This week we've been reading Dragon Gets By by Dav Pilkey, and my second graders think that Dragon is hilarious! They loved reading about him and his silly antics.
In an effort to add a little fun to our Friday, we did a directed drawing of Dragon to add to their Literacy Notebooks. For those who are unfamiliar, a directed drawing is a step-by-step drawing instruction for students. It is an excellent way to practice fine motor skills, following directions, and listening...and it is so FUN!
I used my document camera to project my drawing, but an overhead projector would work well, as would simply drawing on the board.
I started with the outline of the body and worked my way toward adding details at the end. I recommend using many short, simple steps when introducing directed drawing to your students. It will help build their self-confidence.
Dragon was a pretty easy character to draw, and my students did a fabulous job. I used 12 steps to draw Dragon, although you could condense it a bit if you're students are ready for multi-step directions.
After we finished drawing, I showed the kids how to outline their pencil drawing with a black marker. They loved this part! Then, we colored in Dragon with blue crayons. I showed them how to use long, broad crayon strokes to color neatly and thoroughly. This is not a waste of time. Take the time to show your students how to use art materials well, and they will take a lot more pride in their work.
We glued Dragon into our Literacy Notebooks, and then wrote a summary of Dragon Gets By. We had been working on summarizing all week. I was so, so impressed with my students' work on both the drawings and summaries! They did an absolutely terrific job, and I was so proud of them. They were really proud of themselves and couldn't wait to share their work with one another and me.
Have you tried directed drawings with your students? I cannot recommend it enough. Mine were begging to do another one, and I can't wait to do it again!
Thanks for reading!
No comments