Elementary Watercolor

Watercolor can be a tricky medium for any age range, that is a thought that I kept in mind when designing a watercolor unit for the elementary age range.

Grades 1-5 were given the opportunity to use watercolor and I designed curriculum that was developmentally appropriate for the grade groupings I formed.

Treating materials with care: how to properly care for our brushes and paints was discussed with EVERY grade level. Gentle was the key word for both our paints and our brushes.

Examples: The students were shown a slideshow with examples of different watercolor techniques and example paintings that contained those techniques. The students were invited to participate at different points in the slideshow to identify what techniques were used in different paintings.

1st and 2nd Grade: We had a broad goal of creating plant life and flowers. While students were asked to follow along with me, I encouraged when they deviated to try their own ideas and techniques, as the goal was to experiment with the medium- not create a 'perfect' piece of art.

3rd, 4th & 5th Grade: We practiced dry-brush, wet on wet, and wax resist. I walked around the room after each technique was introduced to make sure students were able to use the technique and helped one on one. We also made a rainbow grid of our color palette as a reference to see how colors interacted with each other with 4th and 5th grade. Once the students had completed the technique exercise they were able to experiment on their own with the medium for the remainder of class.

I created an open-ended prompt so that the students could choose to do what they were passionate about, but also what they felt comfortable and capable of making.

The criteria they had to meet was simple and broad so that they could operate within the bounds they were comfortable. The criteria was also based off of things we had already practiced as a class, so I knew they were capable of doing. There was a different developmentally appropriate rubric for 3rd grad compared to 4th and 5th.

Each class the vocabulary introduced was reviewed and the criteria that needed to be met was displayed on the TVs during making time. The criteria rubrics also had accompanying images to demonstrate the techniques needed for ELL students.

If students had extra time, they were encouraged to make another painting with no criteria boundaries so that they could fully explore.