Jasper Johns & 1st Grade

Even my little ones had an Art History project! This one came from pinterest per usual, not sure if it was this pin exactly but something very similar. This was a great follow up to our many warm and cool color lessons and concepts because they had to paint the squares the opposite of what they wrote in for colors. If I did Jasper Johns again I would try to do something with his American Flag pieces, I think it would be more memorable for students. The biggest difference in teaching Art History with Kindergarten and 1st, is I try to skip the PowerPoint and just show them a digital poster I put together of the artist and their works with a few facts (this actually gets displayed with the project).

Day 1: Intro Jasper Johns with an artist poster. One of the artworks in the poster is his blocked out alphabet and number works like this one and we talk about using that as our inspiration source.

Alphabet, Jasper Johns

Next step, folding the paper. I do like to use the phrases "hamburger" and "hot dog" because it is something they remember, but I make sure to follow up those words with the words horizontal and vertical. We fold it into eight sections and then write with our finger first what is going to go in each box. I use my visualizer to do an example of someone in the class. I stuck with names and birthdays to keep it simple. We practiced together understanding that if we wrote one in cool what do we paint it in and vice versa. After that, they got to work. Wrote in pencil, traced in oil pastels, and painted with watercolor.

Day 2: Finished up painting and did a little extension project for early finishers. The extension was on a smaller piece of paper and using all different materials to essentially re-create their painting. Highlighters were the favorite choice!

It was really fun displaying the projects as a block, it made them a lot more exciting visually!

McDill Elementary...

Kennedy Elementary...

Jefferson Elementary...