ELECTRICITY IGNITES! CIRCUITS 4-5

ELECTRICITY IGNITES! CIRCUITS

ELECTRICITY IGNITES! CIRCUITS

Learning Description

Engage all parts of your students’ minds and bodies as they play circuit games and develop open and closed circuit pantomimes, making learning about electricity dynamic and fun. Their imaginations will be activated when playing Circuit Freeze. By interacting in Circuit Breaker Tag, they will embody the interconnectedness of electrons, batteries, switches, and lightbulbs. These games will set the stage for sparks of collaboration as they create their circuit pantomimes in small groups with VIvant Circuit making. Finally, students give voice to circuit characters by creating a dialogue with an insulator or conductor.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can communicate a story without using my voice.
  • I can exaggerate my body and voice to express scientific ideas and processes.
  • I can work with others to create human circuits.
  • I can create a dialogue between two characters using my imagination.
  • I can empathize with a scientific process.

Essential Questions

  • How does electricity affect my life, family, and school?
  • Does my energy affect others the way energy moves through a closed or open circuit?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 5:

5P2 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to investigate electricity.

S5P2.b Design a complete, simple electric circuit, and explain all necessary components.

S5P2.c Plan and carry out investigations on common materials to determine if they are insulators or conductors of electricity.

S5P3 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about magnetism and its relationship to electricity.

Arts Standards

Grade 5:

TA5.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.

a. Use imagination to create a character with specific physical, vocal, and emotional traits.

TA5.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

b.Use body and movement to communicate thoughts, ideas, and emotions of a character.

c. Collaborate and perform with an ensemble to present theatre to an audience.

e. Communicate and explore character choices and relationships in a variety of dramatic forms (e.g. narrated story, pantomime, puppetry, dramatic play).

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

4-PS3-4. Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can create scenes and write scripts using story elements and structure.

Anchor Standard 3: I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Circuit - A path or a loop that electricity follows to power something
  • Closed circuit - The electrical path is complete, allowing current to flow
  • Open circuit - A break in the path preventing current from flowing
  • Series circuit - A circuit that has components (like light bulbs) connected in a single line
  • Parallel circuit - A circuit that has multiple paths for electricity to flow
  • Resistors - A little gatekeeper that controls how much electricity (or current) can flow through it, preventing too much from flowing and potentially damaging things
  • Electron - A tiny, negatively charged particle that moves through wires and carries electricity, like a tiny stream of energy
  • Battery - A little power plant, providing the "push" (or electricity) that makes the circuit work, allowing things like lights or motors to turn on
  • Wire - A path or road for electricity to travel, connecting the parts of the circuit so the electricity can flow and power something like a light bulb.
  • Insulator - A material that electricity cannot flow through easily, like plastic or rubber
  • Conductor - A material that electricity can flow through easily, like metal wires
  • Electricity - A type of energy that powers things, like lights and appliances; caused by the movement of tiny particles called electrons

Arts Vocabulary

  • Statues - Frozen pictures made by one person with their body and face to help tell a story without words.
  • Pantomime - Using gestures, facial expressions, and body movements to convey a story or narrative without speaking. Often includes pretending to hold, touch, or do something one is not holding, touching, or using.
  • Body - Actors use their body to become a character through body posture and movement. What your mind thinks, what your emotions feel, all of this is supposed to show up in your body.
  • Imagination - Actors use their imagination to envision things that are not real. It is an essential tool in an actor’s ability to bring a character, scene, etc. to life.
  • Facial Expression - Using your face to show emotion
  • Dialogue - A conversation between two or more persons
  • Voice - Actors use their voice to be heard by the audience clearly. Actors must also apply vocal choices such as pitch, tempo, and volume to the character they are dramatizing.

 

Materials

  • Circle colored stickers for resistors in circuit breaker tag
  • Lanyards for name tags–each lanyard/name tag should have one card in it. Cards should be labeled battery, wires, switch, light bulb/motor); one lanyard/nametag/card per student
  • Open/closed cards–each card should have one word on it–either open or closed (one card per group of four students)
  • Insulator conductor cards–each card should have a visual of a conductor or insulator on it (one card per group of four students)
  • Paper and pencils

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

CIRCUIT FREEZE

  • Tell students that statues are frozen poses actors use to tell dramatic stories.
    • A statue is one person freezing.
    • Statues have levels (high, middle, low), interesting shapes, and facial expressions.
  • Ask students to use their bodies and faces to create a statue of the word “open”.
    • Ask them to outstretch their arms really wide and freeze as if they can't move.
    • This represents an open circuit.
  • Then, ask students to use their body and face to create a statue of the word “closed”.
    • Ask them to hook their hands together in front of their body.
    • Encourage them to pulse their body to represent a closed circuit.
  • Tell students they must freeze in the corresponding statue when you call out "1, 2, 3….OPEN FREEZE" or "1, 2, 3….CLOSED FREEZE".
    • Coaching note:
      • Encourage students to use energy in all parts of their body and face, whether frozen or pulsing.
        • Body (gestures, interesting shapes, energy throughout)
        • Face (eyes, mouths, cheeks)
      • Encourage students to have intense freezes like they are being zapped frozen.

 

CIRCUIT BREAKER TAG

  • Choose one student to be the battery.
    • Give that student one color dot.
    • Ask the student to put this dot on their forehead.
    • The battery is “it”.
  • Assign three to four students to be switches.
    • Give these students another color dot.
    • Ask students to put the dots on their foreheads.
    • Switches control when circuits are open or closed.
  • The rest of the students are electrons.
    • Electrons are runners.
  • Explain how the game works.
    • The battery (“it”) will run around tagging electrons.
      • If an electron is tagged, the student will open their arms stretched out wide and freeze in place.
        • They are representing an open circuit.
        • The only way for a frozen electron to move again is if a switch tags them.
          • When a switch tags an electron, the electron can run free again.
            • They represent "flipping the switch”, which closes the circuit.
          • Conclude the game after a set time limit or until most electrons are frozen.
          • You can then move on to different modes of the game.
            • Explain each of the three modes:
              • Series Circuit Mode:
                • Have students hold hands to create a chain.
                  • This represents a series circuit.
                • If one electron in the chain gets tagged by the battery, everyone in that chain must freeze.
                  • This represents a break in the circuit.
                • A switch can tap the frozen players to restore the circuit.
                  • This allows the entire chain to move again.
                • Parallel Circuit Mode:
                  • Students can run freely throughout the space.
                    • This represents separate parallel paths.
                  • If an electron is tagged, only that individual electron freezes.
                    • All other electrons can keep running.
                  • A switch can unfreeze the tagged electron by tapping them.
                    • This restores that part of the circuit.
                  • Resistor Mode:
                    • Assign some students to be resistors.
                      • Resistors cannot run. They can only walk and must move very slowly. This simulates resistance in a circuit.
                        • NOTE: You can give resistors colored stickers on their forehead or wristbands.
                      • Other electrons (runners) can move freely unless tagged.
                      • If a resistor is tagged by the battery, the resistor must freeze like a normal electron.
                      • This demonstrates:
                        • How resistors slow down the flow of electrons in a circuit.
                        • How resistance affects movement (current).
                      • Once students understand the concept of resistors, you can add levels.
                        • Resistance levels:
                          • Have some resistors hop in slow motion.
                          • Have other resistors turn in slow motion.
                          • You can use other slow-motion movements or ask students for suggestions.

Work Session

VIVANT CIRCUIT

  • Explain that pantomime is a dramatic way to tell a story without using your voice.
    • Actors exaggerate their body movements, gestures, and facial expressions to mime stories.
  • Tell students that the class will tell the story of a human circuit using pantomime.
  • Ask the class to make a big movement with their bodies.
    • Tell them that these movements are energy.
  • Next, tell them that they will see how energy moves through a circuit.
  • Demonstrate one circuit.
    • Ask four volunteers to come to the front of the room.
    • Assign each volunteer a role.
      • 1- Battery–the energy source
      • 2- Wires–the connectors
      • 3- Switch–which can open or close the circuit
      • 4- Light bulb/motor–the load
        • The load reacts when the circuit is complete.
      • Have the actors stand in a circle and hold hands.
      • Explain that they have now formed a circuit chain.
      • Ask the battery to make a big energy movement.
        • This energy movement will pass down the line of the circuit.
      • The battery starts the energy by passing the movement down the line.
        • When the movement reaches the wire, the wire activates.
        • When the movement reaches the light bulb, the light bulb reacts or lights up. The actor jumps or spins.
          • This shows that the circuit is complete.
        • The switch can open/close the circuit.
          • Open–breaking, hands outstretched, and frozen pose
          • Closed–rejoining hands and pulsing
        • Explore details about open and closed circuits.
          • Closed circuit: The electrical path is complete, allowing current to flow.
          • Open circuit: There is a break in the path, preventing current from flowing.
        • Have students pantomime both types of circuits. Prompt each by asking students in the audience to shout out "OPEN" or "CLOSED".
        • Add sound:
          • Explain that you will now stop pantomiming and add sound to the circuit.
          • Encourage students to create a sound for their part of the circuit.
          • Their sound activates when the energy reaches them.
        • GROUP CIRCUITS:
          • Hand out lanyards to every student.
          • Tell them that they are now the circuit character listed on their lanyard.
          • Tell them they have two minutes to get into groups of four with each character represented.
          • Allow them time to group themselves without intervening.
          • Once groups are defined, have students create a quick statue of their character.
          • Give each group a closed or open card.
          • Then, tell them they have four minutes to develop a pantomime for their type of circuit.
          • After four minutes, have each group share their pantomime with the rest of the class.
          • Have the audience guess if they were an open or closed circuit.
          • Add sound:
            • After all groups share, have them get back into their circuit groups and create a sound for their character. .
              • Give them two minutes to rehearse bringing their pantomime to life with sounds.
              • When the energy is passed, the character adds their sound.
              • Then call out "1, 2, 3, ACTION" as groups simultaneously add sound and movement to their circuits.
            • SERIES VERSUS PARALLEL
              • When the class has mastered open and closed circuits, you can introduce series versus parallel circuits using pantomime and bring them to life with sound.
                • Some light bulbs turn off, others stay on.

 

EXTENSION: TO CONDUCT OR NOT TO CONDUCT, THAT IS THE QUESTION

  • Discuss insulators and conductors and how they affect circuits.
  • Get students back into their circuit groups.
  • Hand each group a visual of an insulator or conductor.
  • Ask them to identify if it is a conductor or insulator and to write it on the visual card.
  • Give them five minutes to develop four lines of dialogue between the circuit and the insulator/conductor.
    • Encourage students to create character voices.
  • Have students share dialogue with the class.

 

K-4 GRADE APPLICATIONS:

  • Explore the following electricity-related topics by playing charades or having students create a pantomime to bring to life.
    • Kindergarten: Types of motion
    • 1st: Light and sound
    • 2nd: Magnets (push and pull)
    • 3rd: Heat transfer
    • 4th: Balanced and unbalanced forces

 

Closing Reflection

  • Tell students that today they used their bodies to bring electrical circuits to life. Have them show you one thing you learned about circuits without using their voices.
  • Now, have them turn and talk. Students should tell their partners three ways that they use electricity every day.
  • Ask students the following reflection questions:
    • What did you enjoy about pantomiming and creating dialogue?
    • What do circuits have to do with electricity, and why do we need a complete path/loop for electricity to flow?
    • How do you see circuits or connections in human relationships?

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Walk around the room while students create pantomimes and clarify why they chose certain movements through question and answer.
  • Assess students’ ability to use their voice and body to portray characters. Encourage those who are having difficulty.

Summative

  • Have students create a checklist for their pantomime presentation skills that includes use of body, facial expression, and exaggeration.
  • Assess whether students understand the content through their pantomime presentation.

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Create monologues from an open or closed circuit point of view, adding the problem or solution of an insulator or conductor.
  • Flesh out the four lines of dialogue into a full scene involving three circuit characters.

 

Remedial:

  • Build circuits with groups coming to the front of the class versus getting into small groups.
  • Have students improvise the dialogue; the teacher will scribe it on the board.

 

Additional Resources

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Susie Spear Purcell

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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ECOSYSTEM PRINTMAKING GA FOUNDATIONAL 4-5

ECOSYSTEM PRINTMAKING

ECOSYSTEM PRINTMAKING

Learning Description

Students will explore food chains/webs by researching different ecosystems and identifying the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers. They will design and carve a styrofoam printing plate that represents an organism’s role in the food chain/web (e.g., producer, consumer or decomposer). Students will create a collaborative class food chain/web, illustrating how energy moves through an ecosystem. This arts-integrated lesson blends science and the visual arts to deepen students’ understanding of food chains/webs while allowing them to express their knowledge through creative printmaking!

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: VISUAL ARTS & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • What are producers, consumers, and decomposers?
  • How does energy flow through a food chain/web?
  • How can printmaking be used to model the relationships between organisms?
  • How do different organisms depend on one another for survival?

Essential Questions

  • I can describe the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.
  • I can explain how energy moves through a food chain/web.
  • I can create a print that represents an organism’s role in a food chain/web.
  • I can collaborate with my classmates to create a food chain/web using printmaking.

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

S4L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.

a. Develop a model to describe the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in a community.

b. Develop simple models to illustrate the flow of energy through a food web/food chain beginning with sunlight and including producers, consumers, and decomposers.

Arts Standards

VA.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VA.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, processes, and concepts of two-dimensional art.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 5:

5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can create scenes and write scripts using story elements and structure.

Anchor Standard 3: I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Ecosystem – A community of living and nonliving things that interact
  • Producer – An organism that makes its own food, like plants
  • Consumer – An organism that eats other organisms for energy
  • Decomposer – An organism that breaks down dead plants and animals
  • Food chain – A sequence showing how energy moves from one organism to another
  • Food web – A network of connected food chains

Arts Vocabulary

  • Printmaking – The art or technique of making prints, especially as practiced in engraving, etching, dry point, woodcut or serigraphy
  • Styrofoam printing plate – A carved surface used to make repeated prints
  • Brayer – A small roller for inking type by hand, usually for making a proof
  • Composition – How an artist arranges the Elements of Art (line, shape, form, value, color, space, texture) to create an artwork

 

Materials

  • Science food chain reference materials
  • Pencils
  • Copy paper
  • Styrofoam sheets
  • Dull pencils or ball point pens
  • Water based printing ink
  • Brayers
  • Newsprint or packing paper
  • Paper for printing (mixed media paper works well)
  • Colored pencils or art sticks
  • Drying rack or space to lay prints
  • Paper towels to wipe ink off of styrofoam plates
  • Trays for ink

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Engage (Explore the Food Chain)

  • Show a video or diagram of a food chain in different ecosystems, such as forest, ocean, grassland, etc.
  • Have students brainstorm different organisms that would exist in these ecosystems and categorize them as producers, consumers, or decomposers.
  • Discuss how energy moves from the sun to plants/producers, to animals/consumers, and then to decomposers.

Work Session

Explore (Sketch & Plan):

  • Each student will choose an organism from a specific ecosystem.
  • Students will sketch the organism and simplify it into bold shapes for printmaking.
  • Ask students to think of examples of symbols and how symbols represent ideas. Then have them think about how to represent their organism symbolically (e.g., arrows or the sun to represent energy flow).

 

Create (Printmaking Process):

  • Introduce and demonstrate the printmaking process:
    • Carving the styrofoam plate:
      • Draw lightly with a pencil before pressing into the styrofoam to avoid mistakes.
      • Use a dull pencil or ballpoint pen to carve designs—press firmly but avoid puncturing all the way through the styrofoam.
      • Keep lines simple and bold for clear prints; intricate details may not transfer well.
      • Vary line thickness for added depth—thicker lines hold more ink, while thinner lines create subtle details.
    • Inking the plate:
      • Roll out a thin, even layer of ink on a tray before applying to the printing plate with a brayer.
      • Then, using the brayer, roll a thin, even layer of ink over the styrofoam plate. Too much ink can make details disappear!
      • Students should take turns rolling ink on the plate while their partner watches for even coverage
    • Printing process:
      • Carefully place the inked plate face down on paper—one student can hold it while the other presses.
      • Use hands or a clean brayer to press firmly and evenly over the entire plate.
      • Lift the plate slowly to reveal the print!

Students may need to repeat this process, experimenting with different amounts of ink and application of pressure when transferring the print.

  • Cleanup and reflection:
    • Lay prints flat to dry before handling.
    • Have students compare their prints and discuss what worked well.
    • If needed, allow students to re-ink and try again.
    • Once prints are dry, add color and details with art stix, crayons, or colored pencils

 

Classroom Tips:

  • Students can work in pairs to create prints.
  • Encourage students to work carefully.
  • Make sure there is a piece of newsprint under each printmaking station.
  • This process works great as a center. Set up a station and allow student pairs to rotate through to create their prints.

 

Closing Reflection

Reflect (Gallery walk and discussion):

  • As a whole group, arrange the prints in a large food web display.
  • Discuss how each organism connects and how energy moves.
  • Have students write a response to the following reflection question: What role does your organism play? How does it depend on others?

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Review student sketches.
  • Think-Pair-Share: Observe whether students can explain their organism's role in the food chain before printing.

Summative

  • Final print and food web display – Does the print clearly represent an organism in the food web?
  • Written reflection–Students can describe how their organism interacts with others.

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Research and incorporate multiple organisms into one print, including producers, consumers, and decomposers.
  • Add habitat details in the background of the print.
  • Create an Interactive Food Web using Google Slides or Canva.

 

Remedial:

  • Provide pre-drawn templates to trace onto styrofoam.
  • Offer sentence starters for the written reflection (e.g., "My organism is a ____. It gets energy from ____.").

 

Additional Resources

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Shannon Green

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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ART BOTS GA FOUNDATIONAL 4-5

ART BOTS

ART BOTS

Learning Description

In this hands-on STEAM lesson, students will explore the relationship between electricity, motion, and unbalanced forces by designing and building their own wobbling art bots. Using hobby motors, battery packs, pool noodles, and markers, students will follow the engineering design process (Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve) to construct a bot that moves and draws in unpredictable patterns.

Through experimentation, students will discover how unbalanced forces affect motion, how simple circuits power their bots, and how small design changes can alter movement. They will analyze their bots' performance, make modifications, and reflect on their design choices. By combining science, engineering, and art, this lesson fosters creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking while reinforcing foundational physical science concepts.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: STEAM
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can build a simple circuit to power a motor.
  • I can explain how unbalanced forces affect motion.
  • I can use the engineering design process to create and improve my Art Bot.
  • I can analyze how design choices impact the movement and artwork created by my bot.

Essential Questions

  • How do unbalanced forces affect motion?
  • How does a motor and battery work together to power movement?
  • How can I use the engineering design process to improve my art bot?
  • What design choices influence how my bot moves and draws?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

S4P3: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the relationship between balanced and unbalanced forces and the motion of an object.

Grade 5:

S5P3: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about magnetism and electric circuits.

Arts Standards

VA.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VA.CR.4 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of three-dimensional art.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

4-PS3-4. Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork.

Anchor Standard 2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate visual arts ideas to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Circuit – A complete path through which electricity flows
  • Motor – A device that converts electrical energy into movement
  • Unbalanced force – A force that causes an object to start moving, stop moving, or change direction
  • Vibration – A rapid back-and-forth motion that can create movement

Arts Vocabulary

  • Line – A continuous mark made on some surface by a moving point. It may be two dimensional, like a pencil mark on a paper or it may be three dimensional (wire) or implied (the edge of a shape or form) often it is an outline, contour or silhouette.
  • Shape – A flat, enclosed line that is always two-dimensional and can be either geometric or organic
  • Pattern – Repetition of specific visual elements such as a unit of shape or form
  • Texture (visual) – The surface quality, or "feel" of an object, such as roughness, smoothness, or softness. Actual texture can be felt while simulated textures are implied by the way the artist renders areas of the picture.
  • Composition – How an artist arranges the Elements of Art (line, shape, form, value, color, space, texture) to create an artwork
  • Collaboration – Working together to create something new
  • Abstract art – Art that does not try to represent real life realistically; often made with shapes, colors, and lines

 

Materials

  • Hobby motors
  • Battery packs (with AA batteries)
  • Pool noodles (cut into smaller sections)
  • Thin markers
  • Tape (masking or electrical)
  • Small weights (paperclips, washers, etc.)
  • Scissors
  • Googly eyes
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Foam shapes
  • Image of the Engineering Design Process

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Engage:
    • Hook: Show a short video of a scribble bot or demonstrate a pre-made art bot.
    • Discussion–Ask students:
      • What do you notice about how it moves?
      • What might be making it move this way?
      • How could we create something similar?

Work Session

  • Introduce the Engineering Design Process and explain that students will follow these steps to create their own art bots.
  • Optional: Have students choose or assign a partner to create their bots and artwork.

 

Explore – Building the Art Bots

  • Ask: What materials and design choices will help us create a wobbling art bot?
  • Imagine: Have students brainstorm ideas for how to make an art bot using the provided materials.
  • Plan: Students sketch their design and label the parts and materials they will use.
  • Create: Show students how to create their bots.
    • Attach a motor to a small battery pack.
    • Insert the motor into the center of a pool noodle piece.
    • Tape thin markers as "legs" to hold the bot upright.
    • Add weights to one side of the motor shaft to create an unbalanced motion.
  • Have students place their bot on plain white paper. Turn on the motor and test the movement.

 

Explain – Connecting to Science Concepts

  • Discuss how the unbalanced forces created by the off-center motor make the bot wobble.
  • Relate the motion to concepts like vibration, force, and circuits.
  • Ask students to describe what happened when they turned their bot on.

 

 Improving the Design

  • Improve: Students analyze their bot’s movement and adjust its design to change the motion or artwork produced.
  • Encourage experimentation:
    • Change marker placement for different drawing effects.
    • Add or remove weights to alter movement.
    • Adjust motor positioning to control wobbling direction.
  • Ask your students to think of their art bot as an artistic partner! Ask students what they could add to this artwork to bring it to life. Could they turn the bot's movements into something meaningful or funny or beautiful?
    • Students will add their own hand-drawn designs, shapes, and/or details to enhance the bot’s scribbles.
    • Students will use crayons, colored pencils, or markers to transform the bot’s random motion drawings into imaginative creations (e.g., turning loops into flowers, zig-zags into roller coasters, spirals into galaxies).
    • Ask students to name their collaborative artwork.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Turn your classroom into a gallery!
    • Lay artworks on desks or hang them around the room.
    • Have students walk through the gallery, viewing each other’s bot collaborations.
  • Facilitate a discussion around the following reflection questions:
    • What made your art bot move in a fun or interesting way?
    • What was one thing you changed or improved?
    • What did your art bot draw that surprised you?
    • Have students complete a written or oral reflection of how they

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Teachers will assess student learning through:
    • Observation of student engagement and participation.
    • Questioning during discussions to check understanding.
    • Peer discussions about design choices.

Summative

  • Art bot demonstration: Each student will showcase their bot and explain how design choices impacted movement answering the following questions.
    • How did unbalanced forces affect your bot’s motion?
    • What design change improved your bot the most?

Reflection: Students’ will complete a written or oral discussion of how they followed the engineering design process and what they would do differently next time.

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Ask students to modify their bot to create a specific pattern or shape.
  • Introduce Scratch: Students can create digital “bot” animations or stories reflecting the movement of their physical bots.

 

Remedial:

  • Provide pre-wired circuits to simplify the process.
  • Provide extended time for building and reflecting.
  • Offer verbal instructions paired with written guides.
  • Allow for alternative methods of documentation (photos, audio).

 

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Shannon Green

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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ART BOTS SC FOUNDATIONAL 4-5

ART BOTS

ART BOTS

Learning Description

In this integrated STEAM lesson, students explore motion and energy by designing and building simple “Art Bots” using battery packs, hobby motors, pool noodles, and markers. As they construct their bots, students observe how an electric circuit powers movement and how unbalanced design causes wobbling motion that produces abstract art.

After building and testing their robots, students will personify their bot in a creative writing prompt: “What do you think your Art Bot would say if it could talk?”.

They will write a narrative describing their bot’s personality, drawing style, and movement patterns. This encourages the use of descriptive language while reinforcing the science concepts of energy and motion. Students conclude with a gallery walk, where they display their robot-generated artwork.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: STEAM & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can build a simple circuit to power a motor.
  • I can explain how unbalanced forces affect motion.
  • I can use the engineering design process to create and improve my Art Bot.
  • I can analyze how design choices impact the movement and artwork created by my bot.
  • I can create a character for my Art Bot.
  • I can write a fictional narrative inspired by my Art Bot.

Essential Questions

  • How do unbalanced forces affect motion?
  • How do a motor and battery work together to power movement?
  • How can I use the engineering design process to improve my Art Bot?
  • What design choices influence how my bot moves and draws?
  • How can creating an Art Bot character inspire narrative writing?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

SCIENCE

Grade 4:

S4P3: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the relationship between balanced and unbalanced forces and the motion of an object.

Grade 5:

S5P3: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about magnetism and electric circuits.

ELA

Grade 4:

4.T.T.1.e Apply narrative techniques (e.g., character, setting, problem, resolution, and dialogue) to develop a real or imagined experience using descriptive details, clear event sequences, and a conclusion.

Grade 5:

5.T.T.1.e Apply narrative techniques (e.g., character, setting, conflict, climax, resolution, and dialogue) to develop a real or imagined experience using descriptive details, clear event sequences, and a conclusion.

Arts Standards

VA.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VA.CR.4 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of three-dimensional art.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

SCIENCE

Grade 4:

4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

4-PS3-4. Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

ELA

Grade 4: ELA.C.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences using effective techniques.

ELA.4.C.3.1 Write narratives developing real or imagined experiences. When writing: a. establish a situation and setting; b. introduce a narrator and/or characters; c. organize a plot structure; d. use narrative techniques such as dialogue, descriptive language, and sensory details to develop events, setting, and characters; e. use a variety of transitional words and phrases to sequence events; and f. provide an ending that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork.

Anchor Standard 2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate visual arts ideas to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Circuit – A complete path through which electricity flows
  • Motor – A device that converts electrical energy into movement
  • Unbalanced force – A force that causes an object to start moving, stop moving, or change direction
  • Vibration – A rapid back-and-forth motion that can create movement

Arts Vocabulary

  • Line – A continuous mark made on some surface by a moving point. It may be two dimensional, like a pencil mark on a paper or it may be three dimensional (wire) or implied (the edge of a shape or form) often it is an outline, contour or silhouette.
  • Shape – A flat, enclosed line that is always two-dimensional and can be either geometric or organic
  • Pattern – Repetition of specific visual elements such as a unit of shape or form
  • Texture (visual) – The surface quality, or "feel" of an object, such as roughness, smoothness, or softness. Actual texture can be felt while simulated textures are implied by the way the artist renders areas of the picture.
  • Composition – How an artist arranges the Elements of Art (line, shape, form, value, color, space, texture) to create an artwork
  • Collaboration – Working together to create something new
  • Abstract art – Art that does not try to represent real life realistically; often made with shapes, colors, and lines

 

Materials

  • Hobby motors
  • Battery packs (with AA batteries)
  • Pool noodles (cut into smaller sections)
  • Thin markers
  • Tape (masking or electrical)
  • Small weights (paperclips, washers, etc.)
  • Scissors
  • Googly eyes
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Foam shapes

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Engage:
    • Hook: Show a short video of a scribble bot or demonstrate an Art Bot in action.
    • Discussion–Ask students:
      • What do you notice about how it moves?
      • What might be making it move this way?
      • How could we create something similar?

Work Session

Explore – Building the Art Bots

  • Ask: What materials and design choices will help us create a wobbling Art Bot?
  • Imagine: Have students brainstorm ideas for how to make an artbot using the provided materials.
  • Plan: Students sketch their design and label the parts and materials they will use.
  • Create: Show students how to create their bots.
    • Attach a motor to a small battery pack.
    • Insert the motor into the center of a pool noodle piece.
    • Tape thin markers as "legs" to hold the bot upright.
    • Add weights to one side of the motor shaft to create an unbalanced motion.
  • Have students place their bot on plain white paper. Turn on the motor and test the movement.

Explain – Connecting to Science Concepts

  • Discuss how the unbalanced forces created by the off-center motor make the bot wobble.
  • Relate the motion to concepts like vibration, force, and circuits.
  • Ask students to describe what happened when they turned their bot on.

Improving the Design

  • Improve: Students analyze their bot’s movement and adjust its design to change the motion or artwork produced.
  • Encourage experimentation:
    • Change marker placement for different drawing effects.
    • Add or remove weights to alter movement.
    • Adjust motor positioning to control wobbling direction.
  • Ask your students to think of their Art Bot as an artistic partner! Ask students what they could add to this artwork to bring it to life. Could they turn the bot's movements into something meaningful or funny or beautiful?
    • Students will use crayons, colored pencils, or markers to transform the bot’s random motion drawings into imaginative creations (e.g., turning loops into flowers, zig-zags into roller coasters, spirals into galaxies).
  • Ask students to name their collaborative artwork.
  • Have students respond to the following writing prompt: What do you think your Art Bot would say if it could talk? Describe its personality, how it moves, and what kind of art it creates. Be creative and use descriptive details.
    • Encourage students to:
      • Give their bot a name and voice.
      • Use descriptive language to explain the movement (e.g., wiggle, spin, shake).
      • Describe the bot’s drawing style (e.g., messy, circular, zigzaggy).

Have students write a fictional narrative in which the art bot is the main character. Students’ writing should have a setting, plot structure, characters, descriptive words and phrases, and a clear ending.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Turn your classroom into a gallery!
    • Lay artworks on desks or hang them around the room.
    • Have students walk through the gallery, viewing each other’s bot collaborations.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Teachers will assess student learning through:
    • Observation of student engagement and participation.
    • Questioning during discussions to check understanding.
    • Peer discussions about design choices.

Summative

  • Art Bot demonstration: Each student will showcase their bot and explain how design choices impacted movement answering the following questions.
    • How did unbalanced forces affect your bot’s motion?
    • What design change improved your bot the most?
  • Students’ written response to the prompt and students’ narratives.
  • Reflection: Students’ will complete a written or oral discussion of how they followed the engineering design process and what they would do differently next time.

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Ask students to modify their bot to create a specific pattern or shape.
  • Challenge students to:
    • Write a first-person narrative from the Art Bot’s point of view.
    • Use figurative language (similes/metaphors).
    • Add a conflict or challenge: e.g., “My markers ran out of ink in the middle of my masterpiece!”.
    • Create a dialogue between their Art Bot and another Bot.
  • Introduce Scratch: Students can create digital “bot” animations or stories reflecting the movement of their physical bots.

 

Remedial:

  • Provide pre-wired circuits to simplify the process.
  • Provide extended time for building and reflecting.
  • Offer verbal instructions paired with written guides.
  • Allow for alternative methods of documentation (photos, audio).
  • Provide a sentence starter template: “My Art Bot’s name is ____. It moves like a ____. It draws with ____. If it could talk, it would say, ‘’”
  • Use a word bank with words like: Spin, shake, draw, color, happy, silly, messy, fast, slow
  • Allow oral storytelling
  • Use a partner storytelling activity where students build the story with peer support.

 

 

Credits

Ideas contributed by: Shannon Green

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  May 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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MAIL YOUR TROUBLES AWAY 5

MAIL YOUR TROUBLES AWAY

MAIL YOUR TROUBLES AWAY

Learning Description

Students will create a postcard representing a problem or worry that they will “mail” away. The postcard will include imagery of the problem, solution to the problem, or both. On the back, students will write a note about the problem to be “mailed” away.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 5
CONTENT FOCUS: VISUAL ARTS & HEALTH
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use artistic processes to help regulate, manage, and find solutions for emotions.
  • I can use imagery and color to communicate ideas.

Essential Questions

  • How can visualizing problems help us manage them?
  • How can imagery and color be used as a tool for communication?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

HE5.1 Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.

HE5.1.c Describe and apply the basic health concept of mental and emotional well-being.

HE5.4 Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks.

HE5.4.a Apply effective verbal and nonverbal communication skills to enhance health.

Arts Standards

VA5.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VA5.PR.1 Plan and participate in appropriate exhibition(s) of works of art to develop identity of self as artist.

VA5.CR.5 Demonstrate an understanding of the safe and appropriate use of materials, tools, and equipment for a variety of artistic processes.

VA5.RE.1 Use a variety of approaches for art criticism and to critique personal works of art and the artwork of others to enhance visual literacy.

VA5.CN.3 Develop life skills through the study and production of art (e.g. collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication).

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Standard 1: “Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health” (NHES, 2007).

M-5.1.1 Describe coping strategies to promote mental health.

Standard 6: “Students will demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance health” (NHES, 2007).

M-5.6.1 Develop a plan to reduce and manage stress.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork.

Benchmark VA.CR I can combine several elements of art to express ideas.

Indicator VA.CR NM.1.2 I can combine several elements of art to construct 2D or 3D artwork.

Anchor Standard 2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art.

Benchmark VA.CR NM.2 I can use some materials, techniques, and tools to create artwork.

Indicator VA.CR NM.2.1 I can use two-dimensional art materials to explore ways to make art.

Anchor Standard 4: I can organize work for presentation and documentation to reflect specific content, ideas, skills, and or media.

Benchmark VA.P NL.4 I can show and describe the idea of my artwork.

Indicator VA.P NL.4.2 I can describe my artwork.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Problem - A situation, question, or condition that needs to be addressed, solved, or improved because it creates difficulty, uncertainty, or an obstacle to a desired goal
  • Solution - The answer, method, or action that successfully addresses a problem, removes an obstacle, or meets a need

Arts Vocabulary

  • Imagery - The pictures, symbols, or visual representations that communicate ideas, emotions, or stories
  • Color - An element of art with three properties: 1) Hue: the name of the color, e.g. red, yellow, etc.; 2) Intensity: the purity and strength of the color (brightness or dullness); 3) Value: the lightness or darkness of the color (shades and tints)

 

Materials

  • Cardstock cut to the size of a postcard
  • Pencils
  • Markers, colored pencils, or other drawing materials
  • Examples of postcards

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Arrange various postcards around the room. Have students stand by the one that resonates the most with how they are feeling at the moment.
  • Provide time for students to discuss with those who chose the same postcard why they chose it.
  • As a whole class, discuss the various postcards and what messages/emotions they convey. Ask students how the colors and imagery contribute to their meaning.

Work Session

  • Have students reflect on a problem that they wish they could “mail away”.
  • In their sketchbooks, have students brainstorm ideas for imagery that either represent the problem, the solution to their problem, or both.
  • After students have generated several ideas, have them narrow them down to the best idea.
  • Have them draw out a “rough draft” in their sketchbook. Remind students that they should be intentional about color and space in their composition.
    • Students should either use color or label color in their plans.
  • Once students have finished their rough drafts, they will begin their final draft on postcard sized cardstock. Students should begin in pencil and then finish with drawing materials.
  • On the reverse side of their “postcard”, students will write a note about the problem. It could be worded as a description or as a note to themselves or someone else.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Have students gather in a circle or display the postcards on a wall or table.
  • Ask students who wish to, to share their artwork and, if they feel comfortable, read or summarize the message they wrote on the reverse side.
  • As a symbolic gesture, have students “mail” their postcards into a box or envelope, representing the act of releasing the problem.
  • End with a short reflection on how creating art may have shifted their perspective or lightened their emotional load.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Observe whether students can use imagery and color to reflect their ideas during the planning process.
  • Observe students’ discussion/responses during the activator.

Summative

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Have students create a postcard series that represents the problem and solution. The descriptions on the back should “tell the story” of the problem and solution.

 

Remedial:

  • Brainstorm imagery together as a class.
  • Allow students to use a different medium, such as collage.

 

 

Credits

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning

Ideas contributed by: SAIL Grant Teacher Leaders–Chad Itnyre, Kristen Alvarez, Leah Patel, Lucerito Gonzalez, Tamu Clayton, Sandra Cash, Erin Smullen, Katy Betts

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  August 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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