Our final art project has to do with birds so this week Mrs. Roundy had the students sketch birds of their own. They learned that sketching means to use many light lines to create something. Since they aren't pressing very hard it makes it easier to erase the lines in the end. They sketched birds following Mrs. Roundy's step by step instructions of drawing simple shapes to create them. After they sketched the birds they took a permanent marker and outlined it, then took a special art eraser and erased the unwanted sketch lines.
It's teacher appreciation week and here at Polk the teachers are being treated oh so well!
Our PTA is absolutely fabulous and are making sure we feel the love and appreciation this week. Each day has a theme in which the students can participate in.
On Tuesday it was bring in a piece of fruit for you teacher:
How awesome?!
Throughout the week I received school supplies, fruit, letters, flowers and even a car wash! Not to mention the catered hour lunch break, smoothies and smoothie gift card, TONS of copy paper, a faculty room stocked with treats and many, many hugs and smiles. I am so thankful for everyone who made this week special for all of us, we sure did feel the appreciation. We definitely couldn't do our jobs without help from you either :)
Here's some pictures of the bulletin board and other cute things we received:
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all the teachers out there!
Two of my first graders received awards for their art submissions to Festival of the Arts. I could not have been more proud of them. I was able to see one of them at the festival held at Union Station and snapped this adorable picture with him:
This little guy received FIRST PLACE out of all the other first graders in the district. His piece is truly amazing. You can tell he really took his time and thought through how he wanted it to turn out. He made this during Mrs. Roundy's art lesson on Joan Miro and his use of simple shapes and organic shapes. It captures a spooky moon-lit scene that shows quality and detailed creativity:
My other little gal also created her piece during the same lesson with Mrs. Roundy and got seventh place out of all the first graders in the district. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see her at the festival but her piece is displayed below. I love the mountain scene and quirky creatures she created:
CCSS.Math.Content.1.G.A.1
Distinguish
between defining attributes (e.g., triangles are closed and
three-sided) versus non-defining attributes (e.g., color, orientation,
overall size); build and draw shapes to possess defining attributes.
CCSS.Math.Content.1.G.A.2
Compose
two-dimensional shapes (rectangles, squares, trapezoids, triangles,
half-circles, and quarter-circles) or three-dimensional shapes (cubes,
right rectangular prisms, right circular cones, and right circular
cylinders) to create a composite shape, and compose new shapes from the
composite shape.
Mrs. Roundy's art lesson with shapes was so much fun and it was time to get some more practice! This lesson started off by drawing shapes onto our whiteboards and defining their attributes (for example a square has four equal sides and four points).
Then we drew lines in certain shapes to create new shapes. We talked about three different types of lines: vertical, horizontal and diagonal and did a kinesthetic activity by showing each with our arms. When we drew a diagonal line through a square we would get two triangles and if we did a horizontal or vertical line through the square we would get two rectangles.
Then it was time to work with shapes! Out came the foam shapes and the students completed a few worksheets that involved composing and decomposing shapes by bringing shapes together to form new ones or drawing lines in some to create new ones:
At the end, they were allowed to create objects or scenes using the shapes. They are such creative little ones, I love seeing their creative juices flow!
I cannot express how much I love Earth Day. I know many people say this, but I think Earth Day should be everyday. It is so important that we take care of our Earth so others can enjoy it in the future. Like almost all other things in life, being educated and learning about the importance of this kind of preservation and sustainability will help others become aware of these ideas and take action to keep this world a better place.
So, this Earth Day, our first grade class talked all about the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We completed a worksheet listing the ways in which we can reduce, reuse and recycle different things and simple ways to save valuable resources.
All of course were encouraged to recycle the work sheet when done instead of throwing it away :)
As they were hard at work I played a song called "With My Own Two Hands" by Ben Harper and Jack Johnson. It went very well with the Earth Day vibe.
Here is the YouTube video of the song:
Afterward we went outside and cleaned up the front and side lawns of our school. The students were very focused and did a wonderful job. Our school looked much better and the students were very proud of the work they did. Many said they were going to go home and do the same for their neighborhood...all because of a little bit of education and knowledge.
It sure can go a long way.
Here is a picture I snapped of the breathtaking mountains here in Ogden on this beautiful Earth Day:
The best part about ArtsBridge is that it brings the arts into the classroom while teaching important parts of our core. This week Mrs. Roundy brought in paper shape cut-outs and the students go to manipulate them to make new shapes. As groups, the students worked together to compose rectangles and squares using other shapes. This activity allowed the students to see the ways in which shapes are similar and unique and how they can be used to create new shapes as well.
After this fun shape activity Mrs. Roundy gave each student a sheet of card stock with different sized shapes printed onto them, as well as a booklet of different animals made up of shapes. The students got to pick which animal they wanted to create and cut out the correct shapes and assembled them onto a new piece of paper. I loved this idea because some students who wanted the guidance to create an animal had it, while others who wanted the freedom to create their own animals or scenes were able to do so as well. Their individual creativity was very evident in this project. See for yourself:
This project really helped these little ones understand the idea of composing and decomposing shapes while letting their creativity run wild and giving their fine motor skills some practice!
