Elementary Lesson Plans
CLINICALS
I had the pleasure of working with Mrs. Cox’s kindergarten class and the wonderful opportunity to observe other elementary classrooms making art from late January to late April of 2018. In the kindergarten class I taught, students created wonderful work within these months and I have seen them grow in the skills and concepts that I have taught them. While I challenged the kindergartners 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 my teaching experience. I am so proud of the kindergartners work the past few months and am extremely grateful for Mrs. Cox’s guidance and support. I am pleased that I had the opportunity to influence the kindergartners experience with art and its relevance to the world around them as the expression of art will continually be integrated into their future work.
Lesson One: Symmetry in Nature
Students observed flowers and commented on their appearance and then shared where they have seen flowers and occasions people use flowers. We talked 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 the collaborative class flowers. Some students pushed their creative limits and created shapes that they see in the world around them as opposed to making a standard petal shape. Once the flowers were completely constructed, students compared and contrasted characteristics of their shapes they created.
Lesson 2: Safari Pattern Pals
Students observed teacher clothing for signs of pattern and turned to classmates to analyze their uniforms to recognize patterns. 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. We 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, we 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 artwork as well as reflect on their own artwork.
Lesson 3: 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 1
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, I reviewed the concepts of color theory with specific colored clothing I wore.
Day 2
For day two I showed a short video clip from the movie Inside Out which introduced the topic of color and mood. We had a classroom discussion about how color can influence feelings. Students learned new descriptive words to express their feelings. 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 3
For the final day of the project, students assembled their shapes to create a mobile. We 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 from 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.
Exhibition
