Instruction and Management
Introduction to Unit
Throughout our unit in Alicia’s 4th and 5th grade class we focused on Science and Art, but to be more specific the moon, stars, and sun with art. We explored how the suns UV rays effect things, nebulae, and supernovas. The students explored materials and patterns to create their own designs that expressed whatever the topic was (Nebulae, Sun's UV rays, and supernovas). They would reflect on a supernova, nebulae, and cyanotypes and create patterns and designs that reflect their project.
Click here to see the unit plan
Methods for Integrating Literacy, Numeracy, Technology, and other Components
In every lesson we had students use literacy. After we were done with every lesson we would have students reflect their process and sometimes they would share their findings. Attached here is one of the reflections our students made after the cyanotype process. Students also utilized playsheets which involved writing ideas before creating them, there is also a picture to show this bellow.
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Numeracy was also used in sketchbooks as well as planning. For example, some students were very specific when they described exact numbers of stars and planets they would be using in their art. This can also be seen in the image above where students even explained the number of aliens they would want in their supernova.
Technology was incorporated through the use of the smart board and the projector. At the start of every lesson Daniel would start the day with a reflection on our blog of what we did the day prior (bellow is an attached image of Daniel starting the class). Samples and Ideas were all on power-points of Daniel and I's compiled images and videos that we thought would get the students inspired to create. There was even one class during our supernova lesson where students asked to use their laptops to find images that they wanted to recreate in their supernovas.
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Science was used in many aspects of our art class because it was what we tried to incorporate in every lesson. Some lessons we would explore science by learning about space and how certain things come about (Supernovas and Nebulae). In other lessons we would be using exact measurements of chemicals to create our artwork (cyanotypes).
Students explored many different projects all of which included logic and critical thinking. Each project had chronological orders that could not really be changed. The cyanotypes had to have paper painted with a chemical, found objects placed on top, then the paper with the found objects and the chemicals on it will be placed outside, once it has been onside for at least ten minutes we brought it back inside to wash it off and see what was created. Students did learn a lot about accepting mistakes, not everything goes according to plan and we had to reflect that this semester.
Classroom Management Strategies related to Instruction
Within Alicia's class there were a few management strategies that were already in place. Students would start their day by join circle or group on the futons in Alicia's class. Daniel and I would even sit with them and we would participate in the daily how are you mentally and physically with a show of thumbs and a short explanation for why you were feeling that way. Certain students had certain roles during the week one would facilitate circle/group, one would take role, and another would collect homework or paperwork that was due. Then after circle/group we would do an art switch! Where students would join us in the creation stations.
During the lesson we had students stay away from the futons and we used the tables as the creation stations because they were much easier when it came to cleaning. When it came to clean up we would usually release tables one at a time to go to the sink to clean up whatever they were using whether it be shaving cream, acrylics, or cyanotype chemicals. We would also tell the class 5-10 minutes before recess it was time to clean, this meant that the room looked better than when we got there before the students would get to recess. The students really never had any issues cleaning except for one time when we had students pick at least one scrap up and that was their exit ticket to leave the class.
Throughout each lesson we made use of stations. For example, a paper marble, and mixed materials station. With use of stations it caused for easier clean up, eliminated some stress of sharing, and kept student occupied as they moved throughout stations.
When we had important things to discuss such as respect of materials and others we would always do it in circle/group we would often have students repeat what was just said to them and every once and a while I would see if students were listening by telling them if you are listening to me put your finger on your nose! However every once and a while we has to utilize the discovery model that is used throughout Polaris.
We generally tried to get students to come up with the safety rules before we told them. For example we might say something such as "What do we not do with the palette knife when painting?" This gave students the opportunity to come up with the rules they seem fit, we did remind them of ones they may forget also.
Lesson Plans and Documentation
Lesson one:
Lesson one was all about cyanotypes and exploring the uv rays of the sun. Students first learned what cyanotypes looked like from other artists and they were described the process. We had students go outside the first day and find objects that they would wnat to transfer the silhouette of. Before they did the cyanotype process itself we had them sketch out an idea in their sketchbook of how they wanted their cyanotype to look. Closer to the end of class students were introduced to the new material of the chemicals that create cyanotypes and Daniel showed them how to create them. By the time the next class rolled around students were excited to make cyanotypes and they worked really hard with composition and getting their ideas across. This day we learned a very important lesson, not everything goes as planned. When we washed the blue off of the cyanotype everything washed off with it, almost every students paper ended up white and back to how it looked before. Students were very upset and by the time this all came to play it was time for everyone to go to recess, so we knew we would address it next class. In the final class we had everyone reflect in their sketchbook the process steps of cyanotypes and how they felt when the cyanotype washed off and why that could have happened. We did introduce this process again (on a sunnier day) and students were excited and remembered their process from before and the Do's and Don't also.
Click here for the lesson plan
Blog Day 1:
https://melissanewb.wixsite.com/educ466/about-copy
Blog Day 2:
https://melissanewb.wixsite.com/educ466/class-3
Blog Day 3:
lhttps://melissanewb.wixsite.com/educ466/class-4
Lesson 2:
This lesson was all about making your own personal nebula. In the beginning of this lesson I started out by giving a presentation of what nebulae are, how they are formed, and even how the colors in nebulae are effected by temperature. This first half of the lesson was started after the reflection of the cyanotypes so we weren't able to create the first day. When the second day came we did the paper marbling, I started out the lesson by showing the students how to paper marble with shaving cream and food coloring. Students were very excited to play with shaving cream and create. There were two different creation stations for this day, one was the paper marbling and the other was an addition station where students were able to cut foil, construction paper, and draw to make planets, stars, and aliens into their Nebula. The shaving cream was a fun experience but also a very overwhelming experience when it came to cleaning everything up. By the time the third day came we had students work on their nebulae by adding their stars, planets, aliens, etc. once they were done we did a token exercise where students reflected each others work. For the last half of the class we had students remake their cyanotypes from the lesson before.
Click here for the lesson plan
Blog Day 1:
lhttps://melissanewb.wixsite.com/educ466/class-4
https://melissanewb.wixsite.com/educ466/blank
https://melissanewb.wixsite.com/educ466/class-6
Lesson 3:
This lesson was all about stumbling upon a supernova in a telescope what does it look like? Does anything live there? The first day students explored what supernovas were with a presentation from Daniel all about supernovas and artwork of supernovas. After the presentation students were given a play-sheet to design their supernovas they found. Some students didnt even need the play-sheet and were ready to sketch out their ideas. As we observed the class some students were ready for the next step while some students still sketched and wrote ideas for their supernovas. So we showed all the students how to create a monoprints, so the ones who were finished could start onto the next step, monoprints. By the second day we brought more for students to explore with their monoprint processes including watercolors and watercolor pencils. Students really did go through the monoprint process very fast so we kept that in mind for our third day, The third day students were introduced to acrylic paints and different techniques of painting. Students were encouraged to add monoprints to their acrylic paintings and acrylic paint to their monoprints. They were introduced to these materials in hopes for them to explore their idea of what they want their supernova to look like.
Click here for the lesson plan
Blog day 1:
https://melissanewb.wixsite.com/educ466/class-7
Blog day 2:
https://melissanewb.wixsite.com/educ466/class-8
Blog day 3:
https://melissanewb.wixsite.com/educ466/class-9
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