I worked up a new second grade project for the beginning of the year. In the past, I had done an expanded images project that tended to get a little on the overly silly/crazy side. This year I asked each student to draw their favorite memory from summer. The project allowed the kids to get back into the swing of things and for me to find out all of the cool things they did over break.
To make it a little extra exciting, I decided that we would make the summer paintings into "TV shows" by sliding them into these envelopes that were donated a few years back. Each envelope has a large clear window that works perfectly for the screen. After the kids finished their watercolor painting, they went over their lines in sharpie, then turned their envelope into a television by adding buttons, etc. One example above is even complete with a cable box below! Overall, this was a pretty fun project to get the year started.
Caterpillars have again invaded Thomas Elementary as the first finished art project of the year. We've been in school for about three rotations now and I'm just posting. Sorry for the lull. (What an odd word lull is. As Mitch Hedberg would say, "It's almost all L's.") Bonus cool points if you know who Mitch Hedberg is.
I feel like teaching first graders at the beginning of the year is somewhat akin to a lion tamer doing his job. I don't see kindergarden students here, so first grade is the first time these kids have ever been in the art room. The beginning of the year is all about establishing routines and expectations for behavior. Also, for the 17th time, we won't be painting on the first day of art in first grade. Thanks for asking.
I've used this as my first project of first grade for several years now. It's a nice way to show the kids were a few supplies are located in the room and have them follow some simple steps. The kids all really enjoy working with the texture rubbing plates and the results are nearly 100% successful.
