A Day With Dali 2-3

A DAY WITH DALI

A DAY WITH DALI

Learning Description

Students will look at the print, “Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dali and talk about what they see. Students will discuss the importance of foreground, middle ground and background in a painting. Students will then visually draw a creative clock ticking throughout the day, utilizing the sky to tell morning, afternoon and evening as the hands on the clocks move!

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2-3
CONTENT FOCUS: VISUAL ARTS & MATH
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can tell and write time using an analog clock.
  • I can create landscape artwork that communicates different times of day using color.

Essential Questions

  • How can landscape art help us understand time?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

2.MDR.6.1 Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes, and estimate and measure elapsed time using a timeline, to the hour or half hour on the hour or half hour.

 

Grade 3: 

3.MDR.5.2 Tell and write time to the nearest minute and estimate time to the nearest fifteen minutes (quarter hour) from the analysis of an analog clock.

Arts Standards

Grade 2: 

VA2.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VA2.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.

VA2.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art.

VA2.CN.2 Integrate information from other disciplines to enhance the understanding and production of works of art.

 

Grade 3: 

VA3.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VA3.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.

VA3.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art.

VA3.CN.2 Integrate information from other disciplines to enhance the understanding and production of works of art.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

2.MDA.6 Use analog and digital clocks to tell and record time to the nearest five-minute interval using a.m. and p.m.

 

Grade 3: 

3.MDA.1 Use analog and digital clocks to determine and record time to the nearest minute, using a.m. and p.m.; measure time intervals in minutes; and solve problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals within 60 minutes.

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 5: I can interpret and evaluate the meaning of an artwork.

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Analog clock - A timekeeping device that displays the time through a traditional face with a numbered dial and moving hands

Arts Vocabulary

  • Landscape -
  • Foreground - In a 2-D composition, the visual plane that appears closest to the viewer
  • Middle ground - In a 2-D composition, the visual plane located between both the foreground and background
  • Background - In a 2-D composition, the plane in a composition perceived furthest from the viewer
  • Scale - A succession of sizes in proportional steps; visually, as objects move forward in space, they appear larger

 

Materials

    • Mixed media paper
    • Pencils
    • Colored pencils, markers, or crayons
    • Glue sticks
  • Optional - Oil pastels
  • Optional - Brads and scissors to create moving clock hands

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Project an image of Salvador Dali’s painting, “The Persistence of Memory”.
  • Ask students to work collaboratively to engage in the See, Think, Wonder Artful Thinking Routine.
    • First, students will identify what they see in the image. Emphasize that they should make objective observations about the image (i.e. physical features, colors, textures, etc.). Discuss objects in the painting, specifically the melting clock.
    • Next, ask students to identify what they think about the image. Emphasize that students should be creating inferences using visual evidence from the image. Ask what inferences students can make about the melting clock (time).
    • Finally, ask students what they wonder about the image.
  • Facilitate a class-wide discussion around students’ observations, inferences, and questions.

 

Work Session

    • Tell students that this painting is an example of a landscape painting. A landscape painting is an artistic depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests. It shows a wide expanse of space, rather than an up-close look at a natural image, such as a flower.
      • Landscapes have a foreground, middle ground, and background to create the illusion of space on a two-dimensional surface. Show students the landscape diagram.
      • Artists use scale, size, and proportion to further the illusion. They do this by making things that are supposed to be farthest from the viewer the smallest and things that are supposed to be the closest to the viewer largest.
      • Look at the painting again. Ask students to identify the background, middle ground, and foreground.
      • Ask them to find examples of how Dali used size, scale, and proportion to create the illusion of depth.
    • Tell students that they are going to create their own landscape art showing time.
    • Pass out drawing paper. Have students fold it in half, hotdog style and then fold it in half again hotdog style, so that there are four equal sections.
      • Tell students that the bottom fourth will be the foreground, the second to bottom fourth will be the middle ground, the next fourth will be the background, and the sky will be the top fourth.
      • Have students lightly sketch out a landscape that has a background, middle ground, and foreground.
    • Next, tell students that in their artwork they will show three times of day using color–morning, day, and night.
      • Have students divide their landscape into thirds by lightly sketching two vertical lines from the top to the bottom of their paper to create three sections–the left section will be for morning, the middle section for day, and the right section for night.
      • Show students photos of morning, day, and night, and ask students to make observations about the colors that they see.
      • Have students add color using colored pencils, markers, and/or crayons.
  • Optional: Have students outline their work with Sharpie pen or marker for emphasis.
      • Optional: Have students embellish their art by adding light touches of oil pastel to blend and create a “glow”.

Next, students will draw three circles on a separate sheet of paper, one for each section of the landscape. Each circle will be a clock that shows the time of day represented in each section. Have students represent the time of day on each of their clocks, cut them out, and glue them into the appropriate section on their artwork.
(Alternatively, have students create a clock that is not attached to their artwork. The hands of the clock can be created with brads. Students can move the clock into different sections of their artwork and correspondingly change the time represented on the clock.)

 

Closing Reflection

  • Have students conduct a gallery walk to observe each other’s artwork.
  • Have students select a couple artworks to look at and record the time shown on the clocks in each section of their classmates’ artwork.
  • Facilitate a group discussion and debrief the process. Encourage students to identify a “grow” and a “glow” for themselves.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of landscape artwork, work on landscape art, and ability to identify different times of day using an analog clock.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can tell and write time using an analog clock.
  • Students can create landscape artwork that communicates different times of day using color.
  • Students can create landscape artwork that creates the illusion of depth on a 2D surface using a background, middle ground and foreground.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: Have students write a narrative to accompany their landscape. The narrative should start at the time of day represented in the morning section and end at the time of day represented in the night section.

Remediation: Have students create landscape artwork for one time of day. Then, have students arrange their artwork from the earliest time of day represented to the latest time of day represented.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

*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.

Ideas contributed by: Debi West. Updated by: Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Legends of Day and Night 4-5

LEGENDS OF DAY AND NIGHT

LEGENDS OF DAY AND NIGHT

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will merge their scientific knowledge of why we experience day and night with their exploration of Inuit literature. This will be achieved by first examining a Inuit legend that depicts the story of how day and night came to be. Students will integrate theatre techniques into the retelling of the Inuit legend. Finally, students will apply their knowledge of day and night to craft their own original legend of day and night.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can scientifically explain why we experience day and night.
  • I can write a legend about the origin of day and night.
  • I can communicate a story through tableau.

Essential Questions

  • How can theatrical techniques be tools to communicate ideas?
  • Why do we experience day and night?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

S4E2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to model the effects of the position and motion of the Earth and the moon in relation to the sun as observed from the Earth. a. Develop a model to support an explanation of why the length of day and night change throughout the year. b. Develop a model based on observations to describe the repeating pattern of the phases of the moon (new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, and full). c. Construct an explanation of how the Earth’s orbit, with its consistent tilt, affects seasonal changes.

Arts Standards

Grade 4:

TA4.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.

TA4.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.

TA4.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

 

Grade 5

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

TA5.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.

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

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 5: 

5-ESS1-2. Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.

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.

Anchor Standard 8: I can relate theatre to other content areas, arts disciplines, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Narration - The act of telling a story
  • Storytelling - Conveying events in words and images, often by improvisation or embellishment
  • Legend - A traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated
  • Sun - Center of the solar system; a star; a hot ball of glowing gasses
  • Moon - An object that revolves around a planet
  • Earth’s axis - The imaginary line around which the Earth rotates
  • Rotation - Spinning motion of an object on its axis
  • Revolution - The action of going around in an orbit
  • Waxing Moon - After a new moon and before a full moon; the illuminated area increases
  • Waning Moon - After a full moon and before a new moon; the illuminated area decreases

Arts Vocabulary

  • Tableau - A “living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph
  • Actor’s Neutral - A neutral position which includes a good center of balance, aligned posture, and no unconscious areas of tension in your neck, shoulders, or spine
  • Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama
  • Character - A person, an animal or other figure assuming human qualities, in a story
  • Body – An actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character looks, walks, or moves
  • Dialogue – Conversation between characters
  • Ensemble - All the parts of a thing taken together, so that each part is considered

 

Materials

  • Anchor chart paper
  • Paper
  • Pencils

The Origins of Day and Night by Paula Ikuutaq Rumbolt (Author), Lenny Lishchenko (Illustrator)

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips:  Use cueing methods when directing tableau in your classroom: “3-2-1- Freeze” and “Actor’s Neutral”. Make your expectations for when students work together to craft their legends explicit and go over these before the group work begins. Write them up so that students can refer back to them if they need to during their group working time.

 

  • Start with a general physical warm-up to get the students' bodies ready. Use exercises such as:
    • Stretching: Stretch all major muscle groups.
    • Shaking Out Limbs: Shake out arms, legs, and the whole body to release tension.
    • Energy Passes: Stand in a circle and pass a clap or a simple motion around to build group focus and energy.
  • Introduce the art forms of storytelling and tableau with a warm-up: Character Statues.
    • Students will spread out in the room standing in a neutral position called “Actor’s Neutral”.
    • Students will form character statues when prompted.
      • Examples of prompts: An actor surrounded by fans wanting autographs, an upset principal, a clown juggling, etc.
      • Encourage students to pair up and create tableaux of the following relationships:  A parent and child, a doctor and patient, two friends who haven’t seen each other in years, etc.
        • Be sure that students understand that a tableau is a frozen picture.

 

Work Session

  • Story Whoosh: Form a class circle. Tell students that they will be reading a legend about the origin of day and night as told by the Inuit people. Review what a “legend” is as a class and show students where the Inuit people live (scroll down for map).
  • Read The Origins of Day and Night by Paula Ikuutaq Rumbolt (Author), Lenny Lishchenko (Illustrator).
    • As you read, pause and allow students to come into the center of the circle to form a tableau that dramatizes that section of the legend. Say “Whoosh!” to indicate the actors in the middle returning to their places in the circle and allow other actors to come to the center.
    • Continue this activity until the entire legend is finished being shared.
  • Review the concept of how day and night are created by the Earth’s rotation on its axis so that it’s facing towards or away from the Sun.
    • Divide students into small groups. Provide each group a piece of anchor chart/poster paper and markers. On it, they should write down everything that they know about the scientific concepts behind day and night.
    • Bring the class back together to create a “master list” of facts that students know about why we experience day and night, such as:
      • The earth orbits the sun in 365 days. The earth rotates on its axis in a full circle taking 24 hours. The moon orbits the earth, taking about 28 days to orbit Earth. The position of the earth, sun and moon affect the phases of the moon and which parts of the moon we can see. The moon does not produce any light, it reflects light from the sun.
  • Tell students that each group will be creating their own original legend explaining the origins of day and night, much like the Inuit one they explored earlier.
    • Students will be merging fact and fiction in their legends.
    • Go over the group guidelines:
      • Include at least two scientific facts about day and night in your legend.
      • Include a clear problem and solution that explains why we have day and night.
      • Include a tableau performance with expressive narration of the legend.
    • Provide time for students to write and practice. Circulate the room to work with students and check for understanding.

 

Closing Reflection

  • After writing and practicing their legends and tableaux, students will perform for the class. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • After group performances, reflect using the following questions as prompts:
    • What did you like or notice about this group’s performance?
    • What did you notice was different about your legend from the Inuit legend we read today?
    • What did you notice was similar about your legend from the Inuit legend we read today?
    • How did the scientific background knowledge you had about the Sun and Moon help you in developing your legend? Did understanding science make it more challenging to be creative?

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of scientifically why we experience day and night, and collaboration with groups to write their own legend and create a tableau to accompany it.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can scientifically explain why we experience day and night.
  • Students can write a legend about the origin of day and night that meets criteria.
  • Students can demonstrate key parts of their legend through tableaux.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Students can turn their legend into a play with dialogue, practicing the different parts and presenting for the class.
  • Have students do additional research on how other groups of people throughout time have sought to explain day and night.
  • Optional technology extensions:
    • ThingLink.com:
      • Demonstrate how to use the website ThingLink.com, a website that allows students to hyperlink different websites and student-created captions to an image.
      • Each student will find an image or a diagram of the placement of the Earth and the moon during a 24 hour period and attach various captions and hyperlinks that explain the science behind night and day.
      • Coordinating these images with their legends, students will demonstrate sound understanding of presented science concepts.
    • Using apps:
      • Demonstrate how to use Puppet Pals app which allows students to choose characters and backdrops and record their voices to create a show.
      • Demonstrate the Toontastic app, which uses a 'story arc' with characters, setting, plot, and a conclusion. Coordinating with the study of elements of fiction, this app gives students the ability to create and move characters while recording their own voices to tell their stories.  Students can practice retelling the legend they created in small groups by creating dialogue for the major events in the story.

Remediation: 

  • Write a legend as a class. Then, have groups create tableaux depicting different important parts of the story. Have students present their tableaux in sequential order as the class legend is read aloud.
  • Provide sentence starters and/or graphic organizers to structure writing.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

*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.

Ideas contributed by: Jessica Rosa Espinoza. Updated by Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Lively Limericks 2-3

LIVELY LIMERICKS

LIVELY LIMERICKS

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will use limericks to explore both language arts and music skills at the same time, focusing on rhythm and rhyme to delve into poetry!

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2-3
CONTENT FOCUS: MUSIC & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can speak limerick texts rhythmically.

  • I can create an original limerick text using appropriate form and rhyme scheme. 

  • I can add musical elements to my limerick.

  • I can identify and create rhyme schemes.

Essential Questions

  • How can limericks enhance musical literacy as well as creative writing skills?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

ELAGSE2RL4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

 

ELAGSE2RL10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2-3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

 

ELAGSE2RF4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. 

  1. Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

 

Grade 3: 

ELAGSE3RL4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases both literal and nonliteral language as they are used in the text.

 

ELAGSE3RL10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

 

ELAGSE3RF4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. 

  1. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

Arts Standards

Grade 2:

ESGM2.CR.1 Improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

 

ESGM2.PR.2 Perform a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others.

 

ESGM2.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

 

ESGM2.CN.1 Connect music to the other fine arts and disciplines outside the arts.

 

Grade 3:

ESGM3.CR.1 Improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

 

ESGM3.PR.2 Perform a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others.

 

ESGM3.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.

 

ESGM3.CN.1 Connect music to the other fine arts and disciplines outside the arts.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

ELA.2.F.4.2 Read texts orally and silently with accuracy, appropriate rate, expression, and intonation. 

 

ELA.2.AOR.5.1 Describe the basic structure of a literary text (e.g., narrative, drama, and poem). 

 

Grade 3: 

ELA.3.F.4.2 Read a variety of texts orally and silently with accuracy, appropriate rate, expression, and intonation. 

 

ELA.3.AOR.8.1 Determine an author’s use of words and phrases in grade-level literary, informational, and multimedia texts: 

  1. distinguish between literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases (e.g., take steps)

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 2: I can improvise music.

 

Anchor Standard 4: I can play instruments alone and with others.

 

Anchor Standard 6: I can analyze music.

Anchor Standard 9: I can relate music to other arts disciplines, other subjects, and career paths.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Limerick - A five-line poem with a strict form and humorous content 

 

  • Rhyme - The repetition of similar sounds

  • Rhythm - The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line or verse, creating a flow or beat
  • Rhyme scheme - The pattern of rhymes at the end of lines in a poem

Arts Vocabulary

  • Body Percussion - Sounds produced by striking or scraping parts of the body; typically includes snapping, clapping, patting, and stamping

  • Choral reading - Voices read together, using same rhythm, tempo, and expressive elements (as opposed to individual or small group reading)
  • Form - The structure of a composition; based on repetition, contrast, and variation
  • Found sound - Non-typical sound producers used as instruments (e.g., striking a desk with a pencil)
  • Unpitched percussion - Percussion instrument whose sound is typically produced by shaking, striking, or scraping and does not produce a specific pitch; includes shakers (maracas), drums (bongos, hand drums, congas), woods (claves, rhythm sticks, woodblocks, etc.), and metals (triangle, cowbell, finger cymbals)
  • Ostinato - A repeated pattern
  • Timbre - The quality of sound; component of a sound that causes different instruments to sound different from each other
  • Texture - Thickness or thinness of sound; impacted by the number and relationship of parts

 

Materials

  • Examples of limericks 
  • Various unpitched percussion instruments (can be found sound objects)
  • Pencil and paper

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Display the following limerick and invite individual students to read it. 
  • Explore rhythmic and non-rhythmic options for reading the limerick.

There was an old man of Peru [a] 

Who dreamed he was eating his shoe. [a] 

He awoke in the night in a terrible fright,  [b] 

And found it was perfectly true. [a]

 

Work Session

  • Lead students to understanding of limericks’ salient features: Rhythmic text (words can be read in rhythm), form (four 4-beat phrases = 16 beats), rhyme scheme (a a b a; “b” section also includes an internal rhyme scheme), and nonsensical text. 
  • Explore various ways of keeping the beat while speaking the poem. 
  • Explore various ways of performing the limerick, such as solo versus choral reading, putting the rhythm of the words in body percussion, using different body percussion or voices for rhyming words, using unpitched percussion instruments or found sound to play the poem, etc.
    • Discuss how the texture and timbre changes in each version.
  • Try different variations on the limerick, such as:
    • Transfer speech to unpitched percussion or found sound.
    • Using words from the limerick, challenge students to create speech ostinato (e.g., shoe, shoe, the man ate his shoe).
  • Divide students into groups and challenge students to create original limericks.
    • Students should decide on a means of performing their original compositions incorporating speech, body percussion, and/or unpitched percussion.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Students will perform their limericks for the class. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • Audience should identify the rhyming words and rhyme scheme in the performances.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, ability to identify elements of a limerick, ability to read a limerick rhythmically, ability to incorporate body percussion and unpitched instruments into reading performances, and collaboration with group members to create an original limerick.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can speak limerick text together rhythmically. 
  • Students can create original limerick texts using appropriate form and rhyme scheme. 
  • Students can add musical elements to their limericks (e.g., speech ostinato, body percussion ostinato, delineation of rhyming words, etc.).
  • Students can identify and create rhyme schemes.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Students create limericks incorporating other criteria, such as homophones or writing about a given topic, etc.
  • Students can write about compositional and performance experience. 
  • Students can create movement compositions illustrating the same form (for example, A A B A).

Remediation: 

  • Create a collaborative class limerick together rather than having students work in groups to create their own.
  • Create a class list of rhyming words for students to choose from when creating their limericks.
  • Rather than having students write a limerick, have individual groups perform prewritten limericks. Students should identify the rhyming words and rhyme scheme in the text.
  • During the performances, have the audience use body percussion to set the steady beat and have the performing group speak their limerick rhythmically giving them the option to participate with the body percussion the class has set.

 

*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.

Ideas contributed by: Maribeth Yoder-White. Updated by: Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: September 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

NARRATIVE NECKLACES K-1

NARRATIVE NECKLACES

NARRATIVE NECKLACES

Learning Description

This lesson will give students an opportunity to tell a personal narrative through collage art. The narrative collage will incorporate images, colors, symbols and text to help describe each element of the story. Students will then use their narrative collage art to write their personal narratives. Students will be using several modern masters as inspiration, such as Michel Basquiat, Karen Michels and Robert Rauschenberg.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: K-1
CONTENT FOCUS: VISUAL ARTS & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can tell a personal narrative using symbolism through the artform of collage.
  • I can tell a personal narrative through writing that includes the elements of a story and meets grade level criteria.

Essential Questions

  • How can a visual art lesson based on art history become a teaching tool for language arts?
  • How can we tell a story through art?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten: 

ELAGSEKW3 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.

 

Grade 1: 

ELAGSE1W3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

Arts Standards

Kindergarten:

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

VAK.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.

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

VAK.CN.2 Integrate information from other disciplines to enhance the understanding and production of works of art.

 

Grade 1: 

VA1.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VA1.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.

VA1.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art.

VA1.CN.2 Integrate information from other disciplines to enhance the understanding and production of works of art.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten: 

ELA.K.C.3.1 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or linked events in a logical order.

 

Grade 1: 

ELA.1.C.3.1 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences. When writing: a. detail events in a logical order using temporal words to signal event order (e.g., before, after); b. include details that describe actions, thoughts, and feelings; and c. provide a sense of ending.

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

  • Narrative - A story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious
  • Character - A person, animal, or being that plays a role in the narrative of a story
  • Plot - A sequence of events that make up the main story in a narrative

Arts Vocabulary

  • Art history - The academic discipline that studies the development of painting and sculptural arts; humanistic discipline, humanities, liberal arts; studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills
  • Elements of Art - The elements of art are a commonly used group of aspects of a work of art used in teaching and analysis, in combination with the principles of art.
  • Color - An art element with 3 properties: hue, value and intensity; a response to reflected light
  • Texture - Texture is the quality of a surface or the way any work of art is represented
  • Negative space - The space around and between the subject matter
  • Necklace - An ornament worn around the neck.
  • Collage - An artistic composition of materials and objects pasted over a surface, often with unifying lines and color

 

Materials

  • Small cardboard tiles with a hole cut out for stringing (several per student)
  • Magazines
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Oil pastels
  • Modge podge sealant
  • Paint brushes or sponges to apply modge podge
  • Raffia/string/yarn
  • Miscellaneous collaging materials like various types of paper and stickers

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Project an example of a collage artwork, such as a collage by Karen Michel. Ask students to work collaboratively to engage in the See, Think, Wonder Artful Thinking Routine.
    • First, students will identify what they see in the image. Emphasize that they should make objective observations about the image (i.e. physical features, colors, textures, etc.).
    • Next, ask students to identify what they think about the image. Emphasize that students should be creating inferences using visual evidence from the image.
    • Finally, ask students what they wonder about the image.
  • Facilitate a class-wide discussion around students’ observations, inferences, and questions.
  • Explain to students that this is an example of collage art. Ask students if any of them has made or knows about collage. Explain that a collage is an artistic work made by combining and pasting materials and images over a surface.

 

Work Session

    • Show students examples of collage art by Basquiat, Michel and Rauschenberg (see links in “Additional Resources”).
      • Ask students to compare and contrast the collages. Students should notice how different the artists’ styles are even though they are using the same artform of collage.
    • Tell students that they will be making a collage that tells a story.
    • Have students brainstorm a personal narrative experience. Provide a prompt, if appropriate, for your students, such as, “my first day of school”. Students will need to establish the main plot points–what happened in the beginning, middle, and end.
    • Facilitate a discussion around how pictures, such as illustrations, give us information.
      • Draw or project symbols on the board such as a peace sign, a heart, a smiley face, a stop sign, etc. Ask students to tell you what each means. Then, explain that these are all images/symbols that communicate meaning.
      • Explain to students that they will be using cardboard tiles and magazine images to represent the beginning, middle, and end of their stories. Each tile will represent something different–one tile for the beginning, one tile for the middle, one tile for the end, etc.
      • Have students brainstorm with a partner how they could represent each of their plot points using visuals.
    • Pass out cardboard tiles that will function as pendants on their necklaces. Have students write their names on their tiles.
    • Students will be given magazines and will cut out images and symbols that represent each part of their narratives.
    • Students will glue these images onto their tiles.
    • Tell students that negative space in art is the area around the subject matter, or the “empty space”. Students will look at the negative space in their work and fill it with color, textured papers, or text, so that no cardboard is showing.
    • Students will complete their collaged pieces by adding a touch of oil pastel to the edges, giving the pieces a border, and seal with a modge podge (or watered down glue mixture).
    • Students will then string their completed pieces onto yarn or raffia, creating a wearable piece of artwork. Remind students to think about sequencing as they choose the order in which they string their collage tiles.
  • Optional: Allow students to add additional decorative elements, such as pony beads, wooden beads, or buttons to give their necklaces more character.
  • Once students have completed their necklaces, each student will write their narrative in paragraph form. Narrative writing should meet the grade level standards criteria.

 

Closing Reflection

Allow students to share their personal narratives with each other, using their necklaces as part of their presentation.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of collage as an artform, discussion of the purpose of illustration and the parts of a plot, artmaking process, and conferencing with students during the writing process.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can tell a personal narrative using symbolism through the artform of collage.
  • Students can tell a personal narrative through writing that includes the elements of a story and meets grade level criteria.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Technology: Create a collage using web 2.0 tools compatible with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and online availability. Students will take pictures using digital cameras, or find images and symbols online that they find interesting. Guidance on online research may be needed. When the student has saved all of their images to a folder, they can be uploaded to a site to create the collage. Three suggested sites to use are: Fotor (Android, iOS, Mac and Windows platforms) http://www.fotor.com/features/collage.html; Photocollage (Android, iOS, Mac and Windows platforms) http://www.photocollage.net/; and PiZap (Android, iOS, and web platforms) http://www.pizap.com/.
  • Have students create a collage necklace to retell a story that has been studied in class or to go in depth exploring a particular character through creating a collage necklace about that character.

Remediation: 

  • Reduce the number of elements required in the personal narrative necklace. One way to do this is to focus solely on one part of the narrative that students will show in their necklace; students can select the part they feel is most important.
  • Provide a graphic organizer or sentence starters to help students structure their writing.
  • Allow students to dictate their narrative rather than write it for assessment.
  • Provide pre-cut images for students rather than having them cut them out themselves.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

*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.

Ideas contributed by: Debi West, Drew Brown, and Katy Betts. Technology by: Ramsey Ray.

Revised and copyright:  July 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules