Friday, October 2, 2009

Volunteer- art projects for 1st Grade

I enjoy working with kids. I remember student teaching and the ideas the students had were sometimes really interesting and eye opening. Kids in 1st Grade are still so naive (uninformed not ignorant)when it comes to art and what art is "supposed" to look like.
Here is a copy of the proposal I send to her teacher.
Here are some ideas I have for art projects with the kids over the year.

One of the projects I did last year was a portrait. The kids draw or paint each other. I will bring in some samples of portraits so they can see the different ways portraits can look like.
Since they will be learning a lot about Penguins I thought it would be appropriate to do some penguins drawings/paintings. Possibly they can each create a penguin, cut them out and each glue one on a big sheet of paper, sort of like the class as penguins.
In the spring tulips are really inexpensive and they can paint/draw them. (I’ll donate) Here I thought the mono prints would be good. Each child brings in a baking/cookie sheet and they paint on it with tempera/poster paint. One drops a sheep of paper on top and pulls of a “one time” print (mono print). This process can be repeated.

I don’t want to work too much on technique, they are imaginative and probably come up with more than most books can teach. They should be allowed to choose between a pencil or a paint brush, since both can have the same effect.
However, some elements of technique are important.
I want them to see the difference a stroke can make. A good way is to have them copy different textures and shapes. A thin or light stroke is different than a heavy or fat one. One good exercise is to draw/paint opposites like sand versus pebbles, feather or hair verses rope/string.
I will bring in examples of art to show them how different artists can do art. They will either be books or pictures. (unless you have a projector for the laptop!)

Here is a rough outline. Let me know what day of the week is good and how much time can be spend on it. Which weeks are better than others? Should the class be divided into groups. (how many students are in the class?) What kinds of supplies are available? Tempera and/or poster paint? Finger paint? Is there paper we can use? Total feedback is appreciated J

1. Learning different strokes by drawing/painting
a. -sand, pebbles, hair and feather, string/rope
(maybe ask students to bring in sand and/or pebbles, feathers or string.)

Learned strokes to be used for drawing/painting of

2. portraits

3. penguins


4. Paper montage-? Poster
-all students make a penguin and add them to the class picture

5. Mono prints of flowers with tempera or poster paint
-on backing sheets

6. Crayon watercolor project
The other 1st graders are doing something like that, maybe we’ll do it, too. However I am trying not to ask parents for additional money, and I am not sure this will work all that well with regular crayons.

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