CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Details Please! The art piece of this lesson is an extension of a Language Arts writing assignment the children will do. When talking about writers craft, a discussion will ensue regarding the addition of good details in writing so that a picture can be created on the readers mind. To reinforce the concept of including details in writing, students will first draw and color a picture of themselves including all the fine details about themselves such as hair, eye and skin color as well as their clothes, shoes and adornments. Next, students will write about what they drew using descriptive words to describe their pictures (themselves). The pictures and writings need to be so thorough that when the picture is shown or the writing is read, classmates can tell exactly who is being depicted or talked about. 2. Clay Tiles The art piece of this lesson is an extension of a middle school social studies lesson on ancient Egypt. After discussion of the writing system used by the Egyptians and how they wrote with picture depictions, I would have the students research the meaning of many of the hieroglyphs and symbols to create a message of their own. We would start with clay, shaping it into 2 x 2 tiles, carving the symbol into the tile and letting it dry. Later we would use paint to cover the tops of the tiles and stamp paper with them, recreating a story or depicting important aspects of Egyptian culture. 3. Make an Insect During a lesson in Science on insects we will talk about adaptations and how certain insects have changed over time to suit their needs. The children will then create their own insect with unique adaptations. Using egg cartons cut up so that each body has three parts, each student will use materials such as pipe cleaners, assorted leaves, grasses, flowers, cloth strips, beads, glitter and other things to create their insect. Pipe cleaners or sticks can be used for legs and antennae. The children will introduce their insect to the class explaining its special adaptations. 4. Fraction Flowers This art project will be used to reinforce the Math concepts of fractions for students. Using construction paper, rulers, compasses, scissors, glue, and markers or crayons students will recreate flowers, dividing them up by the proper fraction. Teacher will hand out sheets with ribbons on them that have the fraction written in words (ie. one-fourth) that the students will cut out and paste under the proper flower. I would also have the student write the fraction in number form in or near each flower.

5. Dried Leaf People During the Fall while talking about the changing seasons in Science and particularly Autumn we would get into a discussion about the changes that the trees go through and especially the leaves. I would have the children bring in a variety of whole, intact leaves of a variety of species, size and color that we will press into books and allow to dry. After the leaves are dried, we will use them to assemble leaf people gluing the dried leaves down onto poster board to resemble bodies. Children can use their imaginations to create their person in any shape or size as long as it fits on the 11 x 17 poster board. To retain shape and keep leaves from crumbling I will laminate the creations so they can be displayed and kept intact.