Hippos

George and Martha by James Marshall started off this mixed media project and on the second week we read a nonfiction book called Hippos by Amelie Von Zumbusch. (I try to include fiction and nonfiction in all my primary lessons.) I got the idea for this project on Artsonia and I tried it 2 ways. In the first way I allowed the students to make their hippos any color they wanted and they painted their backgrounds on the same day. In the second way, the first graders, mixed gray from black and white to paint their hippos on day 1 and they painted the backgrounds on the second day. In both projects the students cut and pasted ovals and circles and rectangles for snouts, teeth and eyes and used then used sharpies for details. I demonstrated how to use simple shapes to create the bodies.