kindergarten students show off texture skills

My four Kindergarten classes just completed a project that had them adding simulated texture to a general evergreen tree design. As with all of my projects, students produce as much as possible of the entire work. Each student had to draw, trace, color and cut out the triangle. They then had to use scissors to add the texture to the sides of their triangles. The sides of the trunks were then roughed up with some not-so-straight cuts. They also used four to five crayons to draw zigzag lines on the trunks to simulate bark.

I've tried my best to make all of my displays worth the work. These large investments of my time need to not only display student work (important on many levels) but they should draw in the attention of other grade levels and solidify the overall intention of the lesson. Humor has become a big theme for me. Yes, you're not going to fall over and have trouble catching your breath from laughing so hard, but this subtle approach is having students, as well as teachers in the building, talking about the display. If kids talk about it, they sure have a better chance of retaining the information.

We will discuss the seven Elements of Art/Design throughout the year in Kindergarten: Color, Line, Shape, Texture, Space, Form and Value (value is something we will hit briefly at this grade level).