Laurel Burch Inspired Cats - 1st Grade

Laurel Burch for First Graders

I was inspired by all the Laurel Burch projects I kept seeing on Pinterest lately, and thought that my own version of them would be perfect for my next lesson with the Holt Elementary first graders.  By the way, if you are an educator and haven't yet discovered Pinterest to help you plan your art lessons, you've been missing out!  If you need someplace to start, click here to see my board for kids art projects.  I've been collecting for quite awhile, so there's a lot of inspiration there :)  Anyway, on to the lesson!!  Since I only have my first graders for 30 minutes each time I see them, I broke this lesson down into 2 sessions.  If you have a good hour with your kiddos, this could be done all at once, as long as they don't get the wiggles too bad.

Materials for Day 1:

• Colored 9x12 construction paper (we used soft pink, blue and lavender)

• Sharpie markers, or something similar...the regular thickness

• Colored chalk or soft pastels

Materials for Day 2:

• black 9x12 construction paper

• white colored pencils or crayons

On Day 1:

- Introduce Laurel Burch to the kids - show a slideshow of her art, or bring in those cat earrings made from her art that you've had since the 80's!

- Lead a step-by-step drawing of a cat sitting down. (Kids work on the colored papers, with pencil first).  Start with a big letter "D", then add a cat's head with ears overlapping the top of the big "D".  Add nose, eyes, whiskers.  Show how to make the back leg, then draw a short vertical line down for the front feet. Add a tail.  

- Talk about PATTERN, and what exactly makes a pattern a pattern. Ask, "Is one circle a pattern?" No, it must be a REPEATING shape to be a pattern.  (Hitting those art benchmark words, eh? eh?) Have the kids draw patterns on their cats' backs. 

- Trace it all with sharpie.

- Color in with soft pastels or chalk, demonstrating first how they can use their fingers to blend gently.... then their sharpie lines show through! I didn't let my students use black or brown.... bright only!

On Day 2:

- On the black paper, have kids make a border to frame their cats, and draw patterns in the borders.

- Make a "hill" on the bottom, inside the border so the cat has a place to sit.

- Make a starry night sky with a moon and planets if they want, in the background above the hill.

- Cut out and glue the cats down!

The kids had a blast with these.... some were blowing kisses and naming their cats.  So. Stinkin. Cute.

First Grade Self Portraits

I've been at Dos Rios/Two Rivers Elementary in Springfield all this week and last. We're making projects to take home, and some to sell at the Springfield First Friday Art Walk in May! This was their project that they were able to take home to their families: Self Portraits! For the older kids (grades 2-5) I did a more involved lesson on proportions of the face, colored with sharpie and tissue paper.... read that lesson by clicking here.  For the Kinders and first graders, we did this version you see in the pictures.  Read on to see how we did this lesson!

Supplies:

• Multicultural construction paper, cut in 6 x 9" sheets. 

• black sharpies

• colored pencils

• background colored construction paper, 9x12"

• Small-ish rectangles of pattern paper (we used both wrapping paper and contact paper)

• construction paper hair colors, cut into smaller pieces...half or quarter sheets. 

• glue sticks

• scissors

This can be done in 2, 30-minute sessions, or one longer one. 

• Day 1: Teach them suuuuper basic proportions of the face.  Just show that the eyes go in the middle of the face, and show some ways to draw eyes, noses and lips. The first day, just draw the faces on the multicultural skin color papers, trace drawings with sharpie, and add some colored eyes (and whites of the eyes!) lips, and cheeks with colored pencils. 

• Day 2: Put it all together: cut a "shirt" rainbow shape out of the patterned paper, cut out the faces, add torn paper for the hair. Glue, glue glue. Then watch the cuteness happen. Love these!!

JCHS Mural Reception

Thumbs up for first post on a brand-new blog design! I tried out the new post designs for awhile, but the sidebar was missing from those.....bringin it back old school, with a super-bright overhaul.  Hope your eyes aren't burning. ;)

So yesterday after school, I went back out to Junction City to see our mural all installed on the wall, and help the kids who painted it celebrate!  The local news even came out and interviewed the kids earlier in the day.  (Read that little blurb here) 

I've never had a "real" gallery-style art opening for a kids mural before, but I'm so glad the school put this together!  We had snacks and sparkling cider, and another Lane Arts Council teaching artist came out to play his guitar for us.  The principal came by, along with the LAC Director (aka my boss), the kids' proud parents, and of course, the kids who painted this.  I think making the extra effort to do something like this can stick with kids for a long time.  It's taking the time to say "hey, you made this positive thing with your own hands and it MEANS SOMETHING."  It was cool to see them explaining it to the reception guests and feeling that sense of accomplishment.  Ah, what a cool night. 

JCHS Civil Rights Mural - FINISHED!

You guys!  It's finished!  I gotta say, I'm really proud of this one and the kids who painted it.  My last couple posts were about the process of painting this - starting out with a group brainstorming and designing session, learning about mixing paint values - now it's done!  

We had about 12 students working on this project every day after school for 11 days.  Some kids came every day, some didn't.   Teachers told me that the kids who were struggling in other ways,  connected more to the project than with anything else having to do with their school that they've seen.  It's a pattern that repeats itself over and over in my short history of being an art teacher - the kids who struggle socially and academically are often the kids who need and connect to arts experiences the most.  It is SO important.  

Not only that, but to give all kids the experience of accomplishment - of success in completing something and doing a nice job on it.  Yesterday we had a big celebration for the kids to show off their work.  There was a drawing for art supplies, snacks, and the whole staff and student body was invited, and many showed up to see the mural.  I could see on the kids' faces that they were proud.  Teachers are even planning a "gallery opening" evening event once the mural is installed on the wall, where the kids who were involved can invite friends and family.  I'm excited to go to that, too.  

Overall, this one was a really rewarding experience.  I feel like the subject matter (honoring people who have dedicated their lives to fighting to help others in some way) was beautiful and the execution of the piece was beautiful as well. I like the fact that this mural will be a good teaching tool for the school's social studies teachers for years to come.  Yay!  I want to work with more high schoolers and do mooooore! Ok, now....picture storm!

The whole thing: 4x16 feet

Susan B. Anthony

Gandhi

Cesar Chavez

 

Martin Luther King Jr.

Nelson Mandela

YES!