1st Grade Newspaper Owl paintings

First grade students just finished forming owls out of clay. While we waited for them to dry out and cycle through the kiln, we read Jane Yolen's book Owl Moon, studied characteristics of owls, and created a 2D project using watercolor resist and newspaper collage.

Class 1: students prepared a background by drawing a full moon, stars, and snowflakes on a piece of 9x12" watercolor paper with white oil pastel. We used dark colors of watercolor paint to fill in the night sky. Students were impressed that the white pastel still shows up after the paint is brushed onto the paper!

Class 2: Using a black crayon, students drew owls on a piece of newspaper (after discussing how the texture of the words reminds us of the stripes on an owl's feathers). We glued our owls to the background, then added yellow eyes, a brown branch and owl feet. We added the textures of feathers and bark to complete our work.

Next week we will glaze our freshly-fired ceramic!

First Grade Clay Owls

Fresh out of the kiln today after a glaze firing!

First grade students are finishing up our owl unit. The adventure began with a reading of Jane Yolen's lovely book Owl Moon, followed by slides of various owl species and the formation of a KWL chart (what do we Know, Want to know, and after instruction, what did we Learn) of owl facts.

When the anticipated clay day arrived, students traced basic owl templates into slabs of clay. They practiced the slip-and-score technique for adhering a beak, wings, and eyes to the body of the owl, then embossed textures to their work using assorted clay tools.

Owl Template:

Once the three classes have rotated through, I go through and poke a small nail hole in the top of each project. It warms my heart when students of years past tell me they still have their first grade clay owls displayed at home!