Math Language in Grade 1 Collage

First graders are finishing their amazing self-portraits!

Students are learning about how to use math skills in their art-making to increase accuracy. They began with examining the proportions of the face and learning about how to use math vocabulary to talk about where facial features are located, e.g. My eyes are in the middle of my head. Half of my face is below my eyes, and half is above. My head is an oval.

Artists felt their faces and used comparative skills to find out that the bottom of their nose is, on average three quarters of the day down their head, and that the space between their eyes is also about one eye-width wide, making their whole face about five eye-widths wide.

Artists also discussed relative measurement, and used the size and shape of their heads to create a pattern-piece for tracing and cutting out hair which fit the head naturally. Because we were making these portraits with paper collage, students could draw and cut the needed shapes easily, and compare them to the next shape needed.

Students talked about creating expressions with their facial features that tell the viewer how they are feeling.

As a group we also discussed how we are so much more interesting than just what we look like, and so students added lots of details and background items that tell the viewer more about what they love, what interests them, and who they are inside.