1st &; 2nd - Perspective Trees

1st and 2nd graders are working on the concept of "Perspective" - how we see an object and draw it in a two-dimensional space. 

We went outside to take a walk and look at trees. We noted the shapes, overlapping branches, and size of each tree as we walked closer and further from it. To easily show this, I had the kids place their right hand at the bottom of the tree and left hand at the top, as we walked closer to the tree they were amazed at how their hands got further apart as the tree appeared larger. 

We then came inside and spent some time practicing drawing trees in our sketchbooks. 

We set up our paper with diagonal lines from corner to corner, forming the framework for our trees. Students drew trees of various sizes, with closer (larger) trees near the outside of their paper and further (smaller) trees towards the center of their paper. 

We then used colored pencils to color our tree forests.  

Next we are going to use paint to add leaves!