1st Grade Chinese Dragons

I used to do a China unit in 1st grade and the students always enjoyed our clay Chinese dragons.

On the first day of this lesson, we would start out watching an illustrated story about the dragon myth https://vimeo.com/26274519 not necessarily Chinese. Then we would go on to view Chinese dragons from Art History. The students really would get excited. The students then would watch me create a Chinese dragon step by step. Since working with clay is pretty new to first graders. I like to take the whole class time to introduce clay rules and what we are making.

On the second day of the lesson, the students each got a ball of clay and had to create their coil for their dragon. We took a popsicle stick and created a line for the mouth, then poked holes for nostrils above the mouth. We made two small balls of clay for eyes and poked holes to squish them onto the coil body. Then we took or fingers and pinched scales all the way down the dragon. Before we were done we squished down the tail and separated it by the popsicle stick adding lines on the fin for detail. The end of the popsicle stick can be used for scales on the sides of the dragon.

Student names are then carved into the bottom and the dragons are placed on bowls and tools to help them dry curved as you see.

Comments

Snakes- Practicing Line

In this project, I believe the teacher had the students develop pattern and line through their skin designs on the snakes. Perhaps they studied venomous snakes and some of their bright colors. Here are two student examples.

Another Crazy Mask

Here is another example of a wild mask that I found in a pile of old projects. It looks like it was created from a brown paper sack, crayon, and tempera paint.

Artist Statements in Elementary

Ever attempt to make your students write artist statements? I did! It was both rewarding and great for my English Language Learners and pretty much every student! As you know, we need more writing in the school setting! If you are going to start artist statements, I highly suggest an "Art Word Wall" this will allow you to create a reference for students as they write, rather than coming up to you while you are working with the late finishers. As the year progresses, add more and more words to the word wall. Be sure to point them out to your students as you introduce the vocabulary of the lesson. Students who love to be helpers and leaders will be able to point out words to the other students! My Art Word Wall was created with poster board, before and sometimes during a lesson, I used index cards to write the vocabulary word and a visual for my students. Once the word was full, I laminated it to preserve it for next year! If you have a word wall in your room, post it be...

Search This Blog