An art teacher starts the school year with lessons connecting to students’ summer experiences, using picture books to spark ideas.

Kimberly Olson

Building rapport with our students offers a valuable opportunity to begin the school year on a positive note. Teaching early learners makes this aspect especially easy because young children love to share; in fact, itʼs a challenge to keep them from sharing! Rather than fight it, I spend the first ten minutes of each class letting students share and catch up, allowing them to explore whatever is on their minds—a playdate, a birthday, a trip, or a weekend event. Children offer details and bits and pieces of themselves through speaking, drawings, clothing choices, and even behavior. While more effort may be needed to glean information from teens, littles take the lead, hands raised before you even say hello. In this way, I learn a great deal about my students. I even write down some of their funny words or interpretations (e.g., the “Tipping Tower of Pisa”) for that book I’ll write someday. Those insights help shape a curriculum that reflects who they are.

Developing lessons based on student identity, interests, and schema offers a viable bridge to engagement, especially at the beginning of the year.

To start, I build lessons around studentsʼ summer experiences, using picture books such as Summer by Alice Low to inspire ideas. Few children can resist a chance to share the best day of their summer. Sharing my own favorite summer day also helps build connections.

For kindergarten students, this first introduction to art class is also a valuable opportunity to get to know them and establish baseline data. I have them listen to a shared reading of My Friends by Taro Gomi and ask them to notice details in the illustrations such as background, animals, and people. Next, they draw a picture of themselves, including their friends or family at their favorite place, reflecting the standard “Create art that tells a story of a life experience” (NVAS VA:Cn10.1.Ka). These drawings serve as a great comparison of growth when revisited at the end of the school year.

A first-grade adaptation offers students the same chance to share a summer experience as an illustration, but with a one-sentence caption that reflects their beginning-of-the-year writing abilities. Students practice visual storytelling by using people as characters, backgrounds as settings, and details that reflect their identities. Students write to tell specifics of time, place, and people in their drawings, incorporating “who, what, and where” questions. They share their work as a group and make connections to shared experiences by using American Sign Language to communicate “me too.” This further develops classroom community and social awareness through relating to others.

Second-grade individual responses develop into elaborate, detailed illustrations yielding opportunities to review elements like groundline, background, details, and “real” (3D, not stick) people. Even depicting backyard fun or a beach day with cousins makes this accessible for all students. Second graders develop remarkably intricate scenes, including at least two realistic figures paddling a canoe, riding bikes, surfing, or riding on a roller coaster. Their work includes detailed settings, patterns, and visual storytelling without relying on words, signs, or labels.

Second graders make letter-writing connections to turn their drawings into postcards. I share a template for structure and a challenge to compose a five-sentence letter on the back of the drawing clarifying elements of their image—what we can’t tell by looking—identifying the people, place, and occasion depicted. Finally, students examine postage stamps, noticing themes of historical figures, animals, awareness, flags, and holidays, then design a stamp of their own that holds personal meaning. Some students even create a postmark revealing where they were. As a final share, students read their postcards aloud, sparking conversations about shared experiences and curiosities. I record students reading and create a QR code to attach to the postcards on display so others can hear them read it. Parents love this!

Teaching primary school offers a wonderful opportunity to build community across the school. Each year, my Integrated Arts team chooses a picture book with a timely message to kick off the new year. We each develop an aspect to reinforce our discipline, resulting in a culminating visual piece to display all year. The chosen title offers opportunities for children to see and share themselves as . . . a school of fish (Only One You), a favorite hobby (My Best Friend Is as Sharp as a Pencil), or an identity feather in a pair of wings (Perfectly Norman). These collaborations build empathy while emphasizing individuality and collective efforts to create meaning.

I use what I learn about students to inform my choices of mentor artists, texts, imagery, classroom colors, and furnishings. Creating a learning environment that represents and reflects students helps foster a sense of belonging and creative risk-taking. I am also mindful of representing perspectives and experiences that may not be present in my classroom, especially within my conservative Northeastern community. Beyond curriculum, the learning environment matters. When classroom walls reflect who students are, they continue to connect, share, and grow.

Kimberly Olson teaches preschool through grade two at a Title I elementary school in New Hampshire. She is a CAN Teacher Leader with the Connected Arts Network and an Innovation Fellow and Advisory Member of the Innovation Collaborative. You can find her at @mrs.olsonsclass. kabdesign@comcast.net

Making Primary Connections