From Lines to Laughs: Kindergarten Bed Head

The Original Lesson

One of the first lessons in kindergarten is learning about horizontal and vertical lines. We use our hands and do the "horizontal hulu" which I stole from Janine Campbell's session at NAEA.  (Thanks Janine, the kids love it!). This lesson also teaches kids how to use brushes without paint. We use starch and tissue paper, so it's a great intro the the materials and how to put wet brushes away, before they are covered with paint!  Procedure, procedure, procedure makes everything easier! I've been doing this lesson for three years, and the finished product was beautiful.  Besides lines and pretty, that's all we got from it.  This lesson, "Tuck Me In" by Sheryl Depp in School Arts magazine, inspired me to use these pretty horizontal and vertical lines as quilts.  

 

The inspiration that gave a project new meaning.

Last year, the kids made themselves tucked into bed, and just glued in crazy hair. Straight lines going in different directions. After I hung them in the hallway with a sign that read 'Kindergarten Bedhead', a second grade teacher gave me a book called Bedhead.  I love this collaboration because the grade level teachers are the experts on children's books!  I added the book this year and the kids loved listening to it. They laughed so much! When it was time to make their own bed head, we used zig-zag and curvy lines to make it. Students wrapped paper around crayons for curvy and folded paper back and forth to make zig-zag lines that turned into their crazy bed head.

Mrs. W gave me her book from Scholastic 

This lesson has evolved over the years from just tissue paper lines to a project with a narrative and a laugh.  The inspiration from the School Arts lesson that turned my horizontal and vertical project into a quilt quickly snowballed into a new and more meaningful lesson where the kids get to create a story and learn about materials, lines, and procedures all at the same time!