Back in January, I challenged my first graders to an art project. During their free choice time the first day, I called five students at a time to a back table to paint their sky with water color. As you can see by my prototype, it was a simple matter of getting the paper wet and then stroking on some blue about two-thirds of the way down. My plan was the model of organization and I was quite pleased to realize halfway through that I was managing everything without even the presence of an aide! What a teacher. True, some of the skies were quite watery, but nothing that a paper towel couldn’t fix after the artist walked away. Also, very few actually ended up blue and two almost forgot to stop painting and leave a little white at the bottom for snow. The rainbow palette tempted many students to try for the sunset effect, which often ended up a little on the muddy side – again, nothing that a dry paper towel couldn’t soften. After school, when the papers were dry I mounted them to a background to help smooth the wrinkles and admired the handiwork of my little artists.
The next day I led students through the steps of tearing three circles of white paper to stack into a snowman that was silhouetted against the skies they had painted. Then they were to tear little pieces of paper that would become falling snow. Simple, yet effective...or so it seemed. Tearing paper was not a problem for these youngsters, but tearing it into a desired shape turned out to be a devastating process for most of them. The snowflakes looked more like ice blocks falling from the sky and I can’t even describe the snowmen. We persevered, though, and I eventually got around to every desk to help them individually so that their snowmen looked recognizable and the snowflakes were brought under control. Only once did I come close to a meltdown when I turned around to see one of my little boys holding the glue bottle upside down two feet above his paper. Squeezing with both hands he was watching a thin waterfall of Elmer’s cascade over his picture. True to the effects of Asperger Syndrome, he had become transfixed by the movement of the glue and had gone way beyond just cementing paper. Wondering to myself why I kept planning my art projects when his aide was on her break, I ran over to him and, telling him what a great job he’d done, rescued the artwork and wiped off some of the extra glue.
I breathed a sigh of relief once all of the glue was put away. Thinking that the pictures were essentially done, I gave students some fine-tipped markers with which to draw on the eyes and mouths of their snowmen. Here, again, I was surprised to see how differently each artist depicted their subject. Snowmen ranged from very simple to quite detailed with carrot noses, colored buttons, paper scarves, and stick arms.
As always, there’s a lesson here. Don’t turn your back on first graders with glue? Naw...well, maybe. I think, however, that for me it is more of a reminder that creativity is messy and unpredictable, but an essential part of the human spirit. We can all paint the same subject at the same time with the same media, but the results will be as individualistic as we are. And, well it should be because we are more than the creators, we ARE the art. What we are comes out in what we do and what we do helps us progress into who we are becoming. So, what does YOUR snowman look like? Mine is a teacher.
The next day I led students through the steps of tearing three circles of white paper to stack into a snowman that was silhouetted against the skies they had painted. Then they were to tear little pieces of paper that would become falling snow. Simple, yet effective...or so it seemed. Tearing paper was not a problem for these youngsters, but tearing it into a desired shape turned out to be a devastating process for most of them. The snowflakes looked more like ice blocks falling from the sky and I can’t even describe the snowmen. We persevered, though, and I eventually got around to every desk to help them individually so that their snowmen looked recognizable and the snowflakes were brought under control. Only once did I come close to a meltdown when I turned around to see one of my little boys holding the glue bottle upside down two feet above his paper. Squeezing with both hands he was watching a thin waterfall of Elmer’s cascade over his picture. True to the effects of Asperger Syndrome, he had become transfixed by the movement of the glue and had gone way beyond just cementing paper. Wondering to myself why I kept planning my art projects when his aide was on her break, I ran over to him and, telling him what a great job he’d done, rescued the artwork and wiped off some of the extra glue.
I breathed a sigh of relief once all of the glue was put away. Thinking that the pictures were essentially done, I gave students some fine-tipped markers with which to draw on the eyes and mouths of their snowmen. Here, again, I was surprised to see how differently each artist depicted their subject. Snowmen ranged from very simple to quite detailed with carrot noses, colored buttons, paper scarves, and stick arms.
As always, there’s a lesson here. Don’t turn your back on first graders with glue? Naw...well, maybe. I think, however, that for me it is more of a reminder that creativity is messy and unpredictable, but an essential part of the human spirit. We can all paint the same subject at the same time with the same media, but the results will be as individualistic as we are. And, well it should be because we are more than the creators, we ARE the art. What we are comes out in what we do and what we do helps us progress into who we are becoming. So, what does YOUR snowman look like? Mine is a teacher.
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