Unit Topic and Rationale
TOPICS TAUGHT
Earth Art
Students learned about forms of animal architecture such as ant hills, beaver dams, and bowerbird nests. They were also exposed to the art of Andy Goldsworthy, ephemeral water calligraphy, and Indian Rangoli as forms of nature-inspired art. In the learning experience, students interacted with rocks, sticks, water on pavement, flower petals, leaves, and a sandbox to create outdoor ephemeral works of art. Students developed craft as they discovered the properties of these natural materials. |
Crazy Creatures
This lesson began with an introduction to the “Combobulator,” a fictional machine that combines parts of living things and machines to create a crazy creature. Students brainstormed with textured objects, composite animal collage, and habitat drawing to get ideas of creatures they wanted to build. They then constructed their "Crazy Creatures" from both 2D and 3D materials. After this, they brainstormed what their creature would need to have in order to survive. Based on these needs, they transformed a shoebox into a thriving habitat for their creature with the basic function of survival integral to the design. Students then joined the teachers on a safari through "Creaturetopia" to look at and discuss some of the creatures and habitats--both from a functional, survival point of view and from an artistic standpoint. |
Guess My Emotion
This lesson introduced the idea that art can be used as a tool to communicate emotion. Students explored contemporary and historical art in the context of its use of visual imagery to convey emotion. Students received an image of a facial expression that they first named (e.g. grumpy, excited), then used this image as inspiration for a collage cut out representative of that emotion. They had the choice of using up to two colors in their collage, which they made from 1-inch square colored paper and gluesticks. They also had to cut a shape from a folded piece of paper using a line style they thought would evoke that particular emotion. The result of the project included colorful, layered, abstract, and expressive artworks. Afterward, the students and teachers tried to guess the emotions the artist was trying to depict by "reading" the colors and lines. |
Batik Cloth
In this lesson, students learned a new type of art called "Batik." To begin the lesson, the teachers helped the class as a whole brainstorm ideas of events, people, places, and things that make them excited, happy, and sad. Next, students were given a sheet of paper to draw anything they were thinking of after the brainstorming session. Next, the teachers read Too Much Glue by Jason Lefebvre, which got students excited to work with bottles of glue. Students then viewed a batik cloth from Indonesia to begin thinking about the idea of resist and some of the patterns batiks can make. Setting a square of fabric over their drawing, students used bottles of glue to trace the lines in their drawings on the fabric. After the glue had fully dried, students used primary colors to mix secondary colors and painted those on the batik. After the paint had fully dried, the glue was rinsed away, creating a resist drawing with white lines where the glue resisted the paint. |
RELEVANCE TO CONTENT STANDARDS
GLEs: Grade Level Expectations
PCGs: Prepared Graduate Competencies
Students COMPREHEND when they:
Students REFLECT when they:
GLEs
PCGs
Students CREATE when they:
Students TRANSFER when they:
GLEs
PCGs
PCGs: Prepared Graduate Competencies
Students COMPREHEND when they:
- Talk about art using senses, feelings, opinions, and art vocabulary
- Tell stories about how artwork represents people, places, and things
- Artists and viewers recognize characteristics and expressive features within works of art
- Personal feelings, stories, people, places, and things are described in and through works of art
- Recognize, articulate, and debate that the visual arts are a means for expression
- Make informed critical evaluations of visual and material culture, information, and technologies
- Analyze, interpret, and make meaning of art and design critically using oral and written discourse
- Explain, demonstrate, and interpret a range of purposes of art and design, recognizing that the making and study of art and design can be approached from a variety of viewpoints, intelligences, and perspectives
Students REFLECT when they:
- Discuss and identify how and why people make art
- Explain where feelings and stories are found in art and how they communicate
GLEs
- Identify that art represents and tells the stories of people, places, or things
- Visual arts provide opportunities to respond to personal works of art and the art of others
PCGs
- Recognize, demonstrate, and debate philosophic arguments about the nature of art and beauty (aesthetics)
- Recognize, demonstrate, and debate the place of art and design in history and culture
- Use specific criteria to discuss and evaluate works of art
- Critique personal work and the work of others with informed criteria
- Recognize, articulate, and implement critical thinking in the visual arts by synthesizing, evaluating, and analyzing visual information
Students CREATE when they:
- Interact with materials and processes to create art
- Express feelings, ideas, and emotions through various modalities like building, painting, acting, sketching, and singing
- Create two- and three-dimensional works of art based on personal relevance
- Create art to communicate ideas, feelings, or emotions
- Recognize, interpret, and validate that the creative process builds on the development of ideas through a process of inquiry, discovery, and research
- Develop and build appropriate mastery in art-making skills using traditional and new technologies and an understanding of the characteristics and expressive features of art and design
- Create works of art that articulate more sophisticated ideas, feelings, emotions, and points of view about art and design through an expanded use of media and technologies
- Recognize, compare, and affirm that the making and study of art and design can be approached from a variety of viewpoints, intelligences, and perspectives
Students TRANSFER when they:
- Identify art in daily life and understand the role of the artist
- Use personal experience and prior knowledge to make and discuss art
GLEs
- Artists and viewers contribute and connect to their communities
- Visual arts relate experiences to self, family, and friends
PCGs
- Identify, compare, and interpret works of art derived from historical and cultural settings, time periods, and cultural contexts
- Identify, compare and justify that the visual arts are a way to acknowledge, exhibit and learn about the diversity of peoples, cultures and ideas
- Transfer the value of visual arts to lifelong learning and the human experience
- Explain, compare and justify that the visual arts are connected to other disciplines, the other art forms, social activities, mass media, and careers in art and non-art related arenas
SIGNIFICANCE OF TOPIC
Globally
Centered around environment and storytelling, this unit has strong global significance. This unit touched on many 21st century skills critical for developing rising leaders in a global world. In every lesson there was either a requirement or an option to work with peers, which led students to enhance their teamwork skills and realize potential for collaboration in art making and beyond. Students also broadened their capacity for empathy by observing and analyzing the art of others to try to understand the intent of others. |
Personally
Art's integration into society is often overlooked and undervalued, yet remains an integral part of interpreting the world. This unit was designed to bridge gaps between art and the world around us, images and words, patterns and underlying concepts. As teachers--and students of art ourselves--we believe that art should hold a vital place in life because it allows us to make sense of our world. |
For This Population
At the K-1 age, students are greatly interested in telling stories--about themselves, friends, family, and pretend things. Students at this age are also exploring their natural environments and tend to be very connected and sensitive to nature. Each of the lessons provided students opportunities to interact with nature or to tell stories visually. The topics for the artistic products were highly student-centered, which created personal relevance and intrinsic motivation for students. |