Chinese New Year Dragons - Grade 2

Anna's Dragon

Here is a small sampling of a few of the dragons we painted in second grade last week in honor of the Chinese New Year.  
If you read my last post on weaving with straws you will know that I was totally consumed with that project. What you  may not know is that in my small Montessori school I teach students at the Primary level which consists of children as young as three years old up to middle school.  It is quite a range and consists of me accomplishing all of this in three days!
I didn't however want the opportunity to go by without sharing a few of the dragons which for a very impromptu and quick little lesson turned out nicely!  
If you're situation is at all like mine you will understand the balancing act it requires to manage so many different age levels.
We started this lesson by talking about line, we always practice drawing lines in the air, on the floor and on the palm of our hands.  Using pencil we next "whispered" with the pencil to draw a curvy line for the dragon's body.  I suggested drawing the number two and then extending it out to the edge of the paper.
I set out a palette of red, green, yellow and purple paint.  We printed over the pencil line with our fingertips and used black crayon to add any further detail.  As always I love how my students creatively interpret the concepts introduced to them!  It was a simple and rewarding lesson which was accomplished in one forty minute art lesson.  Just what I needed so I could get back to dealing with the "straw weaving's!"