Teaching Kindergarten the first few days of school always gave me SO much anxiety! These poor kiddos have no idea how to raise their hand or ask to use the restroom, let alone write their name and use scissors and glue! Fortunately a few years ago I found the perfect first lesson for my littlest artists! Harold & The Purple Crayon to the rescue!
After teaching for over 10 years, I've found that kindergartners do best with short back to back activities - especially at the beginning of the year! So every year on the first day of art I invite those little cuties to sit on the floor at the front of the room and I read them Harold & The Purple Crayon.
(**Teacher tip: When you are going to invite kids to an area of the room and sit and read to them... move your chair away from the wall significantly. You know those super excited kiddos want to see every picture from 2 inches away! Once they sit down, move your seat back where it goes! Life. Changing.)
After we read the book, I have them all go back to their seats at their tables and we talk about the different things that Harold drew in the story. We practice raising our hands and not shouting out - and this is a great activity to help reiterate that in your art room.
Then I give them paper and ONLY a purple crayon and tell them to start drawing. Most of them start by drawing some of the things that Harold drew in the story. After several minutes, I tell them to think of some other things that Harold didn't draw to add to their artwork. This year I saw purple unicorns, french fries, and robots! I love Kinder imaginations! You just never know what you're going to get!
As they start to wind down and fill their space, I call on a few students to share some of the things they drew on their artwork. They absolutely love to share and again, it reiterates raising their hand and waiting until they are called on.
If I still have more time (which I usually do!) I play a short video of another Harold story. I purchased a DVD collection called "Treasury Of 100 Storybook Classics" by Scholastic and there is an entire DVD that is dedicated to the Harold stories. I like to play one or two of the videos if we have extra time.
Honestly, I used to feel guilty about playing a video and there have been other teachers/admin that have made comments in the past. However, brand new Kindergartners (in my experience) have a really difficult time sitting still and working on artwork for 45 minutes to an hour. Playing a quick video at the end of class that mirrors the art lesson is beneficial and shouldn't be discounted. Not to mention they LOVE it!
This year I also added some Harold artwork to the front office windows. It probably took me about 15 minutes total! Which means you can do it too! It's the first thing students, parents, and other visitors see when they walk into our school. I want my kiddos and their parents to see the impact our artwork has as soon as they walk in! Displays are hard... especially if you're a travelling teacher or you are really low on time, but they make SUCH an impact! And they Harold display is easy! I promise!
Happy art teacherin!