First Grade and Kindergarten Scarecrows

This project is one I link to the book, "The Lonely Scarecrow" by Tim Preston and illustrated by Maggie Kneen.  The illustrations are gorgeous and full of textures - which the kids love to point out during the reading.  It's also a cute book to use to start a discussion about judging someone on their appearance without getting to know them first.  

For our drawing steps I usually post my blank paper on the board and ask everyone to hold their paper on the table in the same direction as mine.  Then everyone has to find a black crayon and hold it up so I know they are ready.  When I see a room full of black crayons in the air I start drawing.  This is a Directed Drawing "monkey see, monkey do" type project - or Drawing tag as I like to call it.  I draw something, they draw the same thing on their papers, then I draw something, and they copy it.  I know a lot of teachers seem to dislike this process because they feel it takes the creativity out of the hands of the students but I disagree.  Drawing tag helps those students who need the directions broken down step by step and keeps them all focused and on task.  No one is doing something they're not supposed to be doing during drawing tag.  It's draw, then eyes back up on the teacher to see what's next.  You could hear a pin drop during these sessions.  And despite fears that this takes the creativity out, you can clearly see tons of variation in the student's work.  I only show them the "bones" of the project - the scarecrow's shapes, the horizon line, and lots of different options for details.  

Students decide for themselves how tall or short, how wide or thin their scarecrow is.  They come up with the clothing decorations on their own (although I do point them in the direction of the word wall for line types), they also choose what kind of field their scarecrow is in and what other details to add to the farm.  To differentiate between Kindergarten and First, First has far more complex details we can add.  With Kinders I keep it a lot simpler.

Once the drawings are done, I will do a quick demo about coloring.  For many of them, this is the first time coloring sky all the way down to the horizon line.  Our district runs kindergarten on a lottery system - first come, first serve.  So students that come back to their neighborhood schools in first grade may have been in a completely different building with a completely different art teacher for kindergarten.  I also show them how to do the dirt (or grass - their choice) all the way from the horizon line down to the bottom of the paper.  After a brief warning about the evils of scribbling I turn them loose!

Typically, this project takes two forty minute classes. One day for the book and directed drawing.  Day two is for the coloring.