Angry Birds Finale

The Showcase- The video game background was a group activity as people finished.

Blue Bird on the left is NOT of the Angry Bird variety- she was very clear, it's just a bird.

Those with time and left over clay made "piggies". But, I told them they were responsible for marking their pigs, I was not putting names on all those PLUS the birds.

Today was finally the big day- the day my 1st graders got to paint their "Angry Birds".  They have been not so patiently waiting for this day.  And, hoping for a good paint day.  I have been doing my clay painting in the following manner; I don't know when I started this,  but it works well.  I dip.  Yep, just like Easter eggs, I mix up a few buckets of "base" colors.  Water+Acrylic paint.  Then, the kids line up in front of the color they want with their clay sculpture and a paper towel to put it on, and they dip, drip, and put on the towel to dry.  They carry it back to their seat, and wash their hands.  10 minutes, all done.  Now, with K, that's about all I do, but with 1st, after we cleared the buckets and everyone was back in their seats, I gave them tiny paintbrushes and small tubs of acrylic.  We discussed painting the parts rather than painting the "whole'. And, in one day, we have adorable sculptures, with good paint jobs.  It works very well for clay animals as well.  As the kids get older, we dip less and paint more, but this method gives everyone a small level of success, along with the ability to personalize with details. 

Angry Pinch Pots

Such Personality

Those finished, with spare time and clay made some little piggies.  Cannot WAIT to display this.

OK- maybe a little commercial, but sometimes, we gotta use what the kids are interested in, and I confess that even I like a good game of Angry Birds to unwind at the end of a long day.  After talking about facial expression, and how the look on your face conveys a feeling, we began our anual pinch pot project in 1st grade.  We are required to teach pinch pots, but how we approach it is our choice.  Last year, I made cupcakes.  This year, I taught the students how to turn their pinch pot into an Angry Bird (Thank you Pinterest).  (I did not force this- if I had students who did not want to use Angry Birds as their theme, they could make any bird, and they are learning about birds in their classroom).  Often, young artists work better when given a concrete goal, and I am pretty happy with our results so far.