K/1s Paint Scenery for West African Folk Tale

Painting the sky

Filling in the grassy area

Everyone is pitching in

As the K/1s study Africa, they are working on Anansi, a west African folk tale that they will perform in late May. They are painting a large backdrop for this play and will then make props and simple costumes.

2/3s Start China Study

The finished dragon

Going over pencil lines

Figuring out the dragon

Enlarging the original drawing

As the 2/3s began their exploration of China they looked at some Chinese dragons. They tried their hand at designing and painting dragons of their own. Their small drawings were projected onto tagboard and painted with bright colors. These will be cut out and turned into shadow puppets. Stories inspired by these creatures will be the basis of some shadow puppet plays.

K/1s Make African Animals

Painting the giraffe's spots

Working on a hippo

The gorilla gets painted

Each K/1 student has chosen a particular African animal to study. In art class they drew that animal on doubled paper, painted it on two sides, cut it out, stapled the two sides together and stuffed it with newspaper. These animals will help transform their classroom into an African landscape.

4/5s Work on Pocket Weavings

Getting the hang of weaving

Trying a new pattern

Working with the first color

Working on small rectangular looms the 4/5 students began figuring out designs to weave on both sides of the loom to create small pouches that can be turned into necklaces.

4/5s Draw Self-Portraits

Getting the initial shapes

The hat is definitely essential!

After focusing on their past and present self-portraits, the 4/5s worked from mirrors to capture their current appearance in colored pencil.

2/3s Paint Self-Portraits

Finishing touches

Precision in the accessories

Checking the overall look

After completing their past and future portraits, the 2/3s got to work looking in the mirror to observe their current appearance and put it on paper using tempera paint.

2/3s and 4/5s Create Past and Future Self-Portraits

2/3 Portrait

4/5 Portrait of the past

In connection with a poetry unit that the 2/3s and 4/5s worked on together in their classes they created images of what they used to look like at approximately four years old and their projections of what they may look like twenty years from now.