A Rainbow of Friends: First Grade

First Grade read A Rainbow of Friends by P.K. Hallinan as a connection to creating our class Social Contract and as an introduction to the color wheel, primary colors, and secondary colors. Each student used various shaped foam stamps to paint shapes in color wheel order. The next week, once the paint was dry, they used multicultural markers to add heads, arms, and legs to the shapes. They then added basic facial features, hair, and shoes to match the shapes.

Mouse Paint: Kindergarten

Kindergarten read Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh to learn about primary colors and the secondary colors created by mixing those colors. After reading the book, the students used mouse shaped tracers to draw six mice in a circular shape. They then traced the mice in black markers. They then added eyes and tails with spiral lines. Next the students painted in each mouse in color wheel order with liquid water colors.

The Line: Third Grade

Third Grade read The Line by Paula Bossio to discuss how various lines form various pictures. We talked about the importance of being able to draw various lines well. The students practiced drawing various lines by creating an eight part foldable. In each section of the foldable, they drew one type of line and repeated it for a total of three lines per section. They then water colored each section. We talked about spacing out the colors to create visual interest. Once the students were finished, they commented that their work kind of looked like quilts.

Lines That Wiggle: First and Second Grade Lines

First and Second Grade read Lines That Wiggle by Candace Whitman to learn about various types of lines. They then drew various lines with black markers and water colored over them. Firs Grade could choose whatever colors they wanted as long as they used a variety of four different colors. Second Grade had a limited selection of primary colors.

Little Green: Kinder Lines

Kindergarten read the book Little Green by Keith Baker to learn about different types of lines. Little Green is about a child who watches a bird fly and paints a picture about the various ways the bird flies. The students drew various lines with crayons and colored in the spaces that were created by those lines.

Earth Day Book Swap

Each year the first grade teachers host a school wide Earth Day Book Swap. The students bring in books from home that they no longer read and trade them with other students. It is a good way to promote reusing materials and literacy at the same time. As a part of our commitment to Rachel's Challenge, we also collect books for one of our local family shelters.