Shapes and Patterns - 2nd

Objectives:

• Students can see that geometric shapes have lines, angles, points, and can overlap to create new shapes.
• Students will create a work of art that uses overlapping geometric shapes and patterns to show math in art.

Standards:

Tennessee Art Standards:

2.1  Identify, understand, and apply the elements of art.

6.2  Identify connections between visual arts and mathematics.

Math Standards:

Common Core 2.G - Recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes, such as a given number of angles or a given number of equal faces.5 Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes. 

We have been learning about shapes for a while now. I think shapes lead naturally into patterns, as you know, one of the elements of Art. To integrate the lesson into the math curriculum, we discuss the role of shapes in math and art. Then, I introduce the term pattern.

pattern - something that repeats over and over again

Even though Common Core standards have changed the basic outline of 2nd grade math requirements, I like to discuss mathematical patterns with the kids. For instance, we will talk about ABA patterns, as well as ABBA (not the disco sensation!), ABC, AABB, so on.... you get the idea.

After this, we find patterns in our every day world. This can include patterns on clothing, in the room, or seen in nature. In art, I like to stress that a pattern does NOT have to be in a straight line, and does NOT have to be the same color, size, orientation. For example, a pattern can be made up of something as simple as triangles. As long as the shape is repeating, the triangles can be different colors, sizes, and directions.

To start on our project, I have students make a list of geometric shapes, which I write on the board. Students then draw geometric shapes on their papers, making sure to overlap the shapes. We then outline the shapes with Sharpee, to ensure nice clean lines. Students must identify all shapes on their paper, including the newly created shapes that resulted from the overlapping. Each shape must be filled with a different pattern. I really tried to encourage the kids to come up with the coolest and funniest patterns that they could think of. In the examples below you will be able to see some cool patterns. After finishing the patterns, students were instructed to cut out the shape cluster, and glue it on a piece of black paper.

For the most part, the majority of the students understood the project and were able to complete the assignment without a lot teacher intervention. Some students needed scaffolding with identifying new spaces that were created when the geometric shapes overlapped. Still, I was pleased with how well the kids seemed to grasp the subject matter and retain the information. Hope someone can use this project! 

Ice Cream and Pumpkin Pattern

Nice and bright!

Blue ice cream in a green cone.

This kid likes video games. Can you tell?

Eggs and bacon pattern.

The end!

 

Rock Art of the SW - 4th Grade

Objectives:
-We can identify Native peoples of the South West United States of America.
-We can create pictographs on brown paper, using natural pigments and charcoal, in the style of the Pueblo peoples.
-We can create clay pendants with petroglyphs in the style of the Pueblo peoples.

I timed this lesson to coincide with what students are learning in their classrooms, as part of the integrated model that we run in our school. Students, in 4th grade Social Studies, are currently learning regions of the United States and corresponding Native American groups with each of these regions.

This is a super fun unit for 4th grade that helps them explore the South West region of the United States. I've always enjoyed this unit because students are introduced to a particularly old and well established groups of Native Americans, the Pueblo. This group of pre-Columbian peoples spanned much of the South West, with concentrations in the "Four Corners" region. Pueblo is sort of an umbrella name coined by the Spanish as a description of the mud and brick dwellings. The name encompasses many different Native American tribes, including (but not limited to) the Hopi and the Zuni.

I wanted to teach specifically about Rock Art of the South West. Once I started researching, there was so much information out there, it became a little overwhelming. I knew that I wanted to teach about ancient symbology found in Pueblo artwork. I decided to break the unit into 3 definitive lessons. I wanted to teach the difference between pictograph and petroglyph.

Lesson 1:
The first was a basic introductory lesson, in which we used Google Earth to identify the SW region of the United States. We talked about the Pueblo peoples, their dwellings, and why people would create artwork on a rock wall. I passed out examples of Rock Art symbology and let the kids practice drawing these on scrap paper.

Lesson 2:
pictograph: A painting or drawing on a rock wall
In this lesson, students were given brown sheets of butcher paper. We crumpled them up to create  a textured look, like a rock wall. Students were given "traditional materials" and told to create their own pictograph story in the style of the Pueblo. "Traditional materials" included powdered pigment and sticks of charcoal. I have taught this lesson in the past using mud from outside and burnt sticks... But for the sake of the 50 4th graders, this time I just used materials around the art room. You can make this lesson as LARGE as you want, or keep it small and simple.

Students were instructed to create this art work using just their hands. They LOVED it. Any excuse to get dirty, right?! It makes cleanup a bit longer, as every student needs to quickly wash their hands before we leave. I suppose you could use wet wipes, or clorox wipes.

This is a project to be completed in one class period. Believe me.... it's so messy, you'll be glad to keep it to one lesson. Shoo!

Using a handout as reference.

Painting with our fingers!

This is one of our Special Needs students.
He was able to follow along with minimal modifications.

Some kids chose to create a story with pictographs.

Some students just chose to explore the medium.

Lesson 3:
petroglyph: A carving into a rock wall
In the final lesson of the unit, we used our knowledge of Pueblo symbology and traditional art methods, and applied it to the new lesson. To teach the term petroglyph, students needed to understand that this is a carving method. In the last lesson, we painted and drew the symbols. In this lesson, we needed to carve the symbols.

Now, I understand that we do not have large expanses of pristine rock walls to carve into. Not to mention, I'm sure the park service and police would come after me. So, how would you teach "carving" when there is nothing to carve? I figure that indentations into clay adequately covers the reductive process. So.... I decided that we should make clay pendants! I am lucky enough to have a kiln in the school, which is awesome. I will fire all of these pendants before Winter Break, and allow the kids to glaze them. They make awesome tree ornaments or necklaces.

We walked through the rolling, balling, and forming of the pendant together. After which, I provided students with the same handout they used for the pictographs and turned them loose with some wooden styluses. I thought the end result looked awesome, and am excited see them all fired and glazed. Check it out!

"Carving" Petroglyphs

This Yoda looking symbol is actually on the sheet of examples.
I think it is supposed to be a bull mask.

They look so cool!
On the bottom left, you can see some examples that have already been fired, but not yet glazed.

For assessment, I grade both the pictographs and the petroglyphs on a basic rubric. I also pre and post tested this unit, with a 10 question quiz, to quantifiably account for student learning.

I love this unit. Hope you did, too!

Symmetry, Color Mixing, and Ndebele Art- 5th Grade

Objectives:
- We can identify the key characteristics in artwork of the Ndebele of South Africa.
- We can create artwork, in the style of the Ndebele, that uses symmetry, color mixing, bright colors, and bold outlines.

I wanted to jump right into the school year with a challenging, colorful, and fun project. I remember studying the Ndeble (En-Da-Be-Le) of South Africa during my African art history class, back  in Art school. I looked up projects that other teachers have been doing around the country, and saw THIS lesson over at http://artteacheradventures.blogspot.com. It's an excellent lesson, and decided to try it out in my classroom. I adapted the lesson, as best as possible, to Tennessee Art and Social Studies standards.

Standards:
Tennessee Art Standards:
1.5  Recognize and demonstrate levels of craftsmanship. 
2.1  Analyze and apply the elements of art.  

6.2  Identify connections between visual art and social studies.

    
Tennessee Social Studies Standards: 

1.01 Understand the diversity of human cultures.

1.02 Discuss cultures and human patterns of places and regions of the world.

I scoured the internet and put together a folder of pictures of Ndebele artwork, both historic and contemporary. Ndebele mostly paint these intricate designs on the outside of their houses, but in recent times, the designs have spread to clothing, cars, and canvas paintings.

We started out by identifying Africa using Google Earth, and then specifically locating South Africa. I walked the kids through the visual examples of the Ndebele artwork and discussed the traditions and processes behind the artwork. I made sure to emphasize the following Art vocabulary words during our discussion.

Symmetry
Primary Colors
Secondary Colors
Tint
Shade 
Outline

I supplemented the lesson using My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me by Maya Angelou. It is a lovely book, filled with excellent pictures, telling the story of the daily life of a young Ndeble girl in modern times. My class enjoyed seeing all the visuals in the book and realizing that this is a contemporary form of artwork in the world.

Image via Amazon

I gave every student a 11"x17" sheet of watercolor paper. Since the Ndebele do not use rulers, I told the students that they would have to free hand their symmetrical designs. We started by creating a large "X" from corner to corner on our papers. The rest was up to the kids. They had to create a symmetrical design, using the style of the Ndebele as inspiration. Students then traced their pencil lines with thick black paint.

Sketch and outline

On the second and third days of the project, students were given red, yellow, blue, white, and black. We discussed how to mix paint, with me giving demonstrations at the beginning of each class. The remainder of the goals for the project were to fill in the entire painting with at least one from each of the following categories.
Primary
Secondary
Tint
Shade

Primary colors, black, white

Mixing colors!

Assessment consisted of a post test. The test asked students to identify the primary colors, the secondary colors, tint, shade, and information about the Ndebele. If I were to do it over again, I would have started the unit with a pretest as a way to better monitor student learning. Ah well, next time I guess! I thought the artwork turned out pretty rad. This lesson was a neat way to learn about world cultures, and color mixing. Yay!

Heck yah! That kid can paint!