#216. Watercolor and Poetry
Art, level: Elementary
Posted Sat Nov 11 14:30:07 PST 2000 by Alyssa Shuey (
kcjh@grove.iup.edu).
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA
Materials Required: white paper, watercolor paints and brushes, markers, newspaper, "My Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss
Activity Time: 30-45 minutes
Concepts Taught: combining art and language arts
Rationale
Students will be combining language arts and art through creating a watercolor painting of a color or an object that make the student feel a certain way. They will describe how this color makes them feel through writing a short poem.Objectives
1. The learner will be able to distinguish between rhyming and non-rhyming poetry.
2. The learner will be able to paint a watercolor painting.
3. The learner will be able to construct a short poem.
Resources
White construction paper
Watercolor paints
Paint brushes
Magic markers
Newspaper
The book “My Many Colored Days” by Dr. Seuss
The book “A Light in the Attic” by Shel Silverstein (optional)
Introduction
Select 3-4 poems from Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic. Make sure you read some that rhyme and some that do not rhyme. Ask the students what makes the poems different from one another.
Lesson Body
Read the book, My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. Discuss how certain colors express how a person feels or they remind them of some object or feeling. Have the students cover their desks with newspaper and then each get a sheet of construction paper, a paint brush, a set of watercolor paints, a container of water, and magic markers. Students will then fold their piece of paper in half. Students will then paint on the left side of the paper a color or an object that expresses how they feel. On the right side they have to write a poem describing the color or object. Students must make sure they do all of their painting first and leave a clean dry area for their poems or their markers will bleed.
Evaluation
Students will be informally evaluated by sharing their poem with the class. These projects can be used to decorate a bulletin board entitled “Our Many Colored Classroom”.
