1st Grade

First grade explored Japanese culture in library with Ms. Zwick. In art, we watched a video about Japanese artist Hokusai. "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" is one of Hokusai's most famous prints. We used pencil, traced with sharpie marker to recreate the lines in "The Great Wave." Then, we learned about warm and cool colors. We used watercolor colored pencils to color the warm and cool colors in our artwork. Watercolor colored pencils look like colored pencil until you paint over them with water. When you add water, they magically turn into watercolor paint!

Performance Indicators

LE16A: Exploring Materials, Tools, and Techniques

LE17C: Using Art Vocabulary to Talk About My Art

First graders learned about line and color. First we learned how the primary colors (Red, Yellow and Blue) mix together to make the secondary colors (Green, Orange and Violet). We practiced by using red, yellow, and blue oil pastels to make a color wheel. Then, we made a line drawing with black oil pastel. We used the primary colors, with tempera paint, to paint our line drawings with the primary and secondary colors.

First grade learned how to draw a self-portrait. Then we learned about Frida Kahlo, and how she used her artwork to express her emotions. Students added details to their self-portraits to express who they are. They were asked to add one animal, one plant, and one object that represented them to their portraits. Students traced their pencil lines with black oil pastel, and painted using tempera cakes.