Greedy Zebra Collage

 Resources to Consider 

Book: Greedy Zebra by Mwenye Hadithi, Adrienne Kennaway (this book is part of a series of African stories)

Images of zebras

Intended Grade Level(s): 1^st-2^nd

Estimated Class Period(s):  One and a half

Materials Required:  white 12X18 #80 paper --2 sheets,  9X 16 green rectangle, black rectangles for tearing the stripes of the zebra, green tissue paper,  black crayons, scissors, glue, black paint and small brushes, green tissue paper, black yarn

Goals and Objectives: The goals of this lesson are technique and procedure based. 

GLEs Accomplished In Lesson: 

2^nd  Grade PP 1.B Paint lines with control of the brush, 3.G Create an artwork that communicates ideas about themes: nature 

EP 1.A Identify and use wavy lines

1.F Identify and use light and dark values

Procedure (Guided Lesson, Instructions, etc): 

 Read the book, show images of zebras (I made a poster covered in cool zebra pictures), read the book Greedy Zebra, demonstrate project in steps. 

 

Project (Steps, Examples, etc):

1.    I explain that students can make a fat zebra that is busting out of his black coat, or they can make a zebra that looks more like the zebra on the cover of the book. I show them a ‘fat’ one with all the threads busting out on the last page of the book and one that I drew. I actually only demonstrate the first one on the board.

2.    I show the zebra drawing step-by-step. Step one, with a black crayon, draw an oval for the body. Step two, draw the neck, head, 4 legs, ears and a tail. I show them that some things need to be colored in solid black (like the ears and the circle for the eye nose,, tip of the tail and maybe the hooves).

3.    For the zebra’s stripes, students are to tear a black rectangle into strips. This is hard for some kids, but it is really good for building fine motor skills. They are supposed to tear skinny strips and glue them on the belly, some should start at the top and some at the bottom so they can meet in the middle. Students should also make strips for the neck and legs. If they have trouble, they can go back and add more stripes with a black crayon.

4.    I had a painting station set up for students to paint the frames. They were to write their name on the back of a white piece of paper and when I call them to the paint station, they are to paint black stripes on white paper—edges only. This would’ve looked cool w/white paint on black paper, but I have a much larger stock pile of white paper so it made sense to just use black paint. They did this at the same time that everyone else was tearing the strips for the zebra's body.

5.    Put everything in the drying wrack and look at books about Africa when finished. (I may have had them start an African mask sketch if they had free time….I had a handout of various African masks available, they were to study it and start planning an African mask on a small sheet of paper.)

Day 2

1.    I explained that we would be finishing our Greedy Zebras today. I demonstrated how to cut out the zebra, glue it to the green paper and then add green tissue paper for grass and bushes. I showed them how to roll the tissue paper into a ball or a tube and then glue it down. I also had a little bit of black yarn cut into small pieces for students to add for fur on the end of the tail and the back of the zebra’s neck.

2.    The last step was to glue the green paper to the frame. When students finished, they put these in the drying wrack. The second half of this lesson only took about ½ of one hour art time. I also had students add more black lines if their zebras needed more stripes.

3.    When finished, we started cutting out a symetrical African mask based on the design from the previous week. (not pictured)

Best Artist in The Ocean: Giant Squid painting

 Resources to Consider

Book, I’m the Best Artist in the Ocean by: Kevin Sherry

Book, I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry

(I know I saw a version of this on a blog...I will post the link here if someone leaves it in the comments, I just can't seem to find the original post!)

Intended Grade Level(s): 1^st-2^nd

Estimated Class Period(s): 2

Materials Required: Turquoise12X18paper, pencils, thin brushes for black and white paint (wk1) color diffusing paper 12X18, liquid watercolors, water, salt, brushes, scissors, glue

Goals & Objectives: The goals of this lesson are technique and procedure based.

GLEs Accomplished In Lesson:  1^st Grade PP 1.A Apply paint in a pushing not dragging motion

PP 3.B Design wearable art: (optional: create a mustache to wear)

3.G Create an original artwork that communicates ideas about the following themes:

 Animals/wild

EP: 1.A Identify and use lines: straight, curved 1.F Identify and use value: black and white 2.A Identify and demonstrate the concept of middle or center

2^nd  Grade PP 1.B Paint lines with control of the brush, clean paint brush before changing colors, mix two colors to create a third color 3.G Create an artwork that communicates ideas about

themes: nature

EP 1.A Identify and use wavy lines

1.F Identify and use light and dark values

Procedure (Guided Lesson, Instructions, etc):

Read the book, Best Artist in the Ocean, demonstrate the project in steps. 

Project (Steps, Examples, etc):

1.    Demonstrate how to draw the giant squid on the board. I demonstrated an easy way and a hard way. Easy way : two big round eyes, pointy top, lines coming down below the eyes, close the shape up with a straight line, make ‘j’ and backwards ‘j’ lines for the tentacles. Hard way: two big round eyes, pointy top, lines coming down below eyes but instead of closing the shape, make the tentacles flow down into curled tubes, also, add a ‘Pac man’ mouth. Students chose which way they wanted, some combined both ways. I demonstrated how to draw a mustache (leaf shape) and suggested that they could add a black artist’s beret, chubby paintbrush in the giant squid’s tentacle, and students went on to add teeth, hair, a bow, glasses, eyelashes, a tiny drum set etc.

2.    After drawing I demonstrated how to paint the WHITE of the eyes first. THEN do the BLACK outline with a tiny brush. I try to make sure that they do the black spot in the eyes LAST otherwise the eyes start to look like grey pools….if the white dries for a few minutes, it minimizes the chances of ruining the eyes.

3.    When students finish, they can look at books, or color the attached sheet…I looked back through all of the little cute drawings by the giant squid and made my own handout for them. I also suggested that they look off of it and draw their own ‘squid’ things on a free sheet.

 (The third painting shows what can happen when the student uses too much black on top of really wet white paint)

Day 2

1.     Demonstrate how to paint the background. I used color diffusing paper, liquid watercolors in blue, turquoise, green and purple and some salt to make fantastically colored background papers. I had the kids put a 12X18 piece of white paper under their work so that when the diffusing paper bled through it would magically create a ‘copy’…I explained that they shouldn’t peak at the copy or else it would mess up their real painting (I had messed up one that was really white because I accidentally peaked at my under sheet). I put a little cup of salt on each table and showed the kids how to make psychedelic looking water by sprinkling the salt on a big puddle of paint and water. Once it tries, they look awesome!

2.     Finally, after painting the water, students should cut out the giant squid painting from the week before and glue it down on the paper, put all 3 papers in the drying rack.

3.     I am including a cute ‘mustache’ handout that you could use on week two since they will have scissors out already, it would be simple to cut out a mustache so that everyone in the room can be the BEST artist in the school!

4.    Assessment and Reflection: Students will design a giant squid collage based on a teacher created rubric as it aligns with district objectives and goals. Students should be able to complete the drawing and painting with little or no teacher assistance and the finished product should have good craftsman ship and details appropriate to the grade level.

Sample Photos (If Available):   

 The salt makes a really cool effect on the color diffusing paper with the liquid watercolors!

Feel free to print these and use them yourself, they are perfect for 'free time' activities on week 1 and 2.

Santa Owl Collage

Resources to consider: Paper Craft Magazine Santa Owl Pattern
Intended Grade Level(s): K-1
Estimated Class Period(s): 2 (for K, the second week only takes a couple of minutes at the end)
Materials Required:
12X18 Dark Green Construction Paper
9X12 Turquoise or Lime Green Construction Paper
9X12 Brown Construction Paper (for body and use scraps for wings)
9X12 Red Construction paper (for Santa Hat)
6X9 Tan construction paper (for belly)
2X12 White Construction paper (for white hat brim)
Circles 1 each: orange, brown and white (For eyelids and feet)
Brown crayon
Black crayon
Green Crayon
Pre-cut triangle beak
Pre-cut heart (punch, optional)
Cotton ball (for santa’s hat)
Red Glitter (optional)
Scissors, glue, pencils
1st grade Modifications:
9X3 brown Construction paper (for feathers under hat)
(2) 2X9 Lime green (or other green) construction paper (for scarf)

Goals & Objectives: The goal of this lesson is to use scissors and glue with control when creating an owl collage. CA 2.C Describe an artwork using art vocabulary: collage—a picture made by gluing shapes together.
GLEs Accomplished In Lesson:
Kindergarten PP 2.A Use scissors with control. EP 1.A Identify and use lines. 1.B Identify and use shapes. 1.B Categorize shapes as large or small. EP 1.E Use color.

Project (Steps, Examples, etc):

1. Write the word collage on the board. A collage is made by cutting and gluing shapes to make a design. We have made several collages this year. Have students describe other collages we have made. Also, have them say ‘collage’ out loud. We will be creating a Christmas owl collage today. This will require that we go step-by-step together. So even if you are finished, do not say ‘I am done’ and expect that we will go on just because you are done….if you finish early, try to help others around you or pick up trash while you are waiting. In order to create our owl we will need the scissor tray, in the tray you will have scissors, a black crayon (this is for the eyes, you won’t need that right away) a green crayon, (it is also for later) and a brown crayon (you will need that for most of the drawing!
2. Step 1: Draw a rainbow line or a rectangular shape. Using your scissors cut it out. Save the scraps. Demonstrate how to cut out two wings, making sure that they don’t use tiny baby triangles because an owl needs big wings. Demonstrate how they can use their brown to add texture for feathers while they are waiting for others to finish.
3. Step 2: Using the tan piece of paper, draw a rainbow line and cut it out for the owl’s belly. Add speckles (sort of looks like a cookie…maybe I will name my owl Chocolate Chip, or cookie!) I know you don’t have glue yet, but I will pass it out soon, we have a few more steps first!
4. Step 3: 3 circles….cute each one in half. Use orange for feet, brown and white are for eyes. Use the black to draw the eyes (At this point, I give 1st graders the option of adding dark brown feathers that would stick out under the hat)
5. Step 4: Pass out the blue or green construction paper for the owl to lay on, have students lay their owl so that it will be ready to glue. Also explain that once they get the glue, you will give them an orange beak that they will need to add. (I have 1st grade students make the scarf before they glue the beak on, first green strip: trim, second green strip, fold and fringe ends)
6. Step 5: After students have glued their owl onto the blue/green paper, have them make the Santa hat. Make a dot at the top in the middle and draw a line to each corner to create one large triangle. Have them cut it out and then pass out a white strip (might need to be trimmed if they make it super skinny), also pass out a cotton ball and a red heart.
7. Last step, glue everything to dark green construction paper and write name on the front. (First graders had time to add the glitter. 2 boxes of red glitter being passed around the room)

Week 2 Kindergarten Only: Review the collage information. At the end of today’s lesson, add the red glitter. Pass 2 boxes of glitter around the room. Remind them to draw lines or dots only, not big puddles. Allow students to take them home today.

Assessment and Reflection: Students will be assessed on their Santa owl collage based on craftsmanship and details appropriate to grade level.

Sample Photos: