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Lesson Plans


Bye for the Summer?

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Diane L. (mselle)
Fri, 15 May 1998 22:50:11 -0400

Dear Pals, thanks again for all your encouragement, advice and friendship.
I always wanted a penpal, and now I've got dozens. You've helped me get
through my first year of teaching art, k-2, with flying colors, (pun
intended). I've laughed with you and cried with you, even shared
frustration with you over nasty listserver postings. Many of your lesson
plans have helped pull me through a difficult week, especially when I had
my 5th cold of the year, and could hardly think let alone do art. I'm
happy to report that the cold I have now (and for the past 3 weeks, due I
believe to the kid who sneezed in my face while I was helping him put
feather 'hair' on his puppet, is just about gone. I'm hoping to get out of
school before chickenpox season starts. Last day of classes for us is June
3rd, private school schedule. This summer I'll have a brief rest and then
be working in an art camp, (I'd rather be relaxing or doing my own art
work, which is influenced by East Asian ink brush painting, but the camp
director gave me a nice recommendation for my teaching position, so I guess
I certainly owe her a summer. At any rate, I can't really complain, since
it's only 4 weeks and only, let's see, 16 daily lesson plans for early
childhood students. (yiks! I hope burnout cures fast). Anyway, I'd like
to share a lesson plan with you guys, maybe you can use it in a pinch
during the last days of school, It worked well for me.

2nd grade.
Reference: Art Synetics by Nicholas Roukes
Visual: see page 33 in above book. Show students photo of face with ears
for eyes. Show students an abstract portrait, say, one by Picasso such as
his painting of Gertrude Stein.
Discussion: Transformation using art skills, Showing people, objects in a
new way, maybe how we feel about them, maybe how we could improve them,
maybe how we could reinvent them.
Hand out 8z10" sheets of paper, helps to use a type of paper they never
used before, such as gray charcoal paper, and charcoal sticks, (we hadn't
used either of these before so it added to the novelty of the lesson).
Challenge: Ask students to use some of the elements of art they learned
during the year, such as line shape and texture, to create wacky,
reinvented, transformed pictures of everyday things, or persons. (let them
do as many as they want.)
Assessment: Hold them up, show the class as they are finished, tack as
many to the bulletin board as possible) Ask students to describe what they
did, and how they did it.

We had a lot of fun with this. Some students even did portraits of me.
Glad I have a sense of humor.

Well... I still have to write my end of the year reports, do inventory,
clean the room and order supplies. Students still have to finish puppets,
etc. I'll probably still check in over the summer to see how you guys are.
With much love, Diane L.