elmer

Who doesn't love Elmer?

After a lesson on looking carefully at patterns which included drawing random patterns all over a large sheet of drawing paper, My Kindergarten students did an Elmer drawing. First I read the story and then I went through the book again with a picture walk. We talked about the patterns in Elmer's friends, and also discussed the interesting scenery in the story. This was followed by a kind of "direct drawing" activity, in which I had students follow along with my directions:

- Draw a large oval for the body.
- Add a circle for the head.
- Put on a trunk. See how it looks like a J?
- We'll need some legs. How many? What shape? How big?
- Let's add an ear and an eye and a mouth.

This drawing was done with pencil. After the drawing was complete, students were asked to trace over their lines with a dark colored marker or crayon, and then to fill Elmer's friend with a colorful pattern. Some students had time to add trees or other fanciful backgrounds.

For display, I lined them up above the white board.



The students loved this activity, and even though it was a direct draw, every drawing had its own personality. Students had to think about and draw shapes, and also to work with patterns, all of which is in both their Art and Math standards. Two birds with one stone!