One Point's Perspective

I debated for a while about what the first post of my blog should be about. Should I dive right in and post a lesson or just issue a general "Hello, I'm here" post.  I finally decided, why not both?
So "Hello!  I'm here!" and here's an idea for Chinese New Year.


This is a second grade lesson.  We talk about red being a lucky color for Chinese New Year and we also talk about how Dragons are seen differently in Chinese culture compared to the more common Western European dragons.  After the class discussion I pass out paper and have the kids write their names either on the front corner or on the back.  They get a newspaper to use as a place mat and a brush.  Once the kids are set up I'll call them back to my spot for a quick demonstration.  I just take the tempera paint bottle and and draw a squiggle on the paper.  The brush is then used to spread out the paint and add more dragonish features.  The kids get so excited about turning the random squiggles into a dragon.  I've even been asked to make loops and crazy spirals for the kids.

During the next class session we used oil crayons to add scales, facial features, and a background for the dragons.  The two above are my teacher examples.  Unfortunately I forgot to snap pics of the kids' work before I sent them home.  A quick two day lesson for you!