One of the major lessons that I want my first graders to be able to accomplish during the year is successfully drawing a person from head to toe. They should be able to look at a person and discover the shapes and draw that person in the correct proportions.
For out very first time practicing this skill we started by reading the book The Art Lesson by Tomie DePaola. In the book the main character, Tomie, loves to draw but gets frustrated during his art lesson because he has to copy what the art teacher has drawn. The art teacher then gives him a second piece of paper when he is done with the lesson so that he can draw what he wants to draw and he draws her.
Because Tomie drew his art teacher in the book, the first graders then get to draw THEIR art teacher, me! I borrowed this lesson from my cooperating teacher because it was just such a smart way to start drawing people from head to toe! As a class we study the shapes of the body by looking at me. We talk about what shape would work for the head, the torso, the legs, and we drew these together on our papers. We then added details and backgrounds to make our pictures our very own. I told the kids that they could draw me where ever they wanted. Some drew me at the zoo, some drew me walking my dog, some drew me teaching in the art room, and the list goes on!
I just love how these pictures turned out! The kids did a great job of observing the shapes!
For out very first time practicing this skill we started by reading the book The Art Lesson by Tomie DePaola. In the book the main character, Tomie, loves to draw but gets frustrated during his art lesson because he has to copy what the art teacher has drawn. The art teacher then gives him a second piece of paper when he is done with the lesson so that he can draw what he wants to draw and he draws her.
Because Tomie drew his art teacher in the book, the first graders then get to draw THEIR art teacher, me! I borrowed this lesson from my cooperating teacher because it was just such a smart way to start drawing people from head to toe! As a class we study the shapes of the body by looking at me. We talk about what shape would work for the head, the torso, the legs, and we drew these together on our papers. We then added details and backgrounds to make our pictures our very own. I told the kids that they could draw me where ever they wanted. Some drew me at the zoo, some drew me walking my dog, some drew me teaching in the art room, and the list goes on!
I just love how these pictures turned out! The kids did a great job of observing the shapes!