Turtles, Patterns, and a Lesson in Leadership

It took some time to transfer the turtle drawings to canvases, but I think the project will be worth it!  It helped to cushion the canvases with a towel beneath them as I ironed.  

 I read Dr. Seuss's Yertle the Turtle to the kindergarteners this week.  I love Dr. Seuss projects in March, when kids can celebrate his birthday.  The turtles make a creative spring theme, and the story has a strong moral, teaching how to treat others with respect.  The students loved the part of the story when Mack burps and topples the turtle tower.  Several of them named their turtles after him.  They described Yertle as "greedy, angry and mean."  They decided a good leader is "kind, generous and wants to make people happy."  I asked them if they had leaders, and they named the classroom line leader, Mr. Roche, and Barrack Obama.

For the art project, I led the students through drawing a turtle.  They studied lines and shapes, comparing them to letters of the alphabet or common images.  For example, the turtle shell was a letter "D", a rainbow, and a mountain.  I think this helps develop observational drawing skills because they are practicing finding lined and shapes when looking at something.  I encouraged them to use bright colors and patterns to decorate the turtles.  We used fabric crayons, and made sure to color with more pressure than usual to make an iron-on.  I ironed the drawings onto 6x6 inch canvases, and now they are using acrylic paint to paint on the canvases.  Most of them have never painted on a canvas before, so they are very excited.  I hope to display this project in a public show!

Jonny was so focused on his turtle.  I had just shown him how holding his brush straight up  and down would help him keep the point small for the details on his painting.

Eli and Kyle wanted to add a pond rather than grass beneath their turtles to be more true to the story.