Pete the Cat

I started the beginning of the year with Kindergarten by doing a project based off a book they already know and love. We read the book and sang the song and talked about what colors make up Pete the Cat. I was able to work in the primary colors this way because of course his body is blue, his eyes are yellow, and his guitar and shoes are red! Yay! This made it easy for them remember the colors :) I did a step by step demonstration of how to draw Pete, students painted him in, cut him out and then glued him onto a yellow piece of background paper. Fun little music notes were added for detail. 

Mondrian Designs

This was my first time teaching Piet Mondrian and now I'm wondering why I hadn't done it sooner. He is PERFECT for Kindergarten and 1st grade. I was amazed by how much they connected with his art. We looked at several of his works as well as a YouTube clip that brought the famous Broadway Boogie Woogie painting to life. I asked the children what his artwork reminded them of and I got an overflow of answers. Many students saw train tracks, streets, jail cells, Mine Craft, parking spaces, etc after staring for a few moments. I also told them how much the artist liked jazz music so we listened to a compilation of popular jazz songs while we worked on our art. The first thing I had them do was to glue down skinny rectangular strips of black paper onto a piece of white paper to create a unique design. The only rule was that the lines had to either run horizontally or vertically. I love how every child gets this same direction but each one came out so wonderfully different! The next day the students learned about the primary colors and used these to paint in a few spaces from their designs. They were told to leave a few white spaces if they wished.