A Leaf Man's got to go where the wind blows

Leaf Man flew into my classroom and into the boundless imaginations of my first graders. While reading the beautiful book, we picked out all of the leaf people and leaf animals that we could find. We talked about what details make it what it is? I ask, how can you tell it's a cow, or a turkey? I am always telling my kids that details are what make an artwork special and tell a story. We talked about if a leaf turkey didn't have a wattle(aka: red thing), would it look like a turkey? If a leaf cow didn't have an udder, would it look like a cow? If a leaf duck didn't have a beak and webbed feet, would it still look like a duck?

Even before the book was finished, lots of the kids were asking, "Will we make a Leaf Man!!!??"... Of course we will!

I wanted to keep my demonstration short and open-ended, because I feel this lesson is all about exploration and play.

I talked to the kids about...

-thinking of what details your leaf person or animal has.

-using the right amount of glue.

-beginning with a large leaf for the body and building off of it.

-cutting pieces of leaves in a contrasting color for details.

The results are amazingly beautiful! I love how each 'leaf person' or 'leaf animal' has it's own unique character!

When the kids finished their projects, I had them think of a story that their 'leaf person' or 'leaf animal' is part of. I prompted them to think about:

What could they be doing?

Where could they be?

What is your leaf person or animal like?

They shared there stories with the other kids at their tables.

I so love this book and accompanied lesson, it encourages the kids to see creative possibilities wherever they are and using the humblest of materials.

Check out the whole leaf gang on Artsonia!

Autumn Leaf Banners

Our first graders poured into the art room wearing their smocks, discovering a piece of large white paper covering their tables. I was almost knocked over with desperate, "What are we making today's!?".

So I had the kids gather round one of the tables and I showed them the 'magic' crayons(crayon cakes I made with autumn colors). As I was talking, I started rubbing the 'magic' crayon on the paper...stopped suddenly and proclaimed, "How did this happen? Look everyone!!!" A few of them noticed and shouted out, "a leaf!"

After I demonstrated the texture rubbing, I used liquid watercolors to paint over the leaves. We talked about how to create contrast by using dark watercolors over the lighter colored leaves and vice versa.

The kiddos were so thrilled as they found different kinds of leaves under the paper. I loved seeing each table working together and sharing in the joy and discovery! And the results were just so amazingly beautiful!

It was hard not to take these amazing banners home with me- they are just so stunning!

Words About Me

For this project, 3rd grade learned about the artwork of Jasper Johns(no lunches, unfortunately). I don't know if this will work, but I used this video to introduce Jasper Johns. Silly! :) We looked at his artwork and talked about his use of symbols to represent his ideas. We discussed why he would use common symbols that we use everyday as his subject. One student said that because letters and numbers are so common to us, it's like our second language. Brilliant! I think it's really important to have the kids think of others' thought processes(metacognition).

Students picked three or so adjectives that describe themselves to use as a blueprint for their artworks. We talked about how powerful words are in our lives and how they shape and affect the world we experience.

We measured our papers to create three equal sections(on a 9x12 sheet of paper, mark at 3" and 6"). We then wrote out our words, making sure to have the letters touch the top, bottom and sides of section. Each letter should also touch each other. Using markers, we colored in each shape that the letters made. To finish off our designs, we used silver sharpies to outline our words.

I absolutely love these colorful self-portraits! It was so interesting to see what words kids choose to describe themselves. It taught me a lot about who the kids are and more importantly, how they see themselves. It led to some great conversations!

Some great words: creative, hyper, silly, writer, caring, fashionista, muslim, and last but not least, eater...he must have heard about Jasper John's lunches! :)