Tuesday, January 15, 2013

American Symbols



The Kindergarten students have been looking at American Symbols- this is a classroom standard that I agreed to work into my plans over the next few weeks.  So, we drew one of 4 symbols (Flag, Eagle, Statue of Liberty or Liberty Bell).  I provided both color and outline images for students to see, to help in this process. We traced our drawings with sharpies-I think tracing the lines helps cement them in the students' heads, as lines to stay inside/around. I have no proof, but have just noticed that when the littles trace, they tend to paint a bit more carefully. After painting those using appropriate color schemes, we drew a mini-self portrait, which was cut out and attached into the picture.  I taught them how to draw stars, and after some practice, they used silver sharpies to draw stars around their painting, as a picture frame.  Our focus artist was Romare Bearden, and his work "Roots".  While we did not delve into the deeper issues within his work, we did discuss Freedom, and symbols which stand for it.  I think it was a great attempt by my students to paint in a more realistic way. 

1 comment:

Cecily said...

Love these-- and the way you went about getting them. Although the self-portraits weren't a focus, they were a nice addition, also making the kids identify with the symbols. Well done!