1st Grade Kandinsky Paintings

First graders learned about painter Wassily Kandinsky and made their own versions of his famous painting, "Squares With Concentric Circles."  We also talked about synesthesia (Kandinsky was a synesthete), thought about what sounds might have produced these colors, and how other senses might mix.  This lesson was a great opportunity to practice the basic color theory that they have been learning all fall, as well as correct watercolor use, careful brushwork, and color mixing.  They had a great time.  It was a fun lesson, with beautiful results!

1st Grade Audience Drawings

First graders created audience drawings based on the work of Red Grooms, whose 3-D paintings and large sculptures we saw on our field trip to BMAC.  We talked about depth of space, how heads looked from behind, and who might be part of an audience.  First graders created a scene, then folded the bottom of their drawings like an accordion to include the audience as part of the image:

1st Grade Flag Project

In honor of election day, first graders looked at images of Jasper Johns's painting, Flag, and created their own flags, working together in two groups of three.

A Visit to BMAC for Kindergarten and First Grade

Last week, kindergarten and first graders visited Brattleboro Museum and Art Center to see an exhibit on Red Grooms.  Museum educator Susan led some great discussions about the artist and his work, and students had some wonderful observations!

After looking at the artwork, students used colored paper to experiment with shape layers and these compositions are now hanging in the Lower School hallway.  

She also read a great interactive book, Press Here by Herve Tullet, which the kids really enjoyed.  

First graders explore 3D color wheel

First graders have been experimenting with color and color mixing in several media, starting with tissue paper, then reading Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh and making overlapping apple prints with primary colored tempera paints.  To further explore and contextualize this learning, this week we used model magic to create physical color wheels, introduced through reading Leo Lionni's Little Yellow and Little Blue together.  This process is great for visual and tactile learners, and manually mixing balls of primary colors into secondary colors is great for motor skills (and lots of fun)!  After creating their own color wheels, students got to mix the rest of the colors together and make unique browns, which sparked a conversation about color ratios.  They used their resulting brown clay to create sculptures to take home.  Here are some of the moments of color mixing delight:

First Grade Tissue Paper Fish

Together we read Leo Lionni’s book, Swimmy, about a fish who organizes his school of fish into a larger shape to scare away the large predator fish.  We discussed primary colors as students drew, then cut, their own fish shapes, and experimented with careful gluing.  This process led them to discover how tissue paper primary colors can mix into secondary colors when they become translucent with glue.  These are their colorful collages becoming a big class fish!