Kinder and 1st Grade: Audubon Birds
Kinder and 1st Grade studied John James Audubon, the famous bird lover, artist, and ornithologist. We talked about how Audubon went into the wild to discover new bird species. Students learned how Audubon discovered, researched and painted hundreds of North American birds. They learned also, how he left his family for months at a time to do his work. Audubon taught us the importance of protecting the habitats of birds so bird species will not come extinct. The North Carolina parrot has became extinct and many of my students were saddened by this fact. Audubon recorded this beautiful bird while it was still living in North America. We learned the importance of sharing knowledge with others and caring for our environment so people, birds and animals can all co-exist with each other and have adequate space.
Though, Audubon did his paintings with watercolor, my students used crayon to color their birds. They, then, used black oil pastel to cover up "parts" of the bird. This, I feel, has a much more dynamic effect as opposed to covering the entire bird with black pastel. Students then got to use their "magic stick" (wooden stylus tool) to create line designs and patterns to add feathers. The duck pond and branch for the parrot were created with crayon. Watercolor was also added to the sky. This projects was done on white cardstock..it accepted the wet and dry media nicely. The initial duck or parrot was a step-by-step whole class instruction. Kinder did parrots, and 1st had a choice of ducks or parrots. I am so impressed with this bird art!
1st Grade: Positive/Negative Design
1st graders studied M.C. Escher and created a bumble bee design using symmetry and positive/negative space. Read more under my "Leaping 2 New Heights" Page.
These are so fun to look at!
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