kindergarten-1st grade 

Students did their reward days the first rotation I was there, and then the next rotation completed their last day of their symmetry artworks with my co-operating teacher. Students got to work with me right after this project.

Adire Cloth Paintings

K-1 was introduced to Adire cloths, a Nigerian indigo dyed cloth used for celebrations and rituals made out of resist dye techniques! Students first did some practice drawing with draw different shapes and patterns before gridding up their watercolor paper for painting. 

Students gridded up their paper with rulers before drawing their shapes and patterns in white oil pastels. These marks came up when we started painting our Adire clothes! Students thought it was like magic when they saw their creations come to life while painting with blue watercolor. 

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Kandinksy Color Paintings

After only using blue watercolor paint for our Adire cloths, students got the chance to  explore more colors during color mixing practice for their next projects inspired by the artist Wassily Kandinsky. 

Students were first introduced to the artists use of bold lines, shapes, and color studies. We also watched a YouTube video song about the primary and secondary colors at the start of every class. They used shape templates and drew their own to color with colored pencils, trying to mix their own secondary colors by layering the primary colored pencils, similar to some of Kandinsky's abstract work. 

For more in depth understanding of the mixing of primary colors to get secondary colors, students also did some color mixing challenges using Art Dough! I gave each child a chunk of the three primaries: red, blue, yellow. We mixed each secondary color together, one at a time, picking a few chunks of each primary colored art dough and smushing them together. They were so excited to see the color come to life in their fingers! Kindergarten and 1st grade students were now ready to paint!

Students have spent two days on painting now. The lesson also includes some more color mixing challenges for the last day: students are to rotate through different stations, each station being assigned a different secondary color with differnt materials. Students will be asked to make that secondary color with the two primary colored materials at their tables! My time at Bottenfield is coming to an end, and I will not be here for this part of the lesson— we are still in the second day of painting for the current rotation of students. My co-operating teacher will finish the paintngs and challenges with them when I am gone! 

Click on the dropdown menu below to access the lesson plan and other resources!