ELMER and His Elephant FRIENDS - Brief Article

Arts & Activities, Dec, 2000 by Jackie Sigan

One of the most exciting aspects of teaching elementary art is the opportunity to try new ideas and exciting projects. I believe in varying the approach I use for the many different concepts, subject matter and ideas. The same approach over and over can become stale and boring for the students as well as their art teacher.

I am very fortunate to teach weekly 70-minute art classes. This allows ample time for set-up, work and cleanup. One approach I enjoy with my first grade is to incorporate literature into the art unit. The younger students welcome the change from a more discipline-based approach and the interdisciplinary effect works well with regular classroom teachers. (And also with many of our administrators!)

One of my favorite first-grade literature-based lessons is the story of Elmer by David McKee (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1989). Before reading the story, we discuss the basic colors of the color wheel and I introduce the technique of color-mixing for the students.

Since this project is designed for the first grade, to mix all of the colors would be overwhelming. My goal here is to have my students become familiar with how to use the brush to mix colors in a paint tray (or egg carton). I also have them work with a partner at this time.

Each pair receives a tray of green and yellow paint, brushes and a 12" x 18" piece of white paper. The students work together to mix various shades of yellow-green, which they then use to paint the entire page. This step takes one class period to complete.

Students who are done early may practice coloring in grid squares on 1-inch grid manila drawing paper. They select a shape to draw and then color the squares within the shape with different color crayons. This is good practice for the work in class the following week.

The next week, I begin the class by reading Elmer, a delightful story about a colorful patchwork elephant. We always discuss the stories that are read in class before proceeding with the art lesson. Each student is given a piece of white paper with a 1-inch grid on it. (I prefer to use copy paper here because we will be coloring with markers.) Now we are ready to begin drawing Elmer the elephant!

I take my students through a step-by-step process to help break the elephant shape down into simple shapes for starting. When the drawing is complete, the students begin the coloring of Elmer's patchwork body with bright colorful markers.

When Elmer is complete, I have the students trace the elephant shape to another sheet of copy paper for a second elephant. This elephant they complete in either gray, to resemble real elephants, or in colorful patterns--which comes from the end of the story. This process may carry into a third art class depending on the pace of the students.

Lastly, we are ready to put the entire Elmer project together. We take our yellow-green painting and tear a long strip for the ground of our "jungle" scene. Tearing paper sometimes reduces the stress and frustration that some students have using scissors at an early age. Background colors may vary. I chose a light green 12" x 18" piece of construction paper.

Students glue the ground piece to the bottom and then use paper scraps to tear tree trunks. After gluing the tree trunks, we use the remainder of the yellow-green painting for the treetops. The treetops are glued on and the jungle scene is ready for Elmer. Both elephants are neatly cut out and glued to the jungle scene.

If you are a teacher who cannot break away from a discipline-based approach, this lesson can be done with the scanning and discussion of animals as subject matter in art. However, your students will enjoy the story of Elmer and it will make their artwork more meaningful to them.

Jackie Sigan teaches art at Allen Elementary School in the Strongville School System, Strongville, Ohio.