Wrapping up Peter Reynolds Author Study

This week, the first graders wrapped up our author study on Peter H Reynolds by reading a book that he illustrated, called The Museum. The book is by author Susan Verde and was a great ending to our study, because it is about a trip to an art museum. Art is one of the major themes throughout Peter's books, so it was a perfect book to finish with!

After reading the story, the students participated in our own little art gallery. I printed off some famous paintings and hung them on large poster paper throughout the room. Students walked around, like it was a museum, and wrote how each painting made them feel. The kids were awesome at expressing how the paintings made them feel and what they thought about as they were looking at them. Some of the words they wrote were very descriptive!

Here are some pictures of them in action:

Sky Color

The first graders have been studying author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds. Last week, we read his book called Sky Color. In Sky Color, Marisol's class is painting a mural and it is her job to color the sky. But, the blue paint is missing! Marisol notices the sky around her as she goes home from school and day turns into night, and that inspires her idea--Sky Color!

After reading the story, we talked about different colors in the sky. Then, we created our own Sky Color in the windows outside the library using crystal effects window markers. It was such a fun time, and we had lots of questions from other classes about what we were doing! They were very concerned about whether or not we had asked for permission from Miss Sherry and Mr. Schipper.

This was the final product!

I stayed late to get some work done one night and the sun just happened to be setting. Our Sky Color looked very cool with the sunset in the background! 

I love these markers! 

This was one of my favorite moments--The windows were getting full and the students wanted to stand in the windowsills. I had told other classes that I thought our feet should stay on the floor, but this class I decided we could "break the rules" and stand up on the sill. That inspired some singing, dancing, and drawing. The song went something like, "We're breaking the rules on Friday, on Friday." They were singing it over and over again and it made me laugh!