Sometimes relating art to the curriculum is quite frustrating. I want to teach good art techniques, but teaching to the curriculum can be somewhat limiting. When the fifth grade teachers asked me to create a lesson on Paul Revere, I panicked. I spent several hours trying to come up with a lesson that related, without being to crafty. Finally, I came up with this lesson. I can't say that it is my favorite lesson ever, but at least my students learned several good art techniques from it.
For this lesson, I wanted my students to learn some basic atmospheric perspective techniques. We talked about the horizon line, and how everything gets smaller as it gets closer to that line. My fifth graders always enjoy learning ways to add depth to their art. When drawing the houses, I had my students look photos of Colonial buildings. This helped make their drawings look like they were from Paul Revere's time. We drew everything with a black crayon, and then painted with watercolors. Lastly, to add Paul Revere to this project, I had my students cut a picture of Paul out and glue him to the painting.
I think these turned out really nice, even if it did take me a long time to plan this lesson.
Sometimes relating art to the curriculum is quite frustrating. I want to teach good art techniques, but teaching to the curriculum can be somewhat limiting. When the fifth grade teachers asked me to create a lesson on Paul Revere, I panicked. I spent several hours trying to come up with a lesson that related, without being to crafty. Finally, I came up with this lesson. I can't say that it is my favorite lesson ever, but at least my students learned several good art techniques from it. 
For this lesson, I wanted my students to learn some basic atmospheric perspective techniques. We talked about the horizon line, and how everything gets smaller as it gets closer to that line. My fifth graders always enjoy learning ways to add depth to their art. When drawing the houses, I had my students look photos of Colonial buildings. This helped make their drawings look like they were from Paul Revere's time. We drew everything with a black crayon, and then painted with watercolors. Lastly, to add Paul Revere to this project, I had my students cut a picture of Paul out and glue him to the painting. 
I think these turned out really nice, even if it did take me a long time to plan this lesson.
No comments:
Post a Comment