Add some art to your Language Arts!

I've been amazed by some of the bloggers out there who teach art or share how to teach art. I consider myself creative, but by no means artistic. I knit and quilt and create art projects for my own children. Imagine my surprise when I followed the simple directions for how to draw the Pigeon from Mo Willems' books and discovered I can do it and do it well! So I taught my kids how to do it and THEY could do it well too. They were just as pleased as I. It's amazing how adding this drawing enhanced their understanding of speech bubbles and dialogue.

Then I heard about Deep Space Sparkle from one of my favorite new friends Barbara over at Grade ONEderful. I was reading The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and thought this activity would be perfect. We did it! Here is a not so great picture of our artwork. I didn't have my camera, so I used my MacBook PhotoBooth which wasn't very clear. I can add a better picture later.

The kids loved doing this so much. It only took about 20 minutes and my walls look beautiful. I really prefer having their stuff instead of mine on the wall. The ownership is so important.

Finally, today I started to introduce Jan Brett. I don't do themes really, but I introduce lots of books from one author so they get used to looking for authors they like. Just one more way to find a just right book and become intelligent, independent readers. I found something that showed me how to draw a hedgehog. It looked kind of complicated, but I guess not. The kids were just as excited as with the pigeon drawings. Look at these. Even my kids who struggle with fine motor skills did awesome. It was great for everyone's morale!