The Mitten Tree

Winter in Maine requires mittens! Students in kindergarten and first grade listened to the book The Mitten Tree. The Mitten Tree is a story of an elderly woman who secretly knits mittens for children who don't have them. She hangs them on a tree at the children's bus stop. After they heard the story the kindergarten used found objects to make a pattern on a piece of construction paper. Their learning target was "I can make a clear print using found objects." The students used pieces of cardboard, q-tips, and marker caps to print their patterns. Once the patterns were dry the students used stencils to create the mitten shape and texture rubbing plates to add interest to their backgrounds.

First graders listened to the same story, but their learning target was "I can create tints of a color by adding white." They used their tints to create a page of patterns. Once their pattern was dry they cut out the mittens and added interest to the background with textured rubbing plates.

All Aboard!

     All aboard! Amtrak has started offering passenger train service close by in Brunswick, Maine. In celebration of this exciting new way to travel from Maine, our kindergarten students created a piece of art about trains.
     Our first learning target for this lesson was "I can use lines to create shapes." In kindergarten we use a variety of materials to create lines and shapes. We learned that when lines meet they make shapes. After reading the book Color Train by Donald Crews, our young artists used strips of cardboard to print lines that turned squares into squares and rectangles, and then into trains. The wheels were made by printing empty tape spools.
     The following week, we added a new learning target: "I can explore and identify different art media." Students were introduced to a new art media: oil pastels, or craypas. They discovered they were squishier than crayons, they smudge and you can paint right over them. The oil in the craypas repels water, so watercolor flows right over the top of your drawing.
The students' active lines and bright colors convey the excitement of trains rolling down the tracks!

Snowflakes falling...

Where is the snow??  It's almost Christmas!  Kindergarten used white paint and sponge brushes to create snow on their collage.  The collage was made by cutting squares diagonally to create triangles for trees and rooftops.  Scraps were used to add chimneys, doors and windows.