This year (2012-2013) as part of a teacher incentive fund (TIF)I am working with Kindergarten at the end of the day. I am using visual arts to increase their knowledge in various content areas. So far we have drawn self portraits to better understand shapes and we have used clay techniques and the art element line to practice our letters. Stay tuned for updates to see what we are working on now!
Art can teach us about other content areas like......math!
Kindergartners learned how to add primary colors together to create secondary colors to reinforce their addition skills! First they each created a color wheel, then applied their new color theory knowledge to create an abstract mural.
Who is this green guy anyway??
Learning how to follow a set directions, and asking and answering questions are key skills students need to develop to be successful learners. In order to put a fun holiday spin on our activity students were each asked to create a different body part without being told why or what we were making. Then they were asked to put all the pieces together to make a person. Thoughts were shared as students worked. They wondered...Why does he have green skin? Why is the hair shapes like a rectangle? Why is the shirt so small? Why are the pants so skinny? Who or what are we making?
Then they were shown a picture of Frankenstein! I asked them if our artwork looked like the picture and they said no and started to tell me that if I had given them better directions it would have. So we proceeded to write a better set of directions using key deatils and attributes and the next day students tried again.
This time more problem solving had to occur as students wondered how to make the various parts of Frankenstein the correct size. Some teamwork had to take place to make it happen!
Then they were shown a picture of Frankenstein! I asked them if our artwork looked like the picture and they said no and started to tell me that if I had given them better directions it would have. So we proceeded to write a better set of directions using key deatils and attributes and the next day students tried again.
This time more problem solving had to occur as students wondered how to make the various parts of Frankenstein the correct size. Some teamwork had to take place to make it happen!
How can we use solid or 3D shapes to create an animal sculpture?
Students learned about the difference between 2D and 3D shapes by discussing and comparing the shape's attributes. Then they watched a YouTube video of an artist sculpting a rhinoceros out of clay. The video showed them how important solid shapes are when creating 3D figures. Next, they used model magic clay to create their own animal sculpture. A final writing piece was completed also that required students to explain how they used solid shapes to create their animal.
Sharing the attributes of our artwork with the rest of our class using describing words!
This activity gave students practice with speaking to a group and being a good listener.
How do artists use line, shape, color and texture to express their ideas about...weather?
(September 17-21)
As part of the teacher incentive fund (TIF), I have been teaching arts integrated lessons to small groups of students in grade 4 (2011-2012 School Year)
We work on increasing the understanding of concepts such as main idea and how to infer by analyzing art prints. We use the style of artists to help us better understand math concepts. Here are a few examples below:
Students using their minds well to make interdisciplinary connections!
Students using their minds well to make interdisciplinary connections!