Name of YOUR PROJECT:
Building 3-dimensional houses with woodblocks
Classroom, School:
ages 2- age 10 at Harriet Tubman Shelter
Cooperating Teacher:
volunteers from Free Arts Minnesota
Grade Level:
2nd grade to 6th grade
Presenter's Name:
Lydia Alsdurf
Subject and Curricular Link:
Understanding 3-dimensional objects and how shapes are able to fit into one another.
Overview of Project
Making 3-dimensional art is something the children at the Harriet Tubman Women's Shelter do not get to do often. I thought since most of the kids come from the inner city, it would be interesting to take scrap wood and have them each create a building (such as an apartment complex or high-rise) and together the buildings they create could form a skyline of the city. They will be expected to use 6 triangles and at least two rectangles for each building. After they have constructed their buildings, I will instruct them to decorate the buildings as they wish by gluing on objects such as screws, nails, washers and other metal components I will provide. In this way, I will show the children how they can make art from everyday objects they might find in their environment. Finally, each of the individual buildings will be placed together to create one cityscape. In this way, the children will see how the impact of the individual pieces is enhanced when those pieces are put together into one joint work of art. I expect the children to be uncomfortable with the lesson in the beginning but by the end I anticipate that they will have developed a new way of seeing how art can reflect an urban environment and how it relates to the world around them.
Essential Question(s)
How can you use everyday materials (wood scraps, metal pieces) to create an artistic expression that reflects an urban environment?
How can you use smaller geometric shapes to create a larger object?
Prior Knowledge
The prior knowledge they will need before beginning this work is an understanding of how to interconnect shapes to make an overall larger shape.
Timeline
1. Lesson plan for april 13th
2. since the project is quite complicated and has many different elements to it on april 20th I will plan to bring in supplies in case any kids want to finish their projects.
3.
Assessment
Showing a freedom of being able to put shapes together in different ways as well as using a wide variety of sized shapes together. I am hoping the kids show an investigative attitude on their part throughout the lesson will give them an insight into the complex nature a siple shape can have.
Materials
different sized cut wood, hot glue, tempra paint, fabric, and metal screws
Teacher Vocabulary
making the base for the house, Interacting shapes: how many small shapes can you find in big shapes.
Balance: look at a 3-dimensional object differently.
Procedures
1. I will set out the wood scraps prior to the kids coming into the room
2. Once students arrive I will show them pictures of cityscapes and talk about what makes up a city skyline: individual buildings
3. We will talk about how each building is different and can be broken down into parts—geometric shapes such as squares, triangles, rectangles and circles
4. Students will be asked to visualize one city building (a place they have lived, gone to school or church, where someone they know works, etc.) and will use a selection of wood pieces to create their image of that building.
5. I will explain the activity to the students and show them the model I have made. I will explain how after each individual building has been created, we will place our buildings together to create one cityscape.
6. I will instruct them to begin by arranging wood pieces in various configurations before they start to glue them together.
7. I will also place metal objects on the tables and indicate that they can be glued onto the wooden structures to add visual interest.
8. When the students have completed their buildings, each one will be allowed to place his or her building into the larger cityscape.
9. I will take photos of the cityscape and bring copies to the students next week. They will be allowed to take their individual buildings with them at the end of class.
Teacher Reflection
I think the laid-back attitude at harriet tubamn might stop the kids from pushing themselves artistically. I think since there is such a broad range of ages at harriet tubman the project will work well for many different ages. Understanding of three-dimensional objects for the youngest kids to know how to manipulate different shapes for the older ones will be beneficial for all groups.
I was planning on having the kids take the pieces home when done, but was thinking about having a display area for the skyline for a short period of time at the shelter.
Using the other volunteers to give me feedback on how they believe the lesson went would be helpful as well as help me see it through many different opinions.
Feedback Activities
I will solicit feedback from the other volunteers on how the lesson went, how effective it was with the students, and ways my presentation could have been improved.
Visual Elements
laying out the different sized wood in three different clear containers helped to clarify the many different options at their fingertips. Also making sure the hot glue was only handled by adults kept the kids from getting burnt and having it apart from where the kids were sitting made it so they didn't interact with it often.
Skills Development
Since this lesson is for such a broad age range it may vary when considering what skills the children are developing through the exercise. For ages 2-5 the activity will help them to understand sharing as well as compromising. For 6-7 age group the varied outcomes would free them of comparing each others work and since it is an open-ended lesson they less likely to need time contrainsts. They decide when it is finished.
Key Knowledge and Applications
the fact the houses are 3-dimentional it forces the kids to understand an object from many different view points and makes them break down the use of different shaped objects and that should be applied in the variety of rectangles, triangles, and squares.
Materials
different sized cut wood, hot glue, tempra paint, fabric, and metal screws
Focusing Attention
At making sure the kids have a balanced base ahd have their bases made before trying to attempt going ahead on their own.
Learning Activities
Wood base demo, 3 1/2 minutes
Summary of Lesson
The children who participated in the lesson seemed very excited to work with 3-dimensional materials and the theme of "houses" may have been ignored by the children, but the activity held their attention for the whole time. I noticed the kids could definitely tell what was bad wood and what was quality. I found that a few of the kids became frustrated with making a base before jumping into the project, but giving them a little more one-on-one attention helped them continue investigating the lesson on their own.