Tuesday, September 9, 2014

First grade- The group I've been working with has been a mixed group from both first grade classes. Today, all but one of these students finished their self-portraits. The one who didn't finish is really taking her time and putting in a lot of effort, so we'll have to give her some opportunities to finish as the project progresses.

After yesterday's class, when a concerned student brought up the subject of war and terrorism, the teachers and I decided to address the issue with a provocation, How do we stay safe? I wrote that question on a large sheet of paper and the students talked with each other about it. The focus of the first draft kept going back to weapons that can hurt us. After some redirection, the boys drew images of running away from trouble, as well as images of police and firefighters. Yay!  We're heading in a helpful, positive direction now. Their group has finished, so I will revisit with them in a week or so to see if they've thought of more ways we can stay safe.

This is the only student who hasn't finished, but it's because she's
layering color over color to try to accurately portray her skin tone.
I think she's taking inspiration from the cover of the pencil box! 

Some sample portraits. Some students wanted to do a second draft and I'm so glad that drafts are such a productive tool for them.

"It's raining in the first one and snowing in the second one."

She decide the first portrait wasn't accurate in color or line.

This student created a better proportioned second drawing, but we
had to discuss care for our paper- she was carrying it around and it became
crumbled. 

How do we stay safe? provocation.

A student working on the poster.