Who doesn't love Eric Carle!  My first graders sure did enjoy creating their "Very Grouchy Ladybugs".  We started with the story and a good look at Carle's amazing illustrations.  Then the kids took flight making construction paper ladybugs with wings split for flight and a vibrant tissue paper collage for the background. As a finishing touch we added some google eyes for a touch of whimsy.

First grade Line Drawings

After discussing the art element of line and using verticle, horizontal, diagonal, curves, spirals and dots as jumping off points my first grade students began working on their first official drawing of the year. I've included a couple of examples here. I love to see the spontaneity and creativity of these young artists.

First Grade - Rainbow Fish

After reading the story of "Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister my first graders proceeded to create their own rainbow fish. We discussed illustrations as well as the use of patterning and cool colors as we began. Students began by drawing their fish using basic shapes to form the body, fins and tail. Then they were asked to add a face and to fill the body with scales using a repeating curved line that was layered row on row. We talked about where fish live and what types of things might be seen in their habitats. The kids were excited to start their backgrounds and were asked to include a couple pieces of seaweed along with anything else that they thought would fit the scene. In this project the scales of the fish were painted with cool colors of watercolor. The seaweed leaves were also done in watercolor and the background was colored with crayon. The last step of the project was for Rainbow Fish (teacher example) to share one of it's glittering scales with each of the other fish. The kids were excited to find just the right spot to "tuck in" their special scale to complete the project.