How to teach the elements of art in early elementary

But first - should we teach the elements of art in Early Elementary?

As an art teacher, I believe that teaching students about the elements of art in the early years is vital. The elements of art are crucial components considered by artists, when creating their works. These elements include line, shape, form, space, texture, value, and colour (color in the USA). 

If you have ever doubted the value of teaching students about the elements of art, read on and I will share some of my reasons why I include them in most of my lessons.

Demystify Art Making and Creativity:

While some of our students may have outstanding levels of aptitude and interest in art making, most don’t. Art is often a subject students are required to participate in during their elementary years, whether its their ‘thing’ or not. 

By introducing students to ‘ingredients’ that they can include or that can guide their creating process, maybe even provide them with a starting point, then why wouldn’t you give them that support. Being creative doesn’t have to be an ethereal intangible thing that is only available to a lucky few. By working with the art elements, the majority of students have something tangible to work with for exploring the art disciplines.

Cognitive Development:

Art experiences, at an early age, fuels critical and imaginative thinking. Referring to the elements of art helps children understand the concepts of cause and effect, when experimenting with modifications to these elements in a fun way.

Language Skills:

Discussing and reflection on their art making is an excellent way for students to build their language skills. When they all are able to communicate using the shared language of art elements, their levels of understanding is greatly improved.

Artistic Skill Development:

By focusing on specific, shared understandings, like the elements of art, students can build their artistic skills incrementally, reflecting on their progress and set learning goals.

Integration with Other Subjects: 

Art easily integrates into, and extends, other subject - like Math, English, Science, or History. This aspect of trans-disciplinary learning encourages broader understandings of important concepts in other areas. Vocabulary used for the elements of art adapts easily to other content, e.g. when describing textures, you are using adjectives that are valuable for improving language skills, and identifying shapes, forms and patterns has strong connections to Math.

Motor Skill Development:

Using a range of art tools to execute a range of art making actions, leads to improving motor skills - large and fine. Whether building the skill to draw increasingly accurate shapes, repeat a line to create a pattern or mix 2 primary colours together, building the skills too control the tools and make intentional marks, is of great value. 

Decision Making Skill:

Too much choice can be paralysing for some learners and having a focus based on the art elements really helps to narrow that down to choices within categories, e.g. picking a line pattern to add details to the drawing, or selecting the colour values needed to show form on a red apple. Students also begin to build comfort with risk-taking, inventiveness and making mistakes.

Visual and Spacial Skills:

The elements of art help students to analyse the layout or spacial balance in their work. Whether that is to analyse how well balanced the complimentary colours are between the focal point and the rest of the work, or whether the artwork has expressed the for-, middle and background appropriately, using the rules for the element of space.

Problem Solving Skills:

Making art, and evolving as an artist, involves finding solutions to many challenges along the way. To develop creative problem-solving skills, students can focus in on the art elements in their work and work through possible solutions for each to see how that will affect the whole. For example, a student trying to draw an elephant for the first time will fair batter when they break down the composition into a series of structural shapes that they draw first, then build the elephant shape over the top with the use of outlines, contour lines and texture lines.

*** the above images are all from my Art Elements Classroom Posters resource. Click on any image to view the full resource in my TPT store

I have also published a full series of lessons that I developed for my early elementary students, specifically based on the art elements, and another series for my mid-elementary students. 

You can read more about those lessons in subsequent posts but if you cannot wait, you can view the bundles in my TPT store by clicking the images below.

K-2 lesson plans

Lessons are also available individually but the bundle also include extra extension ideas for these lessons that are not included in the individual lesson plans

2-4 lesson plans

2-4 lesson plans

Continue on to the next post to find out more...

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Claude Monet Art Lessons

Claude Monet Art Lessons

Monet has always been a favourite artist of mine and visiting his home in Giverny, France as well as enjoying his famous works in multiple galleries, has been a highlight.

You can see the huge scale of his waterlily series of paintings in this photo I took.

Exploring his artworks with Years 4 (3rd grade) has been a real joy over the years, and we revisited this lesson (one of my favourites) again this year, based on my Waterlily tutorial, available HERE.

We started with observational value sketching, using my video I created as a reference. You can view the video HERE.

The students results are always beautiful and they really amaze themselves at how great their drawings turn out. Here are a the first 4 finished this year.

Next we explore a few different media, starting with oil pastels. Students learn to select 3 values of a colour, then I teach them to blend from darkest to lightest, ending with white. We do this on a single petal drawn in their A5 sketchbooks.

We follow this up, experimenting with water colour paints and then also with water colour pencils. Now students can choose which media they wish to use in their own water lily drawing (A4) later.

This year we also added a gorgeous clay sculpture element to extend our learning further and we were thrilled with the results. 

We used potters clay in Classic White and glazed with Stroke and Coat. We glazed onto bone dry greenware which I then ran through a bisque fire. I sent it through a glaze fire too to increase the shine aspect.

Please stay tuned to see how our waterlily artworks turn out as the term continues. But if you want all the steps now, click HERE to preview: 

CLAUDE MONET WATERLILY Impressionist Art lesson with VIDEO guide 3rd-5th grade

If you want the steps for the clay lesson, click HERE to preview:

CLAY WATERLILIES art project inspired by Claude Monet lesson for 2nd - 4th grade

Back to School - The First Three Weeks - Part 2 

Stationery

One of the biggest organisational tasks at the start of a new school year is managing students' stationery. With so many moving parts, items are easily misplaced or lost when students don't have clear guidelines for managing all of their new, shiny things.

I find that two clear systems have emerged for me over the years - student managed (for upper elementary) and teacher managed (mid and early elementary).

In this Back to school guide, I explain how to run each system and make them work for you.

Morning Routines

Starting the day right each morning can lead to a more positive day for both you and your students. In the next chapter, I share ways that I set up students for a successful start, including this example of my morning routine poster. Also included is a blank template for you to personalise.

Global Greetings

Together with the morning (before the bell) routines, the morning roll call is a great time to connect with students. One way I like to do this is to use a range of greetings from nations around the world. I created a set of greeting cards to display in your classroom for daily use. These are included in the back to school bundle, but you can also get them HERE.

Please join me again next week for another extract from this helpful resource or take a closer look at

BACK TO SCHOOL activities for first weeks of school and start of year - HERE

🌸 🌸 🌸 🌸 🌸

Click here to follow One Teacher’s Journey on TPT

❤️ I would love to have you join me and experience my resources first hand because my hope is that you will happily become an advocate for these products. 

❤️ As a way of thanking my followers for supporting my store, I regularly post new resources for FREE for the first 24 hours. 

❤️ Once I change the product to a paid resource, please return to rate and gain your bonus TPT credits for future discounts.

❤️ And remember to share this post with a friend who might need it.

Why trust One Teacher’s Journey resources?

Because I too am a full time teacher, just like you, with years of experience in the classroom. In other words, I do this everyday - just like you.

You can contact me through my store Q & A or email me through my website if you are looking for anything specific. 

That way I can get in touch to better support you info@help-me-learn.com

Back to School - The First Three Weeks - Part 1

Back to School - The First Three Weeks - Part 1

As teachers head back to school around the world, one of the pressing matters that they are contemplating is how to establish and sustain solid routines, and build a strong classroom culture with their students. For many years I have shared my systems and strategies with teachers around the world, including in this blog. As requested, I have compiled many of these ideas into a 'mega' back to school guide of over 100 pages. 

In this teacher resource, I explain how I set up my first 2-3 weeks of the year, building toward a successful and enduring classroom culture, suitable for teachers of upper elementary and middle school.

This bumper teacher resource is crammed full of ideas for starting your new school year just right, whether you are a new teacher or an experienced teachers looking for inspiration.

Classroom Decor

The first chapter in this resource looks at choosing a unifying theme for your room and using that for all you communication, posters, labels, presentations and so on. Almost considering that theme as your personal and recognisable 'brand'.

One thing to create with that decor theme, are name cards to use as  “business” or “calling cards” for each student. Included are a set of name card borders to print onto card and cut neatly with a guillotine. Students can create their own unique designs for their names. By inserting these into clip-on name tags, you can use them in a variety of ways - for labelling, seating and student drawers/cubbies, to wearing for visitors or relief teachers, attach to completed work in a learning centre for teacher checking, or leave in the place of borrowed equipment e.g. class headphones.

Links to further classroom decor themes, including my FREE welcome buntings, have also been added for you. 

Please join me again next week for another extract from this helpful resource or take a closer look at

BACK TO SCHOOL activities for first weeks of school and start of year - HERE

🌸 🌸 🌸 🌸 🌸

Click here to follow One Teacher’s Journey on TPT

❤️ I would love to have you join me and experience my resources first hand because my hope is that you will happily become an advocate for these products. 

❤️ As a way of thanking my followers for supporting my store, I regularly post new resources for FREE for the first 24 hours. 

❤️ Once I change the product to a paid resource, please return to rate and gain your bonus TPT credits for future discounts.

❤️ And remember to share this post with a friend who might need it.

Why trust One Teacher’s Journey resources?

Because I too am a full time teacher, just like you, with years of experience in the classroom. In other words, I do this everyday - just like you.

You can contact me through my store Q & A or email me through my website if you are looking for anything specific. 

That way I can get in touch to better support you info@help-me-learn.com

Matariki Art Lessons for the New Zealand New Year

Hi Friends,

As July approaches, a very significant day draws near for the people of New Zealand. Matariki, the Maori New Year, is named for the Matariki star cluster (Pleiades) which is visible in our night skies for 11 months of the year. It disappears  in the lunar month of Haratua (May/June) and rises again around a month later in the North-Eastern sky during the lunar Month of Piripi .(June/July). This celestial event marks the beginning of the Māori calendar, signalling a time for both reflection about the year that past, and renewal for the year ahead. It is a time for communities to come together and celebrate. Since 2022, this is now also an official public holiday, one that falls on a different day each year due to the lunar calendar.

This celebration, a time for Peace, Joy and Community, has lead to many art forms that educators can explore as a way to connect classroom learning with this important event. But first, let's dive a little deeper into the history of Matariki.

While Matariki has deep cultural significance for the people of Aotearoa New Zealand, it is understood and celebrated in different ways across the country. Legend has it that Tāwhirimātea (the god of wind) was so angry with his siblings for causing the separation of this parents - the sky father (Ranginui) and earth mother (Papatūānuku) - that he ripped out his eyes and flung them into the heavens. This gives Matariki its full name - The eyes of the god Tāwhirimātea (Ngā Mata o te Ariki Tāwhirimātea).

With the star cluster disappearing and then returning each year, this event celestial became linked with the cycle of life, death and rebirth. This is now a time to remember our ancestors, releasing their spirits to become stars. Similarly, a time to express thanks for the past year's harvest by feasting and sharing the bounty with family and friends. Celebrations often include storytelling and cultural performances which offer a wonderful opportunity to teach about cultural connection through engaging forms of creative expression.

Some popular options that educators can explore for art creating, include:

1. Star (whetu) themed art - painting, collages or sculptures that depict celestial representations. See a starry night lesson idea below.

2. Kites - the design and construction of traditional Māori kites can represent both ancestral connections and the spirit of Matariki.

3. Flax Weaving - teaching the traditional art of weaving flax leaves to create beautiful and functional pieces, like baskets (kete) and mats (whariki). See a lesson idea below.

1) Starry Night - an art lesson for Upper Elementary

You can make a great connection to a well loved artwork - Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh - when exploring Matariki with Year 5-6  and middle school students.

First, it's important that students can correctly recite their personal and individual Pepeha. For help with this you can visit the following website: https://pepeha.nz/

A pepeha is a formal way of introducing yourself in Māori. It tells others about who you are by sharing your connection with people and places that are important to you.

Your pepeha is the inspiration for the content of this artwork. Students then locate images of water, mountains, plants and buildings or other landmarks that they associate with their significant place. 

Combining this with information about The eyes of the god Tāwhirimātea (Ngā Mata o te Ariki Tāwhirimātea) and the Post-Impressionist technique of Vincent Van Gogh, students create wonderful original artworks they can be proud of.

For a fully comprehensive art lesson including a video tutorial please visit my TPT store - One Teacher's Journey - HERE 

or visit my website - Help Me Learn - HERE

2) Make a Manu Tuktuku - Maori kite - an art lesson for Mid Elementary

Start this lesson with the shared book called The Seven Kites of Matariki. Here is a link to the read-aloud on YouTube:

The following video, made by Tauranga City Library, will guide you through resources to collect and and the steps to making kites with your students. 

3) Woven Whariki or blanket for lying down to watch the night sky  - an art lesson for Early Elementary.

Traditionally mats would be woven from the leaves of a flax plant in New Zealand. However, when harvesting the leaves of this plant, certain cultural procedures (tikanga) need to be followed. Here is a video on YouTube explaining more about that:

In the classroom you can substitute other materials  to teach weaving, when gathering flax is not an option. I always save the paper strips from trimming student artworks and these provide colourful pieces for students to work with. You can also strip coloured card on the guillotine for this lesson. By using up trimmings from other artworks that would otherwise be thrown away, you are aligning to, and honouring the Māori world view on sustainability and environmental awareness.

Students are given an A5 sized card to turn into a loom following a few careful steps and then they can weave coloured card or paper strips though this to create their mat or blanket.

Another option is to use wool on a loom. Make the looms by pre-cutting thick packaging cardboard to aprox. A5 size. Snip into both short edges - cut 1-2 cm deep and use 2cm spacing. Wrap the Warp thread around the card and tape the ends off. Thread a large plastic / craft needle with a length of wool and weave (the Weft) in and out of the Warp threads to create the blanket. Snip the ends of the Warp treads across the back of the card and tie this off in pairs across the top and bottom of the weaving. 

With the paper option, you can layer thinner strips, decorative strips or even thick wool across the weaving too.

For the full paper weaving lesson which also includes a video tutorial, you can go to my TPT store - One Teacher's Journey - HERE or 

visit my website - Help Me Learn - HERE

So bring your classroom communities together and use the arts as a way to acknowledge the past, celebrate the present and look forward to the future.

Keep warm everyone! and enjoy your winter break if you are teaching in the Southern hemisphere.

Year Long Visual Art Lesson Tutorials First Grade

Hi there!

Are you new to teaching visual art? Does the thought of paint splatter and clay dust send you screaming to the staff room for a strong cup of coffee? I get it. 

Teaching art in elementary is a multi-layered & complex activity. Thankfully many teachers give the arts a space in their planning and weekly programmes, even when they don't feel qualified or skilled to do so. They still realise the importance of students having opportunity for expression and creation. 

After many years teaching in the classroom, I increasingly saw the arts being squeezed out of our loaded curriculums. Even the government withdrew financial backing in this area for many years.

The arts brings colour to your daily grind. It grows the imagination and builds language skills, which directly translates to our writing curriculums. Making art requires critical thinking and problem solving which supports mathematical thinking and concepts.  

So set up an art media exploration centre in your classroom, run a guided art lesson with your class, and bring a little colour back into your teaching days in the form of student artworks decorating your walls instead of adult created classroom decor themes.

Finding just the right lesson for your students is not easy, guessing whether its age appropriate for your young learners, finding the time to try it out yourself ahead of time - who has time for that?

Now that I have moved out of the classroom and into a specialist role in the arts, I am able to trial my art lesson ideas across the entire K-6 range of levels. You can trust that these lessons will meet the needs of your students and give you step-by-step support to teach an art lesson with success.

This is my First Grade Art Lessons Bundle that you can view on TPT. While a classroom teacher does not need the entire 25 lesson collection, its a great place to start and view the lessons for this age group. Browse the collection and choose the ones that are just right for you. Click on each link in the product description to be taken to your preferred lesson.

However, for art room teachers, whether experienced but looking for valuable support with fresh ideas, or new to the role and feeling overwhelmed about where to start - this bundle may be just what you need.  There is enough content in here to keep you going for up to 3 years in First Grade. Alternately, scale some lessons up for 2nd and others down for Kindergarten. This way you can get even more out of this bundle for 3 grade levels.

So what do teachers, who have already used lessons included in this bundle, say about them? Here are just a few ...

SUNSET SUNRISE (paint & collage)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 'This was so well done in helping explain the process of creating the sunrise/sunset. I really liked the way science and art are combined.'

KANDINSKY'S GARDEN (paint, cut & assemble)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Amazing value, this resource is super engaging and my learners absolutely loved the activities. Made teaching art really simple for me too, thank you!”

SPRING FLOWERS (paint, cut & assemble)

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ "did this with my first grade class. Took us about 4 art classes to complete. turned out so absolutely beautiful that they were displayed in our school foyer"

SNAILS IN MY GARDEN (draw & paint)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "We used this for a line project and the students really enjoyed doing this. It was a unique project for students and we were able to tie in a book with it as well. Thanks for the great lesson."

COLLAGE SELF-PORTRAITS - based on Goldilocks (collage)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "We used this as a unique twist on self portraits. My students thought this was really fun and different than just drawing ourselves. What a great lesson!"

Find this First Grade Art Lessons BUNDLE in my TPT store - One Teacher's Journey - HERE or click any of the images above. 

I would love to know what you think and whether you would like to see more bundles at other levels, too.