Final Reflection

Working with Mrs. Gandara's class has been such a great experience!  I enjoyed focusing on the science curriculum because it pushed me to create lessons that I normally wouldn't have come up with if I were teaching a normal art lesson.  I also learned a lot about classroom management and how to plan on having filler activities for students that finish early so that they don't become bored and distract other students.  Mrs. Gandara had a handful of other useful techniques that I've taken mental note of to use in my class in the future.  This was a great class to work with and their positive attitude made all the difference.  The students were so excited every time I stepped in the classroom and I could tell that the hands-on creative process made learning about science a more positive experience for them.

4/17/15

Last time I was with Mrs. Gandara’s class I asked them to bring some deciduous leaves for next time, but I forgot to remind them so no one brought any.  Luckily I was able to gather a bunch before I went to her class and everyone had a couple of leaves to use.  I showed the class how to do texture rubbings with the leaves and told them that this was something they could work on while they waited their turn to use the printing plates. 

Their Styrofoam prints turned out great, but unfortunately I didn’t have time to take pictures at the end of class and they took them home before I could come back for them :(  Here's an example of what they looked like.  Just picture this, but involving pine needles :)

After doing Styrofoam prints, we reviewed deciduous trees.  I showed them some artworks that included trees and had the students tell me whether they thought the trees were deciduous or coniferous.  

It was good review for them and helped me assess what they already knew/remembered.  I demonstrated how to make monoprints with deciduous leaves and explained the concept of positive and negative space.  

I think this process would have been a good idea, but I shouldn’t have used printmaking ink.  It was too thick and dried up too quickly. It would have been better if we used tempera or acrylics, but now I know for the future!  

4/3/15

I reviewed coniferous leaves with the students to see what they remembered from what Mrs. Gandara taught them.  She told me she wanted her students to use their sketchbooks more, so I had them draw with me using their sketchbooks.  I used the smartboard to draw these different types of coniferous needles and had the students follow along with me step by step. 

After drawing the different types of needles, I showed them images of common coniferous trees in Utah and had the students identify what types of needles they had.  Since the students are constantly telling me what things look like, I thought it would be fun for them to have a project where they are assigned to use their imaginations to turn coniferous needles into something else.  Some students turned single needles into a fish skeleton and another student turned a clustered needle into a minora.  It was fun to see what they came up with.  After making their drawing, they traced it onto a 4x6” Styrofoam plate that we would use to print next time. 

Here's my lesson plan for this week and next week's lesson:

Deciduous and Coniferous Leaves with Printmaking

Subject Concepts		Art Concepts
Content Covered: Deciduous and Conifers		Content Covered: Printmaking
State Standards & Objectives (USOE/UEN): 4th Grade Science Standard 5, Objective 3 b. Use a simple classification system to classify unfamiliar Utah plants or animals(e.g., fish/amphibians/reptile/bird/mammal, invertebrate/vertebrate, tree/shrub/grass, deciduous/conifers).		State Standards & Objectives (USOE/UEN): 4th Grade Art Standard 1 Objective 1 e. Observe and render the details of real objects with a high degree of accuracy; eg. Veins in a leaf, wrinkles in a cloth, mortar between brick, ridges in bark.  Standard 2 objective 1 c. Analyze how artists have varied the space divisions to create a more interesting composition. Standard 3 objective 2 d. Classify works of art according to media and genre; e.g., portrait, landscape, abstract, realistic, painting, sculpture, drawing, print.
Learning Outcomes: ·      The student will be able to decipher between deciduous and coniferous trees.		Learning Outcomes: The student will be able to render the details of different coniferous needles.  The student will be able to classify works of art as prints.  The student will be able to recognize positive and negative space and analyze how it affects the composition.
Lesson Plan
Objectives: The students will learn to differentiate deciduous trees from coniferous trees.  They will use their imagination to create a printed image based off of coniferous needles they have studies.  They will experiment with different monotype printmaking processes using deciduous leaves.  Assessment: While displaying artworks that have trees in them, have students verbally identify whether they think the trees are deciduous or coniferous and why.
Materials Needed: 6x8” Pieces of construction paper Leaves Plexiglass Printmaking Ink brayers Scraper tools 4x6” styrofoam plates 4x6” white paper Vocabulary ·       Pinyon pine tree ·       Utah juniper tree ·       Spruce tree ·       Fir tree ·       Deciduous ·       Coniferous ·       Scale-like ·       Awl shaped ·       Linear shaped ·       Single needles ·       Bundled needles ·       Clustered needles ·       Positive Space ·       Negative Space ·       Monoprint Artists Gustav Klimt Vincent Van Gogh Grandma Moses Georgia O’Keeffe Andy Goldsworthy	Lesson Sequence: Day 1 Review coniferous trees and assess what students remember.  Have students get sketchbooks out and follow you step by step as you draw different types of needles. (scale-like, awl shaped, linear shaped, single needles, bundled needles, clustered needles) Show powerpoint with examples of common Utah trees that are coniferous. (Blue spruce, Fir, pinyon pine etc.)  Have students identify which kinds of needles these coniferous trees have.  Hand out 4x6” pieces of white paper to students.  Tell them they will be using their imaginations to create something out of one of the needles we just drew.  Example: turn a Scale-like needle into a fish. Once students are finished with their drawing, they will trace it onto their Styrofoam plate.  For homework, have students bring in a couple of deciduous leaves to class.  Day 2 Hand out white pieces of paper and extra leaves for students that forgot to bring them.  Tell the students that we are going to take turns inking our Styrofoam plates at the back table and that while they are waiting they can work on leaf texture rubbings.  Demonstrate with leaves, paper and crayon.  Demonstrate to students how to ink up the Styrofoam plates and print onto 6x8” pieces of construction paper.  Have students take turns coming back to the inking table.  While they are waiting, they experiment with leaf texture rubbings. After they are done making their Styrofoam prints, review deciduous leaves.  Show artwork that includes trees and have students point out whether they think those trees are coniferous or deciduous.  Show examples of monoprints and talk about positive and negative space.  Demonstrate how to create monoprints using leaves.  Tell students they are required to make one print where the paper represents the positive space and the ink represents the negative space as well as a print where the ink represents the positive space of the leaf and the paper represents the negative space.  Have students take turns making monoprints at the back table.