pablo picasso

On Friday morning the Kindergarteners used all that they know about shapes and lines to draw their self portraits. Representing your self is an important part of the beginning of the year together - many of our read alouds and reflections are a celebration of one's unique self within our community.

I believe learning should be connected, ensuring children can develop an understanding and knowledge of concepts through different mediums and experiences. Our ongoing conversations about lines connects to our work in Fundations, where the children follow specific lines to print letters. Similar lines are used in their drawings and representations. A curvy or zig zag line can represent hair on a self portrait.

The children have been exploring and using different math tools to name, compare, and learn about shapes. Their self portraits are a collection of different kinds of shapes. An oval for a face or two circles for eyes. Thinking about drawing and representation as a collection of lines and shapes will support children as we prepare to begin our writing workshop - where the expectation is that children draw and write a variety of planned pieces. For the children that say, I don't know how to draw that, I can respond with, picture it in your mind and think about the shapes and lines you see.

While reflecting on their learning and my teaching about lines and shapes, I immediately thought of the artist Pablo Picasso and his famous portraits. During morning meeting we looked at some of Picasso's work and the children shared their noticings. We read some information about Picasso and I read the book Ish. His portraits look portrait-ish. The children's portraits are inspired by Picasso's work, but our conversations continued to connect back to the use of different lines and shapes.

Practice is important. I introduced white boards and dry erase markers through guided discovery, ensuring clear expectations for how to use these tools, as well as providing an opportunity to practice looking and representing. These tools now live in our classroom.

 

 

 



Following their practice work, we came back together on the rug. The children followed a guided drawing for the outline of their portraits. Each step was a specific shape or line and every child gave it a try - they listened and worked carefully on their canvases. Once at their tables, their portraits came to life with their choice of color and detail - squiggly lines and short straight lines, bright blue eyes and silver cheeks!

The children's portraits are inspired by Picasso and our work with shapes and lines - but the energy and spirit within each portrait is unique to the individual artist.