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Art Infused Into English and Math
Submitted by: Morgana Artl
College of Charleston
Grade: Kindergarten
Title: Art Infused Lesson
Description
Art infused lessons are a great of teaching young children and addressing different learning styles. Children are very creative and their imagination is so rich and interesting. They can come up with lots of different creative and fun ways of expressing themselves. Most of the early childhood classrooms have store bought materials, like numbers, colors and alphabet posters. So, why not allow the little ones to be creative and produce their own posters and show what they know?
A great way of infusing Art to an English Language lesson is to allow the children to make a classroom alphabet poster. All you need is a digital camera, a big poster board (even your classroom wall) and some index cards. The children in my preschool classroom did an amazing job creating their very own alphabet poster.
The project took us about three days to be completed. Between choosing letters, taking pictures and writing the letters of the alphabet, the children had fun and they felt very proud of their photography skills. First, each student chose two letters of the alphabet. They looked around the preschool for things that started with the letters they chose. Previously, we discussed the importance of handling the school materials, like our digital cameras, with respect and care. After all the pictures were taken and developed, the children wrote the letters in a piece of index card and we organized the pictures and the letters in alphabetical order in our classroom wall. Ta da! We had our very own alphabet poster. The project can be a little time consuming, but the children will definitely feel that they are contributing for their learning environment and they will be very active learners.
Standards:
• VIS.PK-K.VI: Making Connections between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines.
• CCSS.K.ELA-Print Concepts: 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
a. Print many upper- and lowercase letters.
Resources and Materials:
• Digital Camera
Objective:
• The students will be able to write the first letter of a word in upper and lowercase. Students will take pictures to represent letters of the alphabet.
Assessment:
• Formative - In the phase 1, teacher will ask students to point and identify the letters of the alphabet. Students will say an object that starts with the selected letters.
• Summative - Students will explain why they choose the objects they chose and how the object is related to the letters they selected.
Details of Instruction:
A. Introduction/Motivational Set/Cue Set (time)
1. Teacher will lay down several cards with the alphabet letters and random pictures. Teacher will ask students to match letter card with a picture card. For example, turtle and letter “T”
2. Teacher will explain that each picture is associated with a word and each word has a starting sound and letter.
3. Teacher will ask each student to select two alphabet cards. Students will name 3 other words that start with that letter.
4. Teacher will invite students to look around the classroom and school yard and find something else that starts with a certain letter. The students will take a picture of it.
5. This phase of the project will take approximately 20 minutes.
B. Procedures: (time)
1. Teacher will go over rules and directions on how to use a digital camera properly and carefully.
2. Student will look around for something that starts with the letters they selected.
3. Students will take pictures. Students will use a piece of card paper to write the letter that goes with the picture.
4. This phase of the project will last approximately 20 minutes.
C. Conclusion (time)
1. Students will decide which alphabetical order the pictures should be posted at.
2. Students will create an alphabet wall using the pictures taken and the letters they wrote.
Addressing Individual Differences:
1. Early Finishers-Students who finish first are going participate of other activities that will be happening in the classroom, or they will have free center time.
2. Struggling Students- Teacher will model and use examples in order to help struggling students.
3. Special Education- Student will work one at one with teacher.
4. English Language Learners- Students will work in small groups and there will be several visual aids.
5. Culturally Diverse- Students will be welcome to bring objects from home if they wish to take a picture of them instead of using objects that are in the school.
