First Grade: Scratch "Sgraffito" Art Owls

We've finished our big projects and are ending art this year with some mini-projects. I did a guided drawing with 1st grade on drawing owls on metallic scratch art paper. They loved learning about contrast (gold and black) in this form of art. 

Carolyn Braden's 1st Grade: Painted Landscapes

Yet another project inspired by Pinterest; Landscapes. I decided to have my first graders use paint media. They were given the primary colors and black, white, brown and green. If they wanted a tint or shade of a color, they had to use their mixing palette. They also had to make purple, orange or gray if they wanted to use them. They had a choice of creating organic or geometric mountains. They learned about foreground, middle ground and background and many other vocabulary words with this project. We will have presentations next week. I think they did a fabulous job!

Pinterest Idea Come To Life: 1st Grade Landscapes

After seeing this oil pastel landscape on Pinterest, I adapted it to fit my students learning needs. The students were able to create geometric or organic mountains. They drew them today and will paint during the next class. They will be making their own tints and shades, mixing primary colors to get secondary colors and creating texture like Vincent Van Gogh.
My 1st graders are such talented students!

Carolyn Braden's 1st Grade: Completed African Masks

Here are some of my 1st graders completed Magical African Masks. They wrote a little story about their masks after gluing their mask to a "picture frame" they created. Very impressive 1st graders!

Carolyn Braden's 1st Grade Art: African Masks

Here are my 1st graders works of art in progress: Mixed Media African Symmetrical Masks. After drawing half of a mask in oil pastel, we said our magic spell and rubbed it with the handles of scissors. We made a ghost print by rubbing it and then outlined it to make it darker. We are using color sticks and oil pastel to fill in the shapes and backgrounds. The students learn all about African art prior to this project via a Powerpont presentation and after the project, they write a short story to read during show and tell. There's a lot to this project but it is worth it because you can squeeze a lot of art content into it. It also produces some amazing art!
The original idea came from an art teacher in Paducah, KY but the spell, pre-assessment and story are my own. Here's my spell. The teacher says it and the students repeat.
Hokey Pokey,
Smokey Wokey
Boo! (Repeat)
Oh African mask spirits
lend me your ears.
Make my mask
the best mask
you've seen in years!