Carolyn Braden's Ish Lesson!

For the first day of art class, I wanted to continue my tradition of making sure students understand they should always have confidence in my class. Last year I read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and this year I read his book Ish.
For the lesson, they first watched a video I made of me reading the book. (I incorporated music and character voices and the kids seemed to really like the "video book" format.)
The 2nd-5th graders all folded their papers into fourths and made mini "masterpiece" frames around each box. I typed up about 75 "Ish" ideas and randomly gave each student two. They drew my two ideas and then drew their own two ideas.
I did guided "Ish" drawings with my first graders. We did four mini drawings. I taught the Kinders how to draw a fish-ish. Their art was magnificent!
This is a great first day back activity. It sets the tone for the year (never give up!) and refreshes their memory of direction following in art class.