The Little Ballerina

At the end of Art class in kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade, I have been reading The Little Dancer. It is the story of Marie, the young ballerina who posed for Degas' famous statue. Then students line up in the little dancer pose: hands clasped behind your back, mouth closed, chin up. They have learned some new vocabulary, like clasped, chattering and tailor. 

1st Grade Used Observation to Draw Leaves with Bamboo Pens

Students learned how to dip the bamboo pen into the India ink. They looked carefully at the outside edge of the leaves. No tracing. They added veins that they saw in the leaves. 

1st Grade: Ndebele Inspired Geometric Paintings

We read My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken and Me by Maya Angelou. The Ndebele women from South Africa paint their houses with geometric shapes. They use a chicken feather to paint. First graders painted geometric shapes and lines. Then they added textures by rubbing over bumpy things with oil crayons. Finally they printed patterns over the top. We learned about the art elements of line, shape, color and texture.

See more results here in Artsonia. We will add more to Artsonia as time permits. If you want to volunteer to take photos for Artsonia, please contact me.

Student printing patterns on top of painting.

Students worked in their Art Elements Workbooks when they finished painting for the day.