Farewell to Faubion: 1st Grade

Faubion's building, which opened in 1950, will be getting demolished this summer for a complete rebuild. While the new school is being constructed, all Faubion staff, students, & even furniture will be temporarily placed at Tubman School. To help the students with the transition and to reflect on their positive experiences at Faubion, all K-5 students worked on school tribute art projects for the final weeks of the year.

  

1st grade students discussed the purpose of mascots and reasons why they are proud to be Faubion bulldogs. They wrote down these reasons, along with what makes them happy to come to school, on the back of their soon-to-be-painted-on canvases. Their responses were darling! Many kids wrote about specific teachers, the friends they have, or what the building gives them access to, such as the gym's rock wall or the library's book inventory.

I carved a bulldog portrait into a linoleum block and printed it onto each 6x6" canvas. Before painting their bulldogs, the students learned about & looked at artwork by Andy Warhol. They mimicked his bright, colorful style when painting these mascot masterpieces :] You can see these on display in the Faubion Writing Gallery up until the last day of school.

Time to Play

Nowadays, teachers are pressed to squeeze in as much instruction as possible before their students take their standardized tests. As a result, many children don't have big chunks of time to just creatively experiment or self-explore. Even in teaching art, I feel pressed for instructional time when I only see students for 45 minutes per week. Every once in a while, I'll give my students a free choice day, in which they choose their materials & there are no rules on what they make. A while back, I handed my kindergarteners & first graders some paper and just told them to "make it pretty". They were SO engaged & what they made was truly beautiful! Seriously, I'd frame some of these! I was reminded of the importance of giving children time to play. Please read this amazing article by The Art of Ed on this subject :]

P.S. We later turned these pretty papers into beautiful Eric Carle inspired collages!

  

 

Mixed Media Rainbow Fish!

Faubion's 1st graders read the book "The Rainbow Fish" (one of my favorites!) & learned about Marcus Pfister's illustrations. We discussed how he used geometric shapes to draw his fish & the cool colors - various shades of blue, green, & purple - to color his underwater scenes. The little artists used crayons to draw the fish & mixed together tempera paint for the background, remembering to stick with mostly cool colors. The final step (& this is always their favorite part!) is adding GLITTER!!! The students selected their favorite scales on which they added glue & silver glitter to complete the artwork :] Check out these awesome Rainbow Fishies in the Faubion Writing Gallery hallway!

Pete the Cat Collages!

My 1st grade artists start most of their projects with a book, which we use as inspiration. We read "Pete the Cat and the New Guy" and had a discussion about its illustrations. We then practiced our scissor skills to create our own Pete collages. Along the way, we learned about primary colors, and the appropriate shapes necessary to "build" our cat. If the students finished early, they decorated the background with details they noticed on the book's cover. Aren't they adorable?? And what better place to display them than in the SMART reading classroom. Start Making A Reader Today!

"The Dot" Painting Flower Collages

Fabion's 1st graders recently read "The Dot", which is an adorable book you should definitely read if you haven't yet. It's about not getting too frustrated with yourself, because you'll eventually discover what you're really really good at -- a great life lesson, & not just in art! My students then got creative making their own dot paintings. After they dried, we turned them into flower collages by adding petals & stems. For the petals, we folded colorful paper before cutting it, so we even threw a little multiplication into our art lesson! I just love seeing these colorful collages in the Student Art Gallery. They really brighten up these gray wintery days :]