Follow the LIne

I learned about the book "Follow the Line" from one of the preschool blogs I follow and instantly had to use it in my classroom. So many lessons about line are worthwhile, but a little boring for the kids. This book uses the same line to create the majority of all the illustrations. It starts with the F on the cover, and continues all the way to the back of the book, where it says "the end." The kids were amazed that the artist was able to create so many pictures with just one line. She has at least on other Follow the Line book out, "Follow the Line Around the World." I used the first one because one of the first illustrations is of a big city scene and I thought that would be the easiest for the kids to create.

I tried this lesson with third grade at one school, and we made them H.U.G.E. I think they are 12"X36". That was a bit much, so when I started them at my other school, with fourth grade, I decided to go small. Thiers are 6"X18" and turned out much better. We started by painting the whole paper one color. I had a tray of paint on each table, and asked the kids to go to the table that had the color they wanted to use. The next class period we used construction paper to cut out buildings. At one school I gave them hole punchers to create windows. Maybe I would have liked that idea better if I had some of the square or rectangle punches, but with circle ones I wasn't a fan, so I nixed that idea with my fourth graders. Instead, I let them use the scraps to cut out windows and glue them to their buildings. Much better.

Finally, they used a fine tip Sharpie and a ruler to make their line. I got the book back out and reminded them that the author used the line to create windows and buildings. That some buildings are higher than others, showing that they are farther back on the street and that some are in front of others. I also reminded them to have the line come into the paper from the left, make lots of turns and curves, and go off the paper on the right. If I do it again, maybe I'll ask them to put the line at a certain point on the paper, so it can travel from project to project on the display!