Colouring Criteria

This past week, the students were introduced to the word criteria.  

As a class, we created criteria to follow when we are drawing, colouring or illustrating.

Using a familiar picture from our most recent religion lesson, students put the colouring criteria into action! 

Students were sure to check our colouring criteria to ensure their illustrations were amazing. Next week we will be writing and illustrating our very own Halloween stories, so this colouring criteria will help us become successful illustrators! Stay tuned!

Criteria for Strong Illustrations

Our writing has become really strong! We began the year writing a beginning sound or a word or two. Now? We can write a complete idea independently! Each day we work hard at our writing, and our growth is amazing! SO much to be proud of!

But lately, our illustrations have not matched our strong writing. At times, we have not given our illustrations as much effort. How can we make our pictures as awesome as our writing?

Students looked at some examples of illustrations and brainstormed what makes an illustration dazzling. Then we gathered and sorted our ideas, and together generated criteria for a strong illustration!

We have already had a chance to apply our learning! Sorry, though, no pictures of the students' illustrations today ... these are part of a top secret Mother's Day project!

Some spring butterflies have showed up in our room today, too!

We also removed our egg turner to prepare for hatching! By Monday we should have some barnyard news! We can't wait!

Dream Snow

Our playground and field are covered in snow, so it was fitting this week to read Eric Carle's book Dream Snow.

In the story, a farmer falls asleep and dreams that snow covers his farm animals. This book is very clever! Clear plastic sheets, with "snow" on them, can be lifted to reveal the animal underneath! The students loved this!

Inspired by a similar project on Mrs. Bainbridge's blog, we began creating our own version of Mr. Carle's book, but with a twist! Students were each going to write several clues about an animal of their choosing. An illustration of the animal would accompany the clues. Just like in Mr. Carle's book, a clear page with painted "snow" would cover the animal, so it would be lifted up to reveal the animal hidden under the snowbank!

Here is the criteria the students followed for the project:

Children got right to work writing clues for an animal of their choosing. They were very secretive about their animal, and worked nearly silently on their clues.

Students were challenged to write four clues, each beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period. As well, students were required to spell Word Wall Words correctly (weekly spelling words posted on the wall).

Once we completed our clues, we moved on to our illustrations. Students drew their animal, as secretly as possible, on a snowy landscape.

The very best part of the project was adding "snow" to a transparency placed over each student's illustration.

We all had a laugh when it wasn't just our animals getting covered in snow!

Because of their fantastic work, the hallway near our classroom is packed with curious students, reading the clues and peeking under the snowbanks! Well done, Grade One!

Now that the projects are complete, the students will self-assess their projects based upon the initial criteria provided. This is the time when they celebrate their work and find a way to improve as they grow as writers and illustrators.

We enjoyed some time on Friday afternoon making Christmas wreaths with our buddies! The students made so many wreaths that we will not only hang them here at school, but hope to have some hung at the Ardrossan Rec Complex! Be sure to visit there soon to see our artwork!

Our wreaths were inspired by this project,
shared on Small-Town Life.