Art Matters: Cinderella Story

The scope and sequence for my district this 9 weeks asks us to explore observational artwork with 1st grade. Not an easy concept, and such a wide skill set with 1st grade. Last year, I developed a neat little lesson which coincides with my 1st grade classroom teachers' exploration of Cinderella. (At least I think they do that). Anyhow. We start by learning the word observant, and taking a glance at a William Wegman book I have, where the dogs act out Cinderella. Very wordy, but the pictures are cute, and it gets the idea of using humor to tell a story across. We then take off a shoe- which the kids think is hysterical, and we draw it- being very observant, and trying to be as accurate as possible. I have them trace with sharpie, color with crayon, and cut it out. The sock/leg combo is added, and they write their name on the back- this is very important, because I then have them write 3 simple clues about themselves. (I have green eyes, I have freckles, etc). I then display the shoes and clues in the hallway, and we encourage those in the hallway to try to match the shoe to the artist.