Wacky Bird Mural - A study in Cooperative Art Making

This image was the inspiration for a 1st grade cooperative project this past week.  I generally have first grade students work in cooperative groups at this time of the year and have approached the lesson in a number of different ways over the years.   I think this one ranks high on the success factor.  I begin the lesson by reading the book "The Crayon Box that Talked" by Shane Derolf.


Stress is given to the importance of cooperation and the success that is achieve through kind words and support for others.  Students then work together to create a mural on a common subject.  This year the subject in one of my buildings was birds in a tree.   I used this fun handout from Expressive Monkey to assist students in creating their own wacky bird.   They colored with markers, cut them out as skillfully as possible to remove all white borders and glued them on the tree in their place of choice.

1st grade Wacky Birds Mural

Picasso with a 21st century influence

 

Third grade students tried their hand at creating in the cubistic styling of Pablo Picasso.  First they attempted to imitate the multiple views of a portrait.  Next, they accentuated the shapes that would be found in a face.  Observing classmates and feeling their own faces assisted in this process.   Finally, they added color to their portraits while attempting to identify the shapes located in the portrait.