Elementary Lesson Plans |
The Clinical Experience
It is true that learning how to teach and actually being in a classroom and teaching are two totally different things. As much as I could have prepared myself, getting the teaching experience firsthand has been not only helpful, but inspiring. This Spring 2018 Semester I had the pleasure of working with Mrs. Cox’s kindergarten class. They created wonderful work within these months and we have seen the kindergarteners grow in the skills and concepts that we have taught them. While I challenged the kindergarteners the five days that I had the opportunity of working with them, the students were continuously motivated to learn and develop artistically. This type of energy was infectious and positively influenced our teaching experience. I am so proud of the kindergartners work the past few months and are extremely grateful for Mrs. Cox’s guidance and support. I am pleased that we had the opportunity to influence the kindergarteners experience with art and its relevance to the world around them as the expression of art will continually be integrated into their future work.
Lessons
Symmetry in Nature
Students observed flowers and commented on their appearance and then shared where they have seen flowers and occasions people use flowers. I held a class discussion about the ways that animals, plants, and landscapes have symmetry. After learning about flower petal symmetry, students created their own flower petal to then add to collaborative class flowers. Some students pushed their creative limits and created shapes that they see in the world around them. Once the flowers were completely constructed, students compared and contrasted characteristics of their shapes they created.
Safari Pattern Pals
In this lesson, students learned about how safari animals use unique patterns for their survival. They learned about other places they see pattern as well as silhouette. I made shadows with the projection of light to create a stronger understanding of the new term silhouette. Then they drew patterns of their selected animal and reinforced the silhouette of the corresponding animal pattern with an oil pastel. Once students completed their drawings, I called up students in their animal group to share the characteristics of their animal pattern they created. This gave the students the opportunity to see their classmates work as well as reflect on their own work.
Moving Moods
The final lesson was done over the course of three days where students learned about color theory, mood and kinetic art work to create their own three-dimensional color wheel.
|
Day 1On the first day of this project I introduced color theory with the use of a visual demonstration of color mixing with food coloring and water. Many students knew the primary colors and predicted how to create the secondary colors. They also learned about complimentary colors, warm colors and cool colors. Students painted six circles: the three primary colors and the three secondary colors through color mixing with the tempera paint. After they painted their circles, students were prompted to create their own shape by experimenting and mixing with colors they desired, creating their own original color. Once students completed painting and cleaned up, we reviewed the concepts of color theory with the color scheme that I intentionally wore to class that day.
Day 2For day two of the project, I showed a short video clip from the movie Inside Out which introduced the topic of color and mood. I held a classroom discussion about how color can influence feelings. Students learned new descriptive words which you can see today on the large color wheel. Students shared how these colors made them feel with the class in relation to the new words they learned. Students then created a corresponding drawing on the back of the cut out and painted shapes that resembled how that color made them feel. Thanks to Mrs. Cox, class time was set aside for students to make drawings that were well thought out and that they could be proud of. Students were very engaged and eager to share their drawings with classmates.
Day 3For the final day of the project, students assembled their shapes to create a mobile. I began the lesson by reinforcing symmetry, color theory terms, and mood. Students did a review activity where they grouped together and became a human color wheel while sharing some information of their shapes. Students learned the new term “kinetic art”, moving art, and reached their arms out to sky as we all shouted the term together. Students worked with their eighth grade buddies to measure and cut the string to assemble their color wheel mobile. Some students struggled to tie knots and became frustrated, but I redirected students by claiming they may feel red, or frustrated, but can achieve many things if they keep trying. This reinforced the idea that moods can move and change the ways they do in their color wheel mobile.
|