After several have finished or gotten bored...we clean everything up and meet back on the carpet. Then we talk about how we carry our drawings back to class and I choose an art star and we line up. If there's still time left, we play quiet-mouse while in line until their teacher shows up. This usually lasts 60 minutes...however, if it's a particularly unruly class we may read another book at the end.
This year our story was "Mix it Up"....really fun and interactive book about mixing colors. The kids loved it. I also read "Beautiful Oops" to them early on in the school year.
I do this project every year with Kindergarten. It's our first big art project together and it's a building block for procedures, using oil pastels, using art shirts, painting with watercolors and clean up.
The first 60 minute class is spent talking about line. We read the story "Lines that Wiggle" and talk about each line in the book. Then they get to put on an art shirt. I toss them their shirts to put on while they're sitting on the carpet and they love it. So I write their names for them on a piece of 9x18 white paper. (I write their names for them ALL YEAR LONG...this makes my life a lot easier.)
They find their seat, drop their paper off and we make a circle at the 'demo table'. They watch me draw a straight line with oil pastel, then they "echo". I say "1, 2, 3, echo quietly" after I have drilled them about what type of line they will draw, how many lines? ONE...what kind of line? STRAIGHT...what color? ANY COLOR!"
So we practice this back and forth echo business all class long until we have drawn at least 10 different kinds of lines in 10 different colors. They usually do a great job at filling their page with a variety of lines and colors. Then we clean up...I spray some soapy water on a piece of paper towel (cause baby wipes are too expensive!). So they wipe their hands and tables and put their art shirts away and sit on the carpet when they're done. Usually by this time, we have about 5-10 minutes left of class for me to pick the art star and get them lined up. Procedures, procedures, procedures!
Below you can see the next class is painting the lines we drew with watercolors. I demonstrate how to use the watercolors the RIGHT way....I have little sayings that I use.
When we paint with watercolors, I call the soft bristle brushes "little fishies" ...."Take your fishy brush and give him some water! Fishies need water to survive so never let your fishy get dry." (They love this...and it really sinks into their brain...)
I demonstrate how to rinse the brush when I change color. And most importantly, we never dig in the paint. We "pet the paint like it's a precious little puppy dog head". Never DIG! It makes my skin crawl when they have a goop of watercolor that just destroyed a really expensive paint tray. UGHHHH. So I monitor closely as they are painting. I also go around with a spray bottle of water and keep their paints wet for them. And I say "KEEP your fishy wet!" about ONE THOUSAND times during this hour.
They can get a piece of free draw if they have extra time. This went extremely well this year with most students following directions. The surprising thing is, when they get to paint, they are really good. Usually.
Hallway Display for Kindergarten Line Paintings
We do talk about Kandinsky's "Watercolor No.13" while we are painting. I have it displayed on the computer screen for reference.
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