Sunday, January 12, 2014

2nd Grade "Snowman Scoops"



The inspiration for this lesson came from this ornament I have had hanging on my tree for many years.



As the winter months come around most every grade creates some sort of snowman in their classroom.  I challenged myself to think of a different way students could make their snowman. This year as I was putting up the Christmas tree it came to me.  Let's make snowman scoops!    I did this lesson with 2nd graders and they loved the idea of making their snowman into an ice cream cone.  This was a very simple, successful two day lesson.

On Day 1 we drew three "snowman scoops" and a cone.  Students then watched me demonstrate how to paint in the snowman.  Students talked about how my snowman looked real and we problem solved together why it looked the way.  The answer was shadows and with that we talked a little bit about making drawings and paintings look lifelike by using value and shadow. 

To paint the scoops we used white paint first. Without rinsing paintbrushes we dipped a little bit into the light blue and painted our shadow about 1/4 of the way making a crescent shape. Using dark blue paint we went around the edges of the light blue.   Then, using a paper towel students wiped off any excess paint and dipped it in the brown  for the cone.  To add a highlight they dipped their paintbrush in the white.

On Day 2 using a combination of sharpie marker, oil pastels, and colored pencils students added all details to their snowman.  I drew on the board for them different accessories their snowman might be wearing like hats, mittens, scarves, etc.

They turned out so fun!

Teacher Sample











10 comments:

  1. These look cool. I am excited to try them in my class. It also fits with my writing of triple scoop words. :)

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    1. What a nice extension to add a literature portion. That may be something I will have to think about for another year or to integrate with the classroom teachers.

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  2. I like the fresh take on the snowman. What a fun way to change a lesson.

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  3. Did you paint the background as well or did the students paint their snowman directly onto blue and purple paper?

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    1. I gave the students a choice between purple and blue paper, and we painted directly on it.

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  4. Love this lesson, what a fantastic idea!! I'm definitely trying this with my students! I'm on a cart so I'll try it with oil pastels. Thanks so much! Would you mind if I uploaded your image example with a link to your website?

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  5. Please do! Thanks for asking permission.

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  6. HI!
    I'm a mom and have an hour to complete an art project with my daughter's class - can we complete this in an hour? Will paint dry so we can add accessories before the hour is up? Thanks! Love this idea!

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  7. What kind of paint did you use?:)

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