Collaborative Shapes

Well, all right, the shapes may not have been collaborative, but putting them together was. As kindergarteners finished their contour shapes, they matched them up with their classmates' shapes on the drying racks.

Students, using my favorite Stayonal crayons, drew a small shape in the center of their board. We were using 6" X 6" squares. They measured one finger width from their first shape and drew another shaped around the first one. They continued doing this, pressing very hard with their crayon, until they got close to (but not touching) the edges of the board. They added little "roadways" at the midway point of each side running off the board. These were so we could connect the squares later.

Then it was time to add color. Students used any colors they wanted (although we had reviewed primary and secondary colors before starting) and drew a "fat line" right next to each of their crayon lines. Then they brushed clear water over their marker line and watched the color "travel" into and on the water. Some said, "It's like magic!" They learned that it was important to load the brush with water.

Part of the focus of this lesson was to provide practice tilting the marker at the right angle to get a thick, rather than thin, line of color.

Another focus was on how to use a water color brush keeping the bristles smooth, cleaning it with water and laying it on the table (or a tray) when not being used instead of leaving it sitting upright in the water container. I used my Mr. Brush chart before we started to reinforce these brush rules.

I heard a lot of conversation when 2 or even 3 colors ran together creating a new color. This was good reinforcement for last week's lesson where kids mixed primary colors to make secondaries.

Here is what a whole class collection looks like: