1st Grade Egyptian Cats

In the winter, I was able to take a trip down to Washington DC and visit the Freer and Sackler galleries, where they had an exhibit on the role of Felines in Egyptian Art. It was really cool to learn about how Egyptians associated their traits with specific divinities. Cats enjoy the sun, so they were frequently associated with the God Re. Because of cats protective instincts, many goddesses were represented as female cats. As a result from my experience, I had my first graders do a quick project based upon this exhibit

Materials Needed
Gold Acrylic Paint
9x 12" Black Construction Paper
9x12" white drawing paper
brown/orange Crayola Color Stix
Texture Plates
Torn kraft paper sheets ( long enough to fill bottom of paper)
Orange/Yellow/Red Flourescent Tempera Paint
Paint Brushes
Pencils
Sequins (Optional)

Day 1#- I talked to my students about the background information about Egyptian cats as described above. Using pencil, students drew an eygptian cat on a 9x12" piece of black construction paper. I encouraged them to draw a small pyramid behind their cat to be used later on. They then used small brushes and used gold acyrlic paint to go over their original drawings.

Day 2#- I spoke to my students about the weather in Egypt. How it is mostly made up of desert, and is usually very hot there. We identified the hot colors on the color wheel, and I also explained how they are analogous colors on the color wheel. I had my students paint the sunset in a circular motion, starting from yellow, orange, and then finally red using tempera paint on a 9 x12" piece of drawing paper.

Day 3#- After the students' background had dried from the previous week, it was now time to put all of this together. I gave the students small pieces of torn kraft paper, and demonstrated how to use color stix and place texture places underneath to create a texture rubbing. This would create "sand". When done with that, they cut out their Egyptian Cat Paintings and (pyramid). I had the students arrange their pieces before gluing down to make sure the perspective was right. First the background paper, then torn kraft paper, and the Egyptian cat on top to make it look like our cats were sitting in the sand! I used some tacky glue and added a little sequin on the cats' crown for fun!

1st Grade-Chinese Dog Cages

On one of my many visits to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, I came across this piece. It is a dog cage that was said to be made for one of the emperor's pet dogs. This is where I got the idea to create a whole lesson based upon it. I did this lesson last year and it turned out really cute. It so happens that in the Chinese Zodiac, that 2018 is the year of the dog. I figured this would a great opportunity to do this lesson again.

Materials Needed
 12 x18" Construction Paper
Gold/Bronze Tempera Paint
Paint Brushes
Brown/Black/White Tempera Paint
Oil Pastels



The lesson started with me reading "Ruby's Chinese New Year" to my students. In this book, Ruby goes on a journey to visit her grandmother for Chinese New Year. Along the way, she meets all of these different animals (these animals are the ones found in the Chinese Zodiac). The kids got really into it and then I showed them the dog cage. I talked about what a Chinese "Emperor" was and what the cage was used for. We then started to paint the actual dog cage using gold tempera paint on a 12 x18" piece of red construction paper.











The second day of this lesson, I reviewed what an emperor was. I also talked about shape because we were painting the actual dog that was going to be in the cage. Using pencils, I passed back their paintings from the previous week, We started with an oval for the body, circle for the head, and four long ovals for the legs, We then painted the ears and tail. I gave students several different colors of tempera paint (white, brown, dark brown, and golden-yellow).

The third day of the lesson was adding the features of the dog (eyes, nose, mouth) using oil pastels. I encourage my students to add a collar, crown, and items for their dog. I also have them decorate the cage!

1st Grade- Alma Woodsey Thomas Collages

February is always a fun month for me personally! It is African-American History Month, so this when I try to have each grade do a project based upon African art, or African-American Artist. I have always loved the work of Alma Woodsey Thomas. She has artwork on display here locally at the Baltimore Museum of Art and National Museum of Women In Fine Arts.

  Thomas was born in Columbus, Georgia, the oldest of four girls. In 1907, her family moved to Washington, D.C., seeking relief from the racial violence in the South. Though segregated, the nation’s capital still offered more opportunities for African Americans than most cities in those years.

As a girl, Thomas dreamed of being an architect and building bridges, but there were few women architects a century ago. Instead, she attended Howard University, becoming its first fine arts graduate in 1924. In 1924, Thomas began a 35 year career teaching art at a D.C. junior high school. She was devoted to her students and organized art clubs, lectures, and student exhibitions for them. Teaching allowed her to support herself while pursuing her own painting part-time. (Source- National Museum of Women In Fine Arts)  

                              I discussed Emphasis with my 1st graders, and talked about how Alma creates a "Center of Interest in her ''The Eclipse" work. I also talked about how she used both shape and line to create movement in her works as well. For the steps of this project, I gave my students a dark dull 12x 18" piece of construction paper. I then gave them circle templates, which the traced onto black paper and cut out. This was to create "Emphasis." They glued their black circle into a 12 x 18" paper. They then used a pencil to draw lines around their black circles. This helped the students stay on track. I then gave them pieces of bright colored paper (about 3 x 4.5"). They chose their colors, cut them into strips, and then squares. This project helped students practice their "gluing" skills. I had the students put dots of glue on the lines they drew on their 12 x 18" paper. I encouraged them to use space in between their dots. The kids had alot of fun with this project.

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