Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v5 - Grade 1

Lesson Video

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Performance objectives

• Hold crayons and paintbrushes correctly
• Name and use the three primary colours
• Mix primary colours to make a new colour
• Draw pictures using simple shapes
• Make a simple craft with a pattern

Lesson summary

This lesson introduces Grade 1 learners to the foundational elements of creative arts: drawing, painting, and simple crafts. In a vibrant and diverse country like South Africa, art is a powerful tool for communication, cultural expression, and personal enjoyment. From the intricate beadwork of the Zulu and Ndebele cultures to the rock art of the San people, art tells the story of our nation. This lesson empowers young learners to begin telling their own stories. By exploring colours, shapes, and textures, learners develop essential fine motor skills, creativity, and the ability to observe and interpret the world around them.

Lesson notes

A. Drawing: Making Marks Drawing is about making lines and marks on a surface like paper. We use tools to help us draw.

Drawing Tools: Crayons: Waxy sticks that are great for filling in big spaces with bright colour.

Pencils: Used for making light or dark lines. We can erase them if we make a mistake.

Charcoal: A very dark, soft material that can be messy but makes beautiful, bold marks.

How to Hold Your Tools: We practice the 'tripod grip'. This is like a little bird's beak. Your thumb and pointer finger 'pinch' the crayon, and the middle finger rests underneath to support it. This helps you control your lines and not get tired quickly.

Types of Lines: Lines can show feelings or describe things.

Straight lines: Can be up and down (vertical) or side to side (horizontal).

Curvy lines: Are soft and flowing, like a river or a snake.

Zigzag lines: Are sharp and pointy, like mountains or a lightning strike.

Example: To draw a zebra, you could use a curvy line for its back and lots of zigzag or straight lines for its stripes!

B. Painting: Spreading Colour Painting is using wet colour, called paint, and spreading it on paper.

Primary Colours (The 'Parent' Colours): These are the three main colours that cannot be made by mixing others. They are RED, YELLOW, and BLUE. Think of the red of a stop sign, the yellow of the sun, and the blue of the sky. Secondary Colours (The 'Children' Colours): When we mix two primary colours, we create a new colour called a secondary colour. RED + YELLOW = ORANGE (like a juicy orange or a sunset over the Kalahari). YELLOW + BLUE = GREEN (like the grass after the summer rains). BLUE + RED = PURPLE (like the jacaranda flowers in Pretoria).

Painting Tools: Brushes: We use thick brushes for big areas and thin brushes for small details.

Fingers: Finger painting is fun! It lets you feel the paint and mix colours right on the paper.

C. Shapes: The Building Blocks of Art Everything we see is made of shapes. If you can draw shapes, you can draw anything!

Basic 2D Shapes: Circle: Round with no corners (like the sun, a ball, or a R5 coin).

Square: Four equal sides and four corners (like a window or a slice of bread).

Triangle: Three sides and three corners (like the roof of a house or a slice of pizza).

Rectangle: Four sides, where two are long and two are short (like a door or our country's flag).

Example: Drawing a Rondavel House Draw a big circle for the main wall of the house. Draw a big triangle on top of the circle for the thatch roof. Draw a small rectangle inside the circle for the door. You have just used three basic shapes to draw a home!

D. Simple Crafts: Making with Your Hands Crafts are things we make using our hands. Beading is a wonderful craft that has been done in South Africa for a very long time.

Beading and Patterns: Beads: Small, decorated objects that have a hole through them so you can thread them onto a string.

Pattern: A pattern is when things are repeated in a special order. A simple pattern is an AB pattern. This means you use one thing, then a second thing, and then you repeat.

For example: Red bead (A), Blue bead (B), Red bead (A), Blue bead (B)... Guided Practice (With Solutions)

Question 1: The Magic Colour Puddle Task: On your paper, put a small puddle of yellow paint. Next to it, put a small puddle of blue paint. Now, use your finger or a brush to gently mix the two puddles together. What happens? What new colour do you see?

Solution: Observation: When the yellow and blue paint mix, they start to disappear and a new colour appears.

Explanation: The new colour you see is GREEN. This is a magic trick of art! Yellow and blue are 'parent' primary colours. When they mix, they create a 'child' secondary colour, green. You have just performed colour mixing.

Question 2: My Shape Person Task: Use your crayons to draw a picture of a person using only three shapes: one circle, one rectangle, and four smaller rectangles.

Solution: Method: Draw the circle for the person's head. Draw the large rectangle underneath the circle for the person's body. Draw two smaller rectangles coming from the sides of the body for the arms. Draw the last two smaller rectangles coming from the bottom of the body for the legs.

Commentary: You can see how we can build something complex like a person by just putting simple shapes together. Art is like playing with building blocks!

Question 3: The Flag Pattern Bracelet Task: Let's use beads the colour of our flag. You have black, yellow, and green beads. Thread them onto your string in this repeating pattern: Black, Yellow, Green, Black, Yellow, Green.

Solution: Method: The learner should pick up a black bead and thread it, then a yellow, then a green. They must then repeat this exact sequence.

Correct Order: The first six beads on the string should be: Black, Yellow, Green, Black, Yellow, Green.

Explanation: This is an ABC pattern. It's more complex than an AB pattern because it has three parts that repeat.