130 & 131 Lesson Plan Format

The following are areas you will want to address in making an art lesson plan:

Title
Age or Grade of Students
Class Periods or Time Frame of Lessons
Aims/Goals/Outcomes (these are sometimes separate, sometimes not)
Materials and Tools
Vocabulary
Standards/Common Core
Rubrics/Assessment Chart
Motivation/Visuals
Questions or Narrative in Your Introduction of the Lesson
Procedure
Special Needs: Learning Disabled/Gifted
Closure
Reflection/Questions that circle back to your aims and goals
Follow-Up (Optional)

Collagraph Plate and Prints

131-Collagraph Lesson Plan—Ages Pre-K (with help) and Up

This is a printmaking process in which you make a plate and then rub it or use a brayer to make multiples. While sophisticated artists use this process, it is also adaptable to young children.

Aims: To explore the process of collagraphy
To make multiples of an artwork

Materials & Tools:
Cardboard (chipboard; not corrugated)
Oak tag or Bristol board
Elmer’s Glue
Brayer
Inking Tray
Water-based Printmaking Ink-one color plus white
Paper to print on—especially neon or bright and black
Papers such as fadeless and bond paper work well. Construction paper is okay but due to its “tooth” won’t be as solid an image.
Optional: twine, string, fabric.

Procedure:
First, choose your theme. It could be fantasy animals, abstract shapes, the zoo, the circus, the rainforest, etc. Remind students that this process needs simple shapes without too many small details.
Make the plate:
This is a backwards process. Cut shapes (I prefer it when students don’t draw their shapes first) and glue on using glue brushes. Remember, you only need to glue around the edges.
Any blob of glue will print, so beware. (You can actually make glue drawings on cardboard, let them dry and print them.)
Teach your students to overlap—so to make an eyeball you’d cut an almond shape, an iris and then a pupil and glue one on top of another.
Let dry completely before printing.

Printing:
There are two basic ways to print collagraphs without a press.
Single Drop Printing is printing once. Spread ink on a tray and roll back and forth. Listen for a “kissing” sound. It should not be too thick (like icing on a cake). You will learn what is the right amount. Cover your printing area with newspapers to protect table. Ink the collagraphic plate being sure to cover all four corners.Don’t try to push ink down into areas that seem “bald”—that’s how the image will show up.
Move plate to a clean area to print. Lay your paper on top of the plate and rub with the flat of your hand. Pull up your print from one corner and put on drying rack or clothesline to dry. Don’t change ink colors until the plate is perfectly dry. Use different colored paper to make it more interesting.
Double Drop Printing: You need two brayers and two inking trays. One will have color (like turquoise) and the other will have white. This works best on black or dark colored paper. Make a print in any color except yellow or white. Set aside. Ink the plate right away in white. Lay the plate almost on top of (but not quite) the wet print. Flip over carefully and rub. Remove print. You will have a 3-dimensional looking print.

Reflection:
As always, be sure to share your work.

Variations:
You can make a group quilt or use this process to make a mural. The collagraphic plates could be shaped (not rectangular) if you wish and you could print on mural paper;

130--Accordion Books Lesson Plan

Accordion Books [K (with some help)- adult]
This is a book arts technique from Japan, that works well for all ages of elementary students. It could be a stand-alone art project or be have a cross-curricular aspect to it.

Aims:
•To create an original book
•To learn about cultural connections (Japan)
•To integrate academic curriculum into your art lessons (optional)

Materials & Tools:
Scratch paper for planning
2 pieces of chipboard or heavy cardboard a bit bigger than the folded page size of your book
white paper cut, folded (and glued by overlapping if necessary) to make even numbered folded stack with correct number of pages (see below). Rice paper is another, more expensive possibility.
Paper for covering cardboard covers--4” larger on top and bottom (for an 8 x 10 cover, you’d want 12 x 14” cover paper)
pencil, eraser, scissors, tape, white glue
Sharpie markers, watercolors, watercolor brush, water can
Colored pencils
Ribbon or string for tying

Procedure:
Decide the theme for your lesson. It could be a book without words, a book about one’s family, a creative story, etc. Have your students work out their stories on scratch paper (4-6 folds is a good number). You need to have a long, folded sheet have 2 more sections than your story, so for a 4-panel story you need six sections and for a 6-panel story you need eight. Keep the numbers even so the book glues together well.
Fold the panels to make equal sections, gluing on extra paper if necessary by overlapping slightly (The seam will disappear once the panel is colored, so don’t worry about it). It might be easier if you give your class the same specifications--say 6 panels for everybody, because then the construction will be the same for everyone.
Draw, sharpie and color the insides as desired.
Next, make your covers. The cardboard should be a little bit bigger than our folded pages for the best possible look. Cover the cardboard by cutting your paper 4” each way (2” per side). Draw “envelope” flaps on all four sides, directly from the corners. You are making angled lines going inward on each side--not outward!!!! Cut out the odd-looking corner shapes which will resemble a triangle with a drooping bottom. Fold over each flap and tape down. This side will be the inside of your front and back covers. Tape ribbon on the left side for the cover and the right side for the back. Glue the end “extra” pages over the inside covers, tie your book closed and you have an accordion book.

Reflection
Share your books as always.

Variations:
Use other materials such as collage. Books can open up and down, too.

131-Haiku Scrolls Lesson Plan--Grades 4 and Up

Haiku Scrolls—Grades 4 and up

Aims:

• To learn how to use gradated shades of ink on rice paper to create a “Japanese-style” scroll
• To integrate literacy and social studies into the curriculum
• To combine poetry and image in a work of art
• To learn about syllables and the haiku form

Materials

India ink/water

Styrofoam egg carton or watercolor palette

Bamboo ink pen

Soft brush

Rice paper (11”x 36” or so)

Practice paper

Procedure

If you have students who need a place to start, have them write on a piece of paper the following:
2 places
A weather word
Another weather word
6 verbs
2 names
6 nouns
6 descriptive words (Adverbs/adjectives)
2 animals
4 feelings
A few random words (and, the, into, out, etc.)

(You can make up your own list, but you need enough to give your students good options.) Have students cut out the words, magnetic poetry style and write how many syllables are in each word at the top of each small piece. This will help when constructing your haiku.

Students then are give the challenge of constructing a simple haiku using the 5-7-5 syllable format. An example might be 

Fleeting gold sunshine

Falls into winter darkness

Until the morning.

Usually there is some sort of reference to the season in a haiku, which is something your students might be able to try. After they get their haiku composed they should plan their scroll on practice paper, putting the words in the body of the scroll. Decide whether you want horizontal or vertical scrolls. (I prefer vertical.) Next, you can have your students play with their bamboo pens and brushes to see how to make marks and get effects on the rice paper. Put newspaper under the work to protect the table as rice paper is very porous.

When students have practiced, they can go onto the scroll. (I prefer not drawing in pencil first but this may be difficult, depending on your students. Working directly on the rice paper will give you more luscious results.)

When completed, you may glue dowels to the ends, adding a string hanger for vertical scrolls.

Note: These scrolls look beautiful in windows, as they are translucent.

Butterfly Shape Book

NO CLASS ON MONDAY!!!! SCHOOL CLOSED.

Our next class will be on Monday, September 21!!!!! See you then. Please check your syllabus (below) for homework due and come prepared to work.