First and Second Grade: "What are the qualities of a self portrait?" "How can I tell others about myself through pictures?"

Hello first and second grade families,

In first and second grade we were learning about self portraits this week. I showed students a group of pictures that were all self portraits, although some of the pictures were "shoe" self portraits, and/or "abstract" self portraits. Students were asked to figure out what all of the pictures had in common (we also talked about the difference between "the same" and "in common"). I had several great student responses:

"The pictures are all of people"
"They are all self portraits"-nailed it!
"The pictures are all old"
"The pictures are all fun!"
"The pictures all have color"
"The pictures are all still"

From student response we continued to discuss the pictures and we then discovered that the pictures all told us about a person. For instance the picture below was shown and we discussed that it could still be a self portrait even though it does not "look" like anyone. I asked students what kind of person would draw a self portrait that was of their sneaker and their response were:

"They love gym!"
"They like mud"
"They love sneakers"
"They like to play kickball!"

 

We then had a snowball fight to continue to learn about self portraits. A snowball fight in the art room is safe, and very educational, do not worry! Students were each given a slip of paper. Each slip of paper had a picture on it. Students had to decide if the picture was or was not a self portrait and then circle yes or no. The slips were crumpled up like snowballs and then "tossed" to another classmate. The second classmate voted "agree" or "disagree" with the first response of yes, this is a self portrait, or no, this is not a self portrait (we also discussed the meaning of agree, and disagree). We had a lot of fun, and learned that self portraits do not have to be just of our face--they can be far more creative and inventive!

 

Next week we will begin to make our hand self portraits. I hope to learn more about the students through this project and to allow first and second grade to continue to practice how to follow the art classroom rules (respectful, responsible, and safe), as well as continue to learn how to take care of materials.

 

First grade will complete their hand self portraits using oil pastels and watercolor.

 

Second grade will complete their hand self portraits using oil pastels, watercolor, and collage.

 

We will then be jumping into the wonderful world of ...COLOR! :) 

Miss Fisichella's Hand Self Portrait

Our beautiful watercolors--all ready to go!

Kindergarten: "What is art?" "How can mistakes turn into art?"

Hello kindergarten families,

This week in kindergarten we talked about, "What is art?" and, "How can mistakes turn into art?", as previously posted. To introduce this lesson I asked my kindergarten students to share some mistakes they have made in the past, some of my favorite responses were,

"I touched a drill bit"
"Sometimes when I am not allowed to do what I want I make a mistake"
"I spilled A LOT of cranberry juice ALL over!"

After we discussed our mistakes we read the story, "Beautiful Oops" By Barney Saltzberg. There is a great YouTube video of this book via: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZjMYdQjGM.

Miss Fisichella then shared her mistake of the day (I accidently cut up our big letter K). I then asked my kindergarten classes if they could help me fix my big letter K as well as how they thought we could fix it. One of my favorite suggestions on how to fix the big letter K was, "We could pour cement on it!" :)

Kindergarten then shared with the class what they saw on their way to school. I asked the class if they thoguht we could put the big letter K back together and make a "beautiful oops" by drawing a picture of what we saw on our way to school on each of the small pieces of the letter K. Kindergarten then discovered that we could turn almost anything into art and see art everywhere if we use our imagination, even during a simple car ride to school. :) 

A few of my favorite respones to the question, "What did you see on your way to school today?" were:

"Beautiful flowers with rain dripping"
"A UFO!"
"A BIG brown cow!"

Photos of our finished "beautfiul oops" letter K's are soon to come. I hope this lesson allows the students to continue to learn art room expectations (responsible and respectful), safety, as well as to begin to learn how to handle materials,  before we jump into learning about....COLOR!

Miss Fisichella's Oops!