Kindergarten Early Birds

What shapes can we use to create a spring picture showing the early bird trying to capture a worm?

Kindergarten students experimented with shapes to create this cute composition of two early birds struggling to capture a worm.

Kinder Bunnies

I think this is becoming one of my favorite Kindergarten lessons.  It's great project for spring.  This year the timing has been wonderful as we completed these the week prior to Easter.  They are going home this week and I am sure will be a wonderful addition to many a family celebration.  Week one, students used a tracer to make a contour bunny on a 12x18 sheet of blue construction paper.  Using white tempera and a small cube sponge cut from a standard household sponge, students proceeded to pounce or hop with the sponge to fill in the form of the bunny.  These were set aside to dry for week two.
Today was week two.  Students were given construction paper crayons to embellish their bunnies.  First three shades of green and a brown were used to draw the grass.  I had the students imagine their spring bunny hiding in tall, tall grass as they used their crayons.  The green grass was tall and the browns grass was stubby and shorter.  Next two shades of pink were selected for adding the color in the bunnies ears, a nose, and the eye.  Finally, students were encouraged to complete their compositions by adding touches of spring through multi-colored flowers, butterflies, bees or anything else from their imagination.  I was really pleased with how these turned out and the students were thrilled by the oohhs and aahhs as they walked down the hall carrying their completed projects.

In a spring garden

Cruising around Pinterest a few weeks back, I discovered a cute lesson using a soda bottle to make flowers and decided it would be a perfect lesson for my Kinders with a bit of extension and my own focus.   Here is how I presented this lesson.   First I read the book "In a Spring Garden" edited by Richard Lewis.  It is a compilation of short poems that tell a story about spring.  Next we practiced vertical lines using values of green with markers.  This is the first time Kinders have used markers so a lesson in proper use preceded.  We thought tall, thick spring grass prior to the first mowing.   With white paint, 9 flowers were printed along the top of the grass at various heights.  A pencil eraser dipped in yellow paint was used to add the centers in the flowers.   This was set aside in the dry rack.  Finally,  the traditional symmetrical butterfly was made and added to the dry rack.  I had pre-set both papers with student names prior to class time for efficiency and to avoid "no name" papers.   Students cut out the butterflies and attached them to the flower field during week two.  It is a busy lesson with a lot of transition but I have everything ready to go and switch material out throughout the process.
They turned out really cute.

Thinking of Spring with Kindergarten

Generally I do a project with Kinders where they sponge paint a snowman after tracing three different size circles onto blue construction paper.  I just couldn't face doing a snowman this late into the winter so I came up with this idea this morning.  First I created some stencils and tracers in the shape of a simple resting bunny.  The lesson began with the reading of a book by Leo Lioni,

Lets make Rabbits.  I've used this book in the past as a collage project with Kinders.  It's a cute little book.  Next the students traced the rabbit onto blue constructions paper near the bottom of the paper using a white crayon.  Using construction paper crayons, students created grass remembering to color in a top to bottom motion to create the appearance of deep grass where the baby bunny might be hiding.  Students used several shades of green along with brown and gray as they colored their grass.   Flowers were added growing up out of the grass and around the rabbit.  After all coloring was completed, students used white tempera and a small white sponge to "hop" paint their rabbits.  Constant reminders to "hop" with their sponge were given during this time.  Once the paint had dried, pink poms and googly eyes were added to complete the picture.  These turned out really cute and are so much more appropriate as we look forward to the arrival of Spring!  A larger white pom could be added to enhance the tail as well.