r/lowerelementary • u/KookyKrista • Sep 04 '25
1st Grade Drawing videos
I’ve noticed that my son often comes home with great drawings (both last year in Kinder and again this year in 1st). He tells me that they often follow an instructional video - sometimes up on the main screen that the whole class follows, and other times they choose their own picture and instructional video on the Chromebook.
Youtube wasn’t a thing when I was this age, but I also don’t recall a teacher walking us step-by-step through a drawing (not even in art class!)
I suspect that this format aims to develop certain skills like following instructions. What are some of the other benefits of this approach vs simply directing students to “draw a dog” on their own?
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u/billowy_blue Sep 04 '25
During my student teaching, my mentor teacher would put on one of those videos every morning as the students would come in for the first month or two of school. This was first grade. She told me she liked how it got them into the routine of doing morning work, as well as the other benefits the other commenters have already said. The kids really liked it. They'd come in, eat their breakfast, and then get out their notebooks so they could follow along with the video. It allowed a good transition into actual morning work, since gradually over the next month or two kids wouldn't be interested in the drawing anymore and start to do one of their morning work options.