ST. PATRICK'S DAY MATH

I love to draw.  I'm not good at it, but I like it anyway.  And when you teach first grade, you're generally a little better at it than the mini-artists around you, so you tend to feel like Michelangelo... and suddenly you're an artistic superhero. Your students think so, too.

I always make time for drawing in my classroom.  It appeals to so many kids (not all, I know, but many).  And when I can connect opportunities to draw with the standards I need to teach, I think I've done something good.  These little leprechauns were made from a directed drawing lesson.  I love how cute they are and they're as different and unique as the kids who drew them, but directed drawing lessons have educational benefits as well.  They can help strengthen many skills including:

• listening and following directions

• understanding logical sequence

• improving hand-eye coordination and fine motor development

• developing spatial awareness and perspective

Some teachers get nervous though.  It kind of goes like this, "What if someone comes into the classroom and thinks we're just drawing?"  Been there.  (Heaven forbid we might just be doing art.)  So make it standards-based.  Done.  Now it's a glyph that I can use to practice collecting, graphing, and analyzing data with the kids.

And anybody can walk in without making me sweat.

The last few steps of this particular directed drawing lesson are glyph-dependent, so although we're all drawing basically the same picture, a few of the features (the stripes, the location of the clover, and the number of pockets) depend on each child.  I've included a key in the set I made, but you could easily make a similar one on a chart, too.  (This one is a condensed version of the one in the set... less text for the little ones.)  

Once the drawings are finished, we begin collecting data using tally marks.  A bar graph has been included so the children can record the results.  And in the end, we analyze the data we collected... so much math work!  (No sweating here.)

I'd love to give some of these away to our readers.  Be one of the first TEN to leave a comment below and I'll send you the set, Lucky Leprechauns: A GLYPH & GRAPH Math Activity for St. Patrick's Day.  Don't forget to leave your email address so I know where to send it.

Happy teaching!