First Grade Shark Art lesson on Symmetry, Day 1

My first graders practiced folding paper and cutting shapes to make a symmetrical shark for an Under the Sea Masterpiece. 

I love volunteering as an Art Docent, but it's the end of the school year and I'm burnt out on cleaning up big messes.

Paint, clay, ink - anything with pieces and counters that need to be washed - I'm over it.

But I need two more lessons before school ends....

The shark on the left is my example. The shark on the right is our first step. My class likes to see an example of the finished product before they start and then a visual for each step of the process.

So I reviewed my Art Education idea board with my focus group (a.k.a my first grade son) and found this great shark lesson on Elements of the Art Room blog.

Not only did he love that they could make giant shark heads, but it was perfect for my group - the lesson introduced symmetry, allowed them to work on their scissor skills and used materials that are easier to clean up after.

Laying out supplies on each table before the kids come. 

Setting up the Art Room

I like to have an hour to set up before the kids come. I can do it in less, but I usually need to finish my examples and prep supples. 

For this project, I cut down gray, black and white construction paper for the different pieces of the sharks. Then, to save time in class, I set supplies and paper on each table before the kids came. 

I like to set all my supplies out on a table near the front to make it easier for
clean up and finding extra supplies. 

Supply list

• Large blue construction paper (about 11x17)

• Gray construction paper (about 8x11)

• Black and White construction paper (cut down into 5x5 inch squares)

• Glue

• pencils

• scissors

• black crayons

• oil pastels

• Scrap buckets (One for each table)

• Supply bucket for each table (i.e. recycled yogurt or cottage cheese containers)

 Extra Activity Center

I also prepped a table with activities for those students who finish quickly and need another activity. I've found that class works better when the kids who finish fast have a distraction from running around the room and finding random cupboards and materials to mess with. 

For this lesson on Symmetry, I set up the extra activity center with a couple different drawing activities. Once the kids finish the main project and clean up their work space, they can choose an activity from the table. 

Symmetry Coloring Pages

For this class, they could choose between Butterfly or Spider Symmetry Art Coloring pages or tracing  shells and rocks on paper and identifying if they are symmetric or asymmetric. Cutting and gluing the sharks took longer than I thought, so I'll save this extra activity center for next week when we finish up. 

Symmetry in Nature Tracing

For the Nature Tracing opportunity, I set out drawing paper, colored pencils and a box filled with unique shells and rocks that my family has gathered on walks. I also drew a little example so they could see what they could do. 

 Symmetry Lesson 

I started out the lesson reviewing a few concepts from our last couple lessons (Color, lines, shapes) and then introduced the idea of symmetry. [I just notices I spelled it wrong on the board! Whoops! :)]

I had taped fun images below the board and called on kids who were sitting quietly with raised hands to pick their favorite. They held it up and I drew a line down the middle. The class pointed to which side of the board it belonged on - symmetric or asymmetric. 

 


After all the pictures were sorted on the board, we talked about how we can see symmetry in animals, buildings, cartoons, shapes and all around us.

Then I showed introduced our art project - making a Symmetric Shark glued on an ocean scene. They were very excited. Any project involving an animal is a big hit with this class.

Shark Tutorial 

I really liked the instructions for this project here. I did learn a few tips to help this lesson run smoother next time:

• Review cutting along a fold before hand. It worked really well to have the kids draw where they were going to cut first, then hold it in the air for me to approve before cutting. 

• The mouth shape was tricky for them to eyeball and draw. It might work better to describe how to draw the shape first. Then approve it before they cut and glue. 

• First Graders have a hard time cutting little circles, so they will need help with the eyes. 

• This project is better broken into two days - one day for the glueing and the next for drawing the ocean background. 

Overall, it went well and everyone was excited with how fierce their sharks look once they added the teeth.