In each of my grade 1-6 art classes, I finished the year with easy mediums: broad-tip markers, crayons, or colored pencils. This facilitated end-of-year art room clean-up and more importantly, students who needed additional time could easily finish at home. For my first grade classes, this strategy meant colored pencil robots.
During the first class period, we read The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires and discussed how inventors need patience and tenacity. I told the students that for this project, they were going to be robot inventors. We looked at images of robots and identified characteristics. Students were given 4.5 x 6 inch white construction paper and I directed the drawing of a one-part robot, giving lots of options for: body shape, appendage types, hands, feet, eyes, buttons, vents, etc. Of course, students were allowed to invent their own details. The second week, I directed (again giving MANY choice options) the drawing of a two-part robot. Once students had drawn their second robot, they were given a third paper to draw a robot of their choice–with as many or few body parts as they desired.
Each student’s three illustrations were mounted on black paper–more evenly than my photos reveal, since I cropped off student names. My firsties loved drawing robots and, to my surprise, many of my middle grade students were disappointed it was not their final project.
