1st Grade

Welcome to the First Grade Art page!  Here you will find project descriptions of each project that has been completed along with picture examples.

The Dot

On the first day of art class your child listened to the story, The Dot by Peter Reynolds.  They were shown how to paint with watercolors and draw circles with crayons and oil pastels. Each student made at least one dot that was then added to a larger 'collaborative' work of art outside each art room at Pleasant Gap or Marion Walker. This lesson was lead by our student teacher, Ms. Terrizzi (pictured in the black shirt).

Art to Remember: Hearts

Students learned about the artist, Romero Britto. Romero Britto creates bold, modern, colorful art inspired by his love for life and happiness. To begin, students drew a heart or used a tracer. They added patterns to the inside of the heart much inspired by Britto. They then used tissue paper with water added on top, so the tissue paper would bleed creating a tie dye effect. Finally, students used watercolor and paint sticks to create a bright patterned design in the background. This project was used for the Art to Remember fundraiser this year.

Fall Self Portraits

After studying some famous artists and their self portraits, students went to work with a pencil, eraser and a mirror.  Guided through each facial feature, I asked the students to study themselves in a mirror and draw what they see.  After the portrait was drawn, first grade students traced their lines with sharpie.  Again, they picked up their mirrors to study their faces.  This time they were looking to match crayons their their unique features. Students finished these portraits with a seasonal touch-- crayon rubbings of leaves and a watercolor wash on top.

Clay Pinch Pots 

To create a pinch pot students first rolled the clay into a ball, then found the middle and pushed their thumb inside.  Next, students learned the 'duck mouth' method of making a pinch pot where they pinched down on the clay between their thumb and pointer, middle, ring fingers and 'quacked' while turning the clay around until the pot grew in size.  Students chose a clay shape learned the 'slip and score' method of attachment. The pot was fired in the school's kiln, glazed with colors that each student selected and fired again. 

Starry Night

Students were introduced to the artist, Vincent van Gogh. They learned that his art usually depicted a variety of places and subject matter, but everything was painted used small lines. Students then got to view his most famous work of art, The Starry Night (1889) in an immersive experience on Youtube. To begin, students created trees and houses, like what was seen in the village in the famous work. Next, students used crayons to draw stars--- they had been studying the night sky in science class. Finally, students used gold and silver paint to add to the night sky in a impressionist manner.

Cool Art Day (Makerspace)

On cool art day students got to choose from a variety of art making stations. Some of their choices for this makerspace day were legos, play doh, marble run, scented marker drawing, mega bloks, silly scissors/ hole punch collage station and more!

Portfolios

Students in all grade levels learned about the importance of maintaining a portfolio. They discovered that portfolios are a way we can document growth and ability and they are a good way to keep ourselves organized. Each student got to decorate their own portfolio using drawing videos, reference photos or their own imagination. Throughout the year, when a student finishes a work of art, it goes into their portfolio. At the end of the year, each student takes home a whole year's worth of art making!

Mitten Collage

Students in first grade created a work of art inspired by the story, The Mitten by Jan Brett.  Students used bright colored construction paper and construction paper crayons to make their mitten so bright that it couldn't get lost in the snow. They also made simple paper snowflakes.----- Making snowflakes was VERY exciting stuff! They practiced cutting and gluing as well as using a hole punch for this project. 

Mixed Media Donuts

Students studied the art of Jae Yong Kim who is a contemporary artist who makes clay donut sculptures. They also looked at Wayne Thiebaud who made art about sweet treats. For this lesson, students used watercolor to tie dye their paper. Next, students used pool noodles dipped in tempera paint to make the donuts. When that dried, students painted icing on using tempera paint. Students learned about shadows and how they can make objects look 'real'-- this was done with Sharpie. Finally, students either created sprinkles using construction paper crayons. 

Clay Donuts

This was an impromptu lesson that was inspired by 1st grade students' admiration of Jae Yong Kim's donut sculptures. We used hand building techniques to create these donuts. Techniques include pinch pot, slip and score and more. Each student created a donut and then used glaze to give them color.