Teach a Technique

Lesson Plan Stephanie Brown Grade 2

Objective: students will meet language art, health, and art outcomes by actively listening and discussing the book "The Wolves in the Walls" by Neil Gaiman and using artistic mediums to reflect on the book. The book is themed for Halloween. The lesson will take place Thursday October 29th from 12:30-150. The book features a cubist style of artwork with surreal tones that integrates many mediums by Dave McKean. The art technique taught will emulate the books artwork.

Supplies:
- "The Wolves in the Walls" by Neil Gaiman art by Dave McKean
- wide white water coloured paper for each student- found in art supply room
-oil pastels of various colours- found in art supply room
-water colour paints and paint brushes- found in art supply room
-large bucket for dirty water- brought in by teacher (stef)
-small individual containers for water for each child- brought in by teacher (stef)
-paper towel
-area for work to dry

Setup/Instructions
1)Setup will take place during the students lunch hour. All supplies will be brought to the classroom ready to use but will not be placed on desks as this will make it difficult for students to listen to the book first. Setup is expected to take about 15 minutes of lunch time.

2) Once children are inside and settled they will be invited to the reading area. I will introduce the book and ask them what sort of things they notice about the cover, the art, and what they predict the story may be about. This should take 5-7 minutes.

3) Next, I will read the story pausing to ask them questions about the emotions in the book, the art, their observations, and what they think will happen next. This should take 15 minutes depending on level of interaction by students.

4) Transition back to tables, have helpers handout paper and pencils. This should take 2-5 minutes. Do not tell them all instructions at once, give them one at a time so they don't jump ahead.

5) Brainstorm the feelings present in the book. Identify the scary animal of the book and brainstorm scary animals. Have students select one animal and one feeling for the art activity. This may require lots of discussion. 10 minutes max. Don't let them over think- remember the artist used cubism so the animals do not always look realistic. Hand out other supplies while they do the next step (6).

6) Ask children to draw a pencil drawing of their animal and then outline it with pastels. While they are doing this I will hand out paint and water. Encourage them to make it a quick light drawing and not to worry about perfection. I will have an example to show class. 15 minutes.

7) Demonstrate how to use the water colour and parallel this with the images in the book. Tell children to pick colours they feel represent the emotion they brainstormed. Allow them to paint over their oil pastel drawing. This will create a relief and look very similar to the book and very professional. Allow them the rest of the day to do this.

8) Depending on how fast children finish they can either create another image, or because the paint will dry quickly have a class discussion about the images. If it takes them until the end of the day to finish they can set work aside to dry and reflection can become a follow up activity.

9) Cleanup consists of dumping dirty water in bucket, collecting paints and oil pastels, and cleaning up any spills. Should take no more than 10 minutes with student participation

Specific outcome goals:
Language Arts: 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 2.3, 4.12, 4.15, 4.16, 4.18, 4.19, 4.20, 4.21, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1
Health: A 1.1 (How did the girl know about the wolves? What senses did she use?)
Art: 1.1.1, 1.2.1, 1.3.1, 2.1.1, 3.3.1, 4.1.1, 4.2.1, 5.1.1, 5.2.1

Art Cross Curricular Lesson Example

Art Cross Curricular Lesson

Jennifer Brine and Stephanie Brown MSVU 2010

Grade 1 Health with Social Studies and Math Skills

Objectives: Students will learn about healthy eating and how healthy food can inspire them artistically while drawing on social studies and math development skills. This will all be done using the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo as an example.

Projected Specific Curricular Outcomes:
Health: A2.1, B1.1, B1.3, B1.4, B5.1, D1.1,
Language Arts: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1, 2.4, 4.6,
Math: A1, A5, B3, C1, C4, E1, E2, E3, E6,E7,E8,E9,E10
Science: Majority of specific outcomes for senses (are not numerically listed) as well as constructing objects (also not numerically listed)
Social Studies: 1.2.2, 1.2.3
Visual Arts: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 3.1, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3,5.1, 5.2

General outcomes: Learning a fact about each food related to social studies, general math themes of sorting and working with a three dimensional shape and spatial representation

Supplies: 5 cut outs of healthy foods, 5 cut outs of junk food, 1 social studies related fact per food on the back, paper plates enough for the class +2 extra, baby wipes for washing hands, a variety of fruits and vegetables separated into baggies, toothpicks, laptop with powerpoint examples of Arcimboldo's work.

Setup: for the beginning there only needs to be two plates on the table, after the power point fruits and veggies should be in separate bags to avoid contamination if allergies are present as well as any special need that requires the food not be touching, and each student gets a paper plate and toothpicks.

Introduction Activity:

The teacher will explain to the students that they are going to do an activity about healthy eating and take a moment to talk about sometimes foods and everyday foods. Then they will hand out each student a picture of a food. The student will read the simple social studies fact on the back, say something personal about the food (i.e. if they like to eat it, when they eat it etc) and place it on either the plate for sometimes foods or everyday foods. The teacher will draw parallels about sorting the foods. After the foods are all separated the teacher will ask the students if they think food is only for eating. What else do we use food for? Talk about the word inspiration- something is so interesting or so good that it makes you want to do something. We're going to talk about an artist who was inspired by healthy foods- not just to eat them- but to make very interesting art about them.

Lesson:

A very brief powerpoint will be shown on the artist with small facts. Students will be encouraged to point out their observations. Food is placed on the table and plates are handed to each student. Students are asked if they know any facts about the food on the table and what observations they can make about the food and how it's grouped. This also ties to social studies and math. Next students will be encouraged to wash their hands and a small point will be made about sanitation. Following this the students will be given a handful of toothpicks and told that they are now going to explore making their own 3-d picture out of food. Elaborate on 3d and how it relates to math and encourage students to be thoughtful about their grouping of the food and why they choose it. Allow them to take their food and create an image using it and their toothpicks of anything they'd like on their plate. Teachers will walk around and make observations and ask questions about the pieces.

Follow Up

Students will each be encouraged to talk about their finished piece, the foods they chose, and any thoughts they have on the experience. The teacher will take a photo of the work and encourage the student to eat it since they now have documentation of their art. Remind students of how many servings of fruits and vegetables they need a day.

Cleanup:

Anything not eaten can be taken home, paper plates go in the recycling, and original printouts are retrieved by the teachers.

Evaluation:

Students will hopefully be able to identify grouping patterns with their food i.e. colour etc, make simple observations about it, and demonstrate an understanding of 3d spatial representation through their work. Students should also be able to tell which foods in the 10 print outs are sometimes foods and everyday foods through their sorting.

Here are photos of our classmates doing the activity: