Grade 1

Here's What we'VE Been working on...

May: Textured Rain Clouds

This month, we worked with clay! Clay is one of the oldest forms of art making that we know of.  Sometimes clay is used for functional purposes (useful) such as drinking cups, or decorative purposes (visual) such as sculpture. The rain clouds we made for this project are decorative. We learned how to roll a slab, Trace and cut a shape, and add texture. We also used straws to poke holes into our clay without breaking through the edge. Once our clouds were dry, we painted and glazed them. To complete our clouds we made them rain! We took colored yarn, measured it with a ruler to 12 inches, cut it, and then attached it to our clouds by learning how to tie knots! We also learned that clay is fragile... but if it breaks we can fix it. Some artworks require extra care when working on them, and this is a great lesson to learn. We hope our rain clouds remind you to "take care" today. 

Portfolios!

National Standard: (VA:Cr2.1.1a) Explore uses of materials and tools to create works of art or design. 

January/February: Build It, Draw It, Imagine It!

National Standard: (VA:Cr2.2.1a) Demonstrate safe and proper procedures for using materials, tools, and equipment while making art.

December: Self-Portrait Printmaking

For this project we began by drawing a self-portrait using only #2 pencils, rulers, and black markers. We learned about the basic features and proportions of the face and drew the entire portrait ourselves... from scratch! After drawing and outlining our self-portraits we carefully cut them out. Next, we created the backgrounds for our project. To make the backgrounds we learned about the art form: printmaking. First, we learned how to draw a bold box letter (the first letter in our name!) and then created our own line and shape pattern as the design. After this, we carved the design into printing foam, used a Brayer to cover our foam in tempera paint and then stamped our design. We repeated this last steps 4 times. The last step was to glue our portrait onto our background using a glue stick. We hope our portraits make you smile today!

National Standard: (VA:Cr2.2.1a) Demonstrate safe and proper procedures for using materials, tools, and equipment while making art.

November: Landscapes

Our first graders created their own landscapes! First, we looked at pictures of landscapes. Some had rainbows, some had houses, some had mountains, some had roads, and others had water. Although they were different, each landscape had 4 very important things: 1) horizon line, 2) background, 3) middle ground, 4) foreground. Next, we drew our own unique landscapes. After that, we added details to our image and outlined our drawing with  black marker and sharpies. Finally, we added Color and TexturE to finish our pieces. We hope our landscapes help you "breeze" through your day!

National Standard: (VA:Cr1.2.1a) Use observation and investigation in preparation for making a work of art. 

October:  "No Place for Hate" Silhouettes

In the art room this month we participated in an activity that was school wide! Our friends, siblings, neighbors, and family group members have been working on the same project. We've loved checking in on their progress during class, and learning more about one another. This year, SES is taking part in No Place For Hate, a program that promotes kindness, inclusivity, and belonging among many other things. We will be collaborating on No Place for Hate activities throughout the year here at SES, but our very first activity was this one! 

We created silhouettes of our profiles by thinking about the features that makes us who we are (nose, mouth, chin, hats, hair, glasses, bows, etc.!). Inside of our silhouettes you will find some of the things that are meaningful to us. We found began to notice the many similarities and differences we have across our school and celebrated them both. We talked about the foods we eat, sports we play, family members we have, animals we love, countries we come from, holidays we celebrate, languages we speak, games we play, and more. Finally, we experimented with water colors to fill our background space and finish our works for our multi-colored hallway display. 

We hope our silhouettes help you connect to what is special to you!

National Standard: (VA:Cr1.1.1a) Engage collaboratively in exploration and imaginative play with materials. 

September: "1 shape, 2 shape!", Inspired by: Wassily Kandinsky

National Standard: (VA:Cr3.1.1a) Use art vocabulary to describe choices while creating art.