Component 5 - Lesson Plan

Seasons – 'A Lesson Plan' © Anita Smyth 2013

Introduction

To incorporate Seasons as a topic of inquiry for the arts, I would prepare a variety of seasonal picture cards that illustrate landscape, weather, clothing and colours about the four different seasons.

Engaging

• Group Activity - analysing, understanding, inquiry, sorting, helping, discussion, solving grouping, ordering
• Social Skills - cooperating, sharing, classroom etiquette, respect, courtesy, thoughtfulness

Have the class split into small groups of 3-4 students.

Divide the cards into even piles—with one pile for each small group (3-4 students) in the class of maybe 20 cards per group.

Ask the students to decide as a group as to the way in which they wish to sort the cards.

Talk to the class about the way in which the cards were sorted.

Ask if any group sorted them into seasons?

Explain that seasons will be the topic of inquiry.

• English Literature  – inter-curricular activity where students draw on prior knowledge of poetry and possibly the poet they may be studying.
• Whole Class – reflecting, constructing, delving, thinking, asking, realising, questioning, answering participating

The class is read a poem about the seasons.

The teacher asks questions regarding the insights of the poem and the author’s meaning.

• Whole class Activity - imagining, reflecting, thinking, expressing, contributing, participating
• Social Skills – observe taking turns, sharing, classroom etiquette, respect, courtesy, thoughtfulness

Divide a white board up into the four seasons and write down the headings of each season.

Ask the four volunteers to come out to the white board; getting each to write down the describing words identified by the class for each of the seasons.

Explaining & Elaborating

• Group Activity – discussion, reflecting on previous knowledge, imagining, thinking, imagining, feeling, emotive, participating, decision-making, discerning, resolving, understanding, interpreting, analysing, comparing, contrasting, formulating, reconstructing, interacting
• Social Skills - cooperating, sharing, classroom etiquette, respect, obedience

After the activity, the whole class is shown a painting of the seasons.

The teacher asks questions pertaining to the artwork relating to the picture with reference to the formal qualities of design.

The teacher then uses the 5R’s Writing Framework to briefly get feedback from the class regarding interpretation of the artwork and the artists reasoning behind the composition.

• Individual Activity – thinking, exploring, imagining, constructing, personally feeling and expressing, creating, acknowledging concepts and principles of art design, reflecting on prior knowledge
• Manipulative Skills – cutting, gluing, arranging, sorting, deciding, constructing, idealising, cleaning, coordinating
• Social Skills – use of manners, obedience, respect, sharing, observing, cooperating

With these concepts in mind, the class is asked to create a collage in the colour cardboard representing the season of their choosing.

With group tables prepared to accommodate groups of 3-4 children, A4 coloured cardboard is distributed to each table.

Each student will take a colour of their choosing to represent the season of their choice, for example the green for spring, yellow  for summer, brown for autumn, blue for winter.

Children are to make a collage out the craft materials supplied in the middle of the table. Magazines and scissors are provided for cutting pictures on two allocated group tables whilst glue is positioned on separate group tables to avoid mess and clear working space.

Once the collage is made, desks are cleared and cleanup hastens.

Presuming artworks are dry, the children are asked to swap artworks.

Evaluating

• Writing Activity – personally reflecting, personal feelings and emotions, analysing, empathising, optimism, writing strategies, sentence structure, drawing on knowledge on the formal qualities of design, memorising, revisiting, conceptualising,
• Manipulative Skills – writing, following English conventions left to right

Handout sheets are provided for each student to critique or evaluate their colleagues artwork in each of the 5R’s Writing Scale.

Dot points may be needed to quicken the exercise.

All students give artwork and hand-out sheets back to the original artist of the collage.

Once handed back to their original owner, children peruse the comments mad about their artwork.

• Evaluation Skills – observe that other students see their own composition from a new perspective, reflecting, thinking, absorbing, evaluation, reconstructing, sharing

At the end of the exercise, children are asked to evaluate and invited to share their responses to some of the perspectives received back for their art work. 

Teacher invites children to give some constructive feedback about this exercise; their personal reflections, what and how we could improve the process.

© Anita Smyth, 2013