits of ourselves with our family.

Ariana, 1-108

Carol, 1-108